Day
Monday
Morning Task
Prior Learning: Ask children to write down what comes into their minds when they think of the Amazon rainforest, as register is taken.
Take feedback. List the words/phrases on the board (accepting all contributions without question) When the ideas dry up, ask for comments on the list.
What types of things have been mentioned most often? Can things be categorised? Ask children where these ideas come from.
Media, school etc.
Emphasise that most people’s experience of a rainforest is second hand. We have to rely on what people choose to tell and show us on
TV, newspapers, books etc.
Introduce project –to learn as much as possible about the
Amazon jungle, without
AM 1- Story
Introduce the Great
Snake – explain it takes place on a journey down the
Amazon river. Read
‘The Legend of
Jurutai’ and discuss
(write names of the
Atlantic Ocean,
Abaetetuba on the board to refer to in pm)
(Section of book details: intro- river basis, 1/5 of all fresh water on planet, Atlantic
Ocean, reasons for travel.
Story – emergent trees, native
Brazilian people)
AM 1
What are rainforests?
Watch BBCIP hotspot 1.1
.
Children must come up with a definition in pairs, no more than 40 words, referencing weather, climate, animals and plants. Discuss definitions and elaborate if needed. Info below.
Display a picture clearly showing the strata of the forest.
Introduce terms and discuss each section of the forest.
Show measurements for emergent and canopy.
Discuss rounding and down scaling to produce consistent measurements for all class to work with.
In groups, paint the forest (to scale). Give children info about the different types of plant they may find (from BBC iposter teachers guide)
AM2
Story – The Tortoise and the Vulture
(Section of book details: intro- ¼ of all species live in the Amazon, awe of creatures, scientists know more about the moon than the
Amazon, mystery, mix of people)
Story – why the vulture chases the tortoise)
Continue creating the forest. Have some local leaves from the playground. Discuss with groups what is similar/ different to those in the forest?
Why?
Plenary – Discuss products. Praise correct placement of plants.
What would it be like to spend a day and night in the Amazon rainforest? Recap question ‘What is a rainforest?’
BBCIP 2.2
. Read facts relating to different strata, children in pairs discuss which it relates
PM1
Where are rainforests?
Children use an Atlas/ globe (discuss advantages to each) to locate countries with largest amount of rainforest (mark on individual whiteboard maps).
Come back to the carpet.
What have children noticed?
Look at where most of the worlds rainforests are, and why (use terms equator, tropic of
Capricorn, tropic of
Cancer, tropics) BBC iposter 1.2.
Which continents do not have rainforests? Why?
Where is the Amazon
Rainforest? Locate 9 countries in South
America. Discuss countries it covers (what do children know about them?) Use Google maps to trace river from Andes to Atlantic. Briefly mention colonisation, how the Amazon got its name etc.
Story
Story- The
Mother of the
Water (set at night, lights off,
Amazon at night picture on board, quiet soundscape)
(Section of book details: intro- beautiful night time descriptions.
Story – the mother of the water)

Tuesday What is this place like?
On the board display a picture of the Amazon
Rainforest with accompanying soundscape. Children jot down any words/ phrases describing
(what can they see, hear, even smell!)
Wednes day actually going there!
Draw four things you may expect to see in a rainforest
The Great Snake
(Section of book details: intro- scale of the river,
Santarem, traditional stories, anaconda? Story – the Great Snake)
The Dolphin and the Fisherman
(Section of book details: intro- rain description, ‘whitewater’ river Story – dolphins)
Why is the Amazon
Rainforest so important?
Children Brainstorm.
Session 1 – Climate and
Weather
BBCIP 2.1 Provide children with a variety of information about the rain cycle and trees as carbon stores stimuli
Activity – the rain cycle and rain maths
Music – Sounds in the canopy BBCIP 2.3
Warm up create sound scape using voices/ percussion
P.E. Rainforest warm-up and parachute games inspired by the rainforest (see separate plan) to. (Transfer to classroom forest, when paintings are complete)
Session 2 - Biodiversity
Animals – BBCIP 3.1 and 3.2.
‘We’re Roaming in the
Rainforest’
Activty – Children choose animal they are interested in – research.
Produce ‘info spot’ to place in classroom rainforest.
The Curupira (Section of book details: intro- description of forest, deforestation, discomfort of the forest, danger of getting lost. Story – The
Curupira and respecting the rainforest) Provide children with some stats regarding deforestation of the forest. Children to discuss ‘why?’ What do
Time dependent- independent work
‘Rainforests of the world’
Session 3a – Biodiversity continued (plants)
Discuss adapted plants
BBCIP 4.1
, Plants we eat
4.2
, undiscovered species
4.3
. Taste test rainforest juices
Peoples of the rainforest
Discuss how many people live in rainforest.
Listen to how children think they live. Share photos of Manaus Brazil or Rurrenbaque Bolivia.
BBCIP5.1
, Human planet clips
P4C – warm-up based on
BBCIP 7.1
(why must we protect our rainforests?) stimuli survival international footage of uncontacted tribe
A Long Way To
Go (Section of the book details:
Intro –
Santarem, heat near the equator, motor taxis. Story – sloth)
NA

they think the threats are to the Amazon rainforest?
Why trees may be felled?
Show children
BBCIP hotspot 6.1, 6.2
and discuss. Read
‘deforestation- the causes’ (BBCIP sheet)
Look at PRP interactive booklet p32-35. Discuss global demand, look at and interpret pie-chart.
When children are familiar to causes of deforestation, ask them to consider the effects on the forest, in relation to previous work on why the Amazon is so important . Children annotate mindmap with negative effects.
Plenary – share info. In light of the negative effects, why is it happening. Discuss poverty (info in book)
Thursday World book day – Writing workshop day to produce Amazon stories to read on our trip on the canal (Mani’s Mystery, I Really Must Be Gone)
Friday Trip along the Amazon (Sheffield Canal) Stories we have written. Mind map of the week
(The Prince’s
Rainforest project model) BBCIP What have we learned.
Would like to visit the

Amazon quiz.
The geographical learning in this unit is written in brown
What are rainforests?
Rainforests are forests that grow in constantly wet conditions. Generally, forests that have more than 2000 mm of rain evenly spread throughout the year are considered to be rainforests.
Rain forests can be divided into two main types: tropical and temperate. But there are many different types of tropical and temperate rain forest.
Even experts find it difficult to say where one rainforest type stops and another begins . (People of the Rain Forests, Anna Lewington and Edward
Parker)
Tropical rainforests
Tropical rainforests are hot and wet. (People of the Rain Forests, Anna Lewington and Edward Parker) In some rainforests it rains more than one inch every day! They have very tall trees. http://kids.mongabay.com/elementary/001.html
What makes a rainforest?
Each rainforest is unique but there are certain features common to all tropical rainforests.
1.
Location: rainforests lie in the "tropics" [ map ]
2.
Rainfall: rainforests receive at least 80 inches (200 centimetres) of rain per year

3.
Canopy: rainforests have a canopy ] which is the layer of branches and leaves formed by closely spaced rainforest trees [ picture ]. Most of the plants and animals in the rainforest live in the canopy. The canopy may be 100 feet above the ground.
4.
Biodiversity: rainforests have a high level of biological diversity or biodiversity. Biodiversity is the name for all living things -- like plants, animals, and fungi -- found in an ecosystem. Scientists believe that about half of the plants and animals found on earth's land surface live in rainforests.
5.
Symbiotic relationships between species: species in the rainforest often work together. A symbiotic relationship is a relationship where two different species benefit by helping each other. For example some plants produce small housing structures and sugar for ants. In return the ants protect the plants from other insects that may want to feed on the plant's leaves
Clips to use: WWF – Safeguarding the natural world, forests; WWF – Amazon; Survival International – Uncontacted Tribes footage