by Ms. Albertson s First Graders Stony Point School March 2008
We Dedicate this Book to Ms. Mary Lou because she helped us with all the drawings and helped us make our animals. Ms. Albertson and Ms. Crystal because they helped us choose which animal we wanted and they helped us learn about where they live in the rainforest. All the rainforests in the world and the animals that live there. Also, to everything that grows in the rainforest and all the plants and animals that help our animals live. Each other because we all helped each other learn about our animals. All the people who live in the rainforest and take care of it, and the people who don t cut down trees.
Process Page- What We Did! We decided to study the rainforest. First, we read lots and lots of books about the rainforest and rainforest animals. Then, we made lists of rainforest animals. The first animal that we put on our list was the one we would study about. We studied really, really hard and we worked on them for lots and lots of days. Some people wrote about it in their journals. We found out where our animals lived, what they ate, what their predators were, and how they moved. We used sticky notes with our initials on them to mark pictures of our animals in books, so that we would remember where the information was. We went to Ms. Mary Lou and we made our animals. First, we sketched our animals and colored them with colored pencils. Next, we made our animals out of little pieces of paper. We glued the pieces onto big paper. Then we made a poem for our animal. We described our animals and needed 3 -ing words. Together, we wrote forest floor, understory, canopy and emergent because it would help us remember where each of our animals lived in the rainforest. Sean s leaf cutter ant lives on the forest floor and the red eyed tree frog lives in the understory.
Lemur Lemur ringed tail climbing, tree gum eating, leaf eater yellow eyes Madagascar animal by Jack
Ocelot Ocelot USA, good swimmer running, swimming, hunting preys on monkeys and birds graceful cat by Heather
Flying Tree Snake Flying Tree Snake rough skin flying, gliding, flattening Southeast Asia airborne reptile by Kelsey
Sloth Sloth slothing hanging, upside downing, greening algae nocturnal the sloth by Peter
Macaw Macaw yellow and blue mane flying, eating, scratching curved beak parrot by Aiden
Flying Squirrel Flying Squirrel Flying, clapping gliding, gripping, sticking Furry cuddly by Bradley
Boa Constrictor Boa Constrictor slide, massive swimming, snapping, squeezing rat-eating house snake tree boa by Albany
Red Eyed Tree Frog Red Eyed Tree Frog bright green jumping, croaking, meat-eating suction cup toes Nocturnal reptile by Isaac
Cheetah Cheetah meat eater speeding, eating, running not very sociable shy mammal by Andie
Bush Baby Bush Baby mouse sized leaping, clinging, hopping kangaroo-like bipedal hops nocturnal by Justin
Veiled Chameleon Veiled chameleon helmet head climbing, changing, emotional native to deserts camouflage by Will
Porcupine Porcupine sharp, barbed, herbivore gnawing, plant-eating, slowmoving long curved claws quill pig by Evie
Leaf Cutter Ant Leaf Cutter Ant leaf eater cutting, gnawing, weighting scaly ant by Sean
Quetzal Quetzal poor flyer solitary, walking, colorful nests in rotting trees bright bird by Hannah
Spider Monkey Spider Monkey social, nimble twisting, gripping, swinging they wake up at night night monkeys by Joshua
Frilled Lizard Frilled Lizard bug eater frightening, running, frilling scaly bicycle lizard by Deaveon
Anaconda Anaconda massive snake slithering, snapping, swimming big jaws Water Boa by Liza
Threats to the Rainforests The biggest threat to the rainforest is man. The ever-expanding human population is exerting tremendous pressure on the resources and the space of the rainforest. This is a hillside which has been cleared of its trees through the traditional "slashand-burn" technique. You can already see erosion washing gullies on either side of this hill. The land on even the steepest hillsides can be used to plant crops. Not much rainforest life is left after the forest is cleared!
The huge island of Mindenao in the Phillipines used to be covered with rainforest. Finding a stand of trees is almost impossible now. The burgeoning human population is threatening the very existence of rainforests around the world. This is temporary housing for displaced persons ("internal refugees") in Guatemala. Are YOU destroying the rainforest? Oil companies are pressuring the Guatemalan Government to allow them to explore and drill for oil in the Tikal Biosphere Preserve. Can it survive these pressures? Do you drive a larger car than you need to? Tropical hardwoods are harvested much faster than they can be replaced for furniture and floors. Efforts have been underway for years to encourage the use of wood from tree farms rather than wild rainforest. Does YOUR local lumber store sell rainforest wood? See below for a success story!
Coming soon, to a neighborhood near you! Vacant land and development where a forest used to be! Can you do anything about it? This school has developed demonstration gardens to help their students understand issues of water conservation. Students at a nearby school actually raised money to buy two vacant lots near the school and turn them back into wild land to provide a preserve for a locally-endangered bird! Some schools have done environmental projects with the "Big Help" project of Nickolodeon. Erna Nixon retired as a naturalist and moved to Florida in the 1960's. She discovered a wonderful little section of unspoiled land which was rapidly becoming a local trash dump, and was destined to be developed. She worked with county officials and others to preserve this spot as an example of traditional Florida Hammock (swampy low land). Today it is a wonderful, educational sanctuary in the middle of town!
Your county government has much control over development and designation of land as wetlands, conservation land, etc. It's a good place to start to find out how you can help conserve wild space!