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6 pages of teaching notes in an integrated teaching sequence
10 practical blackline masters
National Profile outcomes
A useful resource list

UPPER PRIMARY
Topic Our beautiful and majestic rainforests are the richest source of plant and animal life on Earth. They can support trees that grow to incredible heights, which in turn support insects, reptiles, mammals and birds who dwell in, on, around and under the dense vegetation of the forest. This unit begins by giving students an understanding of the physical features and scientific processes at work in the rainforest.
Students will develop an appreciation of the rainforest aesthetically, and of its abundant resources, before considering conservation issues.
Students will:
■ Science 4.5
Identify processes of energy transfer within the rainforest.
■ Science 4.6
Identify and explain the process of photosynthesis.
■ Science 4.7
Identify events that affect the balance in the rainforest ecosystem.
■ Science 4.8
Explain the functioning of plants in the rainforest structure.
■ Science 4.12
Recognise and describe conditions that causes the decay of leaf matter.
■ Science 4.14
Collect and record information accurately from investigations.
■ English 4.9
Use writing to develop own ideas and present opinions concerning rainforest conservation issues.
■ English 4.1
Interact confidently when presenting ideas and information.
■ SOSE 4.6
Describe the different views of people and organisations concerning the care and management of rainforests.
■ SOSE 4.6
Describe the factors that influence the use of rainforest resources.
■ The Arts 4.22
Combine images and forms using a range of skills and processes.
John and Sue Erbacher, Survival in the Rainforest ,
Cambridge University Press
Anna Lewington, The Wayland Atlas of Rainforests , Wayland
Elaine Landau, Tropical Rainforests Around the World ,
Franklin Watts
Tricia Oktober, Rainforest , Hodder Children’s Books
Australia
Steve Parish, Australian Rainforest Animals , Steve Parish
Publishing Pty Ltd
Margaret Roc and Kath Hawke, Australian Habitats,
Rainforests , Macmillan
Barbara Taylor, Look Closer, Rainforest , Angus and
Robertson
Lynne Cherry, The Great Kapok Tree , Gulliver Books,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Ted Egan, Ted Egan’s This Land Australia: Discovering a
Rainforest , Festival Video
Ken Davis, Daintree Dreamtime and Rainforests Sounds of
Australia , Holborne
www.ran.org/ran/kids_action/animals.html
www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/3606/issues/rainforest.html
www.pbs.org/tal/costa_rica/rainwalk.html
www.rain-tree.com/
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The term ‘rain forest’ was first used in the late
1800s to describe forests growing in areas of high rainfall that constantly experience wet conditions.
Today they are defined as forests that receive more than 2000 mm of rain, spread throughout the year.
Rainforests contain more species of plants and animals than any other of Earth’s habitats. Their ability to support such a huge quantity of wildlife is due to the size of their trees—while most are around 50 metres high, some can reach as high as
100 metres. This vegetation forms a structure of layers in the rainforest, each supporting its own specific plant and animal life. There are two main types of rainforests:
Tropical rainforests are found in hot, wet humid climates such as the Amazon Basin and
Papua New Guinea. Their forests are made up of many different plant species that grow at different levels, from the tall emergent trees and the canopy to the shrubs and herbs at ground level. Provide students with a copy of BLM 1 and have them name the countries that have tropical rainforests, using an atlas.
Temperate rainforests are found in cool, wet climates such as New Zealand and south-eastern
Australia. These forests have a less diverse range of plant species, and many of these forests are made up of mainly one tree type
Discuss the term ‘rainforest’ with students and elaborate on their responses. Refer to factual texts to build up a definition that will focus the students on the rainforest topic. Arrange to borrow reference material on rainforests, including factual and fiction books, posters and videos for the class to refer to throughout the unit.
On a large piece of chart paper write these four headings:
■ What we already know about rainforests
■ Questions about rainforests we would like answered
■ How we will find out answers to our questions
■ What we have learned about rainforests
Ask students to brainstorm what they already know about rainforests, and fill in the first column. This may make them more aware of what they don’t know about rainforests, and hence to suggest questions they would like answered. Prompt students with questions about rainforests that you plan to cover in the unit. Fill in the third column by cooperatively making decisions as to the directions the unit will take in researching the answers to the student’s questions. Throughout the unit, refer to these lists and add more questions students would like to research. Fill in the last column as students find the answers through their research.
There are many terms that students will come across in reading about rainforests. Have students research definitions for the words on BLM 2 , and add any other terms they feel would be useful.
Collate these definitions into a class glossary. Write the terms on a computer word processor program so that it can be added to in alphabetical order, and updated when required. Print out copies of the glossary for students to refer to, and add to, throughout the unit.
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Brainstorm a list of all the animals and plants of the rainforest. Refer to rainforest resources to extend the list. Classify the names under headings such as birds, mammals, reptiles, insects, trees etc. Leave room beside each word for an illustration, and have students draw a picture of each animal or plant to create a visual dictionary for display.
Copy the following two climatograms of a tropical rainforest and deciduous forest environment onto an overhead transparency to share with students.
Explain how to interpret the information from the climatograms. (The bar graph shows the rainfall during the different months of the year, and the line shows the average temperature throughout the year.) Compare and contrast the features of each type of forest, and how they are related to their climate.

cm º C
36
34
32
30
28
26
24
22
20
18
16
14
2
0
6
4
12
10
8
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Tropical Rainforest (New Guinea) Climatogram
Bar graph: average monthly rainfall
Line graph: average monthly temperature
36
32
28
24
20
16
12
8
4
0
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-8
-12
-16
-20
-24
-28
-32
-36 cm
24
22
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
36
34
32
30
28
26
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Deciduous Forest (Tennessee, USA)
Climatogram
Bar graph: average monthly rainfall
Line graph: average monthly temperature
º C
12
8
4
0
-4
-8
-12
-16
-20
-24
36
32
28
24
20
16
-28
-32
-36
There is no winter or dry season in tropical rainforests, which rely on high temperatures and high rainfall throughout the year to support their varied and fast-growing vegetation. This in turn supports an abundant range of wildlife. Using
BLM 3 , have students plot the rainfall and average temperatures for a rainforest in Brazil onto a climatogram. Have students research the varying conditions in a tropical rainforest at different
‘seasons’, and fill out BLM 4 . They can then use these keywords to help them write a short documentary on a tropical rainforest, or to design a poster on the seasons of a rainforest, including a paragraph of information for each illustration.
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Green plants, including grasses, shrubs and trees, perform the amazing feat of photosynthesis during daylight hours. Green plants contain a pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll can absorb light and change it into chemical energy. In this process, carbon dioxide and water are joined to make carbohydrates for food, and oxygen is released. In this way, plants make their own food. All other living organisms depend on plants (or on other animals that depend on plants) for their food.
Research the process of photosynthesis with students and have them present this information in a diagram, with labels and an explanation.
The burning of fossil fuels (wood, coal, fuel oil and natural gas) contribute to the amount of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, as does the burning of rainforests. Carbon dioxide is one of the major
‘greenhouse’ gases. These gases cause the
‘greenhouse effect’ that allows short-wave radiation from the Sun in, but traps the long-wave radiation given off from the Earth’s surface. This in turn causes global warming. Explain to students that rainforests have the ability to absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and change it into oxygen via photosynthesis. Their conservation and protection is an important issue in protecting the Earth from the effects of global warming.

Leaves, twigs, animal droppings and even the remains of dead animals end up on the floor of the rainforest. Due to the moist heat these waste materials break down and decay quickly into a top layer of soil called humus. This humus-rich soil supports rapid and healthy plant growth. Have students read about the cycle of nutrients when a tree dies ( BLM 5 ), and complete the diagram.
Have students demonstrate how leaves break down in a moist environment by rotting leaves in the classroom over a few months. Put some fresh dry leaves into two margarine containers. Leave one container with only dry leaves in it. Pack wet soil around the leaves in the other container, and put a lid on it. Check the containers once or twice a month. The one with the wet soil should begin to rot slowly. Provide students with BLM 6 so they can record how they conducted the experiment, and the results.
Indigenous people have lived in rainforest regions for thousands of years without destroying the ecological balance, and while caring for their environment. Have students refer to factual rainforest resources to create a class database of indigenous people living in the rainforest regions of the world, including such facts as where they live, their lifestyle, and how conservation issues affect them.
Have students choose a group of indigenous people to research, and present their findings in an information report.
Indigenous rainforest people design and build their housing based on the materials available to them, and in response to the wet conditions they live in.
Some rainforest houses are built on stilts, away from the damp forest floor. Other housing is only temporary, for use on hunting trips, or while food is available in a particular area. Have students look at photos of rainforest housing and design and build models of these houses using natural materials.
Display the models in the classroom, along with background information.
Rainforests are able to support an abundant range and amount of wildlife. The world’s rainforests support 80% of the Earth’s plants, 90% of all nonhuman primates, 40% of all birds of prey and 80% of insects. Due to the warm, moist environment there is rapid plant growth, which in turn provides food for many animals and birds. Energy is continually recycled in the rainforest through the energy chain. Plants use the sun’s energy, along with nutrients from the soil and water, to produce food. Plants are eaten by herbivores, which are in turn eaten by carnivores (and omnivores). When plants and animals die, they decompose and thus add nutrients to the soil, which plants can use.
Have students research the energy chain, and fill in BLM 7 .
The layers of vegetation in a rainforest increase the number of spaces available for animals to live in.
Some animals live only in the trees and rarely even visit the forest floor. Refer students to BLM 8 , and use the diagram as a starting point for students to research the animals that live at the different levels.
The emergent layer is the top layer and consists of the tallest trees. These trees receive full sunlight but are exposed to strong winds and high temperatures. There are some spaces between the trees, which allow sunlight to reach the next layer.
The canopy layer is the next layer, and consists of lower growing trees. Their leaves and branches interlock to form a crown or roof for the forest.
The understorey layer is not as dense, as it receives less sunlight under the canopy. It consists of smaller trees such as palms that struggle to grow to reach the light.
The shrub layer consists of shrubs and very small trees. They are short, woody plants that have more than one stem. Because the canopy and understorey filters out so much light the shrub layer can be quite sparse. This is why it can be quite easy to walk through a rainforest.
The herb layer or forest floor is made up of small plants including ferns, grasses, lichens and mosses. They are plants that do not need a lot of sunlight. The forest floor is also covered with a thick covering of leaves, and mixed in with these are animal droppings, decomposing plants and dead animals.
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Certain animals dwell at each level of the rainforest.
Large animals like leopards and gorillas live on the forest floor although they can climb the trees.
Animals such as sugar gliders, bats and tree frogs live below the canopy, where they can nest and move from one tree to the other without touching the forest floor. Most of the creatures of the rainforest live in the canopy, where it is warm, wet and light. Monkeys feed on fruit, insects and eggs in the canopy and many birds nest in the canopy and fly off when in danger.
With students brainstorm a list of the imagery that they associate with rainforests. View images of the rainforest on video, posters and photos and listen to rainforest music or sounds (see Resources) to further stimulate the students’ imaginations.
Ask students to respond to these images through poetry. Explain that these poems do not have to rhyme; instead, students should concentrate on using words that will create an image of the rainforest in other people’s minds. Have students consider the best way to present their poem. They may like to present a collection of poems in a book, or on a poster, or read their poem to the class with rainforest music playing in the background.
Turn the classroom, or a corner of the classroom, into a rainforest by hanging large paintings of trees on the walls, and leaves and branches on the ceiling, making the roof of the classroom look like the canopy. Hang crepe paper vines and creepers from the ceilings to the walls. You might like to view a G-rated Tarzan video with students for inspiration. Add models of rainforest animals to the mural, and incorporate classroom furniture and displays so that they appear to be part of the rainforest.
To help students understand the importance of considering the Earth’s rainforests, it is important that they are aware of the vast resources of the rainforest. Begin a numbered list titled ‘Resources of the Rainforest’. Use the list below as a starting point, and brainstorm more resources with students. Encourage students to add to the list as they discover more resources throughout the unit.
1. Over 20% of the world’s oxygen is produced in the Amazon rainforest.
2. All of these fruits and vegetables have originated from rainforests: avocados, coconuts, figs, oranges, lemons, grapefruit, bananas, guavas, pineapples, mangoes, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, rice and yams.
3. Chocolate originated from the rainforest.
4. 25% of pharmaceutical products are derived from rainforest ingredients.
5. 25% of the active ingredients in cancer-fighting drugs come from rainforest organisms.
Rainforests once covered 14% of the Earth’s land surface, and now only cover 6%. In the last 50 years, half the world’s rainforests have been destroyed through burning off for commercial agriculture, and cutting down trees for the logging industry.
Following is a list of the dangers that rainforests face. Discuss each danger with students in the light of whether they are preventable or not: logging, cattle ranching, mining, soil erosion, river pollution, floods, and disease.
When rain falls in the tropical rainforest, the leaves and vines of the canopy trap much of the water.
Plants absorb through their roots the water that trickles down to the forest floor; the rest of the water runs off into streams and rivers. But when a rainforest is cleared, the rainfall quickly runs off and washes away the humus and topsoil. The rainfall then swells the rivers with silty water that can cause floods downstream.
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Demonstrate the effects of erosion by comparing the effects of rainfall on soil that is covered in vegetation (garden) and soil that is bare of vegetation (sandpit). Spray each area with a mist from a garden hose or from a watering can. Have students observe how the vegetation of the garden holds the soil together and absorbs water, whereas in the sandpit water quickly runs off the soil in the sand pit and takes particles of soil with it.
Divide the class into three groups—a ‘Yes’, ‘Don’t know’ and ‘No’ group—to debate the question
‘Logging of rainforests should be banned’. Give the
‘Yes’ group time to research conservation issues that support logging being banned. Direct the ‘No’ group to look into uses for timber and the benefits of logging. Have the ‘Don’t know’ group prepare questions to ask each group about the logging issue.
Sit the ‘Don’t know’ group between the other groups. Give the ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ groups an opportunity to present their cases before the ‘Don’t know’ group asks questions. The students in the
‘Don’t know’ group are to choose which side they agree with and join their group.
There are many organisations committed to conserving rainforests. Encourage students to find out more about these organisations, their aims and objectives, and their approaches towards achieving their goals. The Internet is a valuable resource for finding out up-to-date information about rainforest conservation organisations.
Use BLM 9 and
BLM 10 to encourage students to document and communicate their rainforest concerns.
Provide support for those students who wish to follow through with the action plans on
BLM 10 .
Celebrate the learning that has taken place in your classroom by asking parents, other students and interested school community members into your classroom to view the ‘rainforest’. Display all of the students’ work, including their rotting leaves experiment and housing models. Invite each student to report on one aspect of the rainforest unit. They might like to perform their poem, debate a rainforest conservation issue, report on the results of the rotting leaves experiment, and so on. Play rainforest music in the background, and encourage visitors to stay afterwards, view all the displays and provide feedback to students.
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BLM 1
Name:
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Date:
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The major tropical rainforest regions of the world are marked on this map.
The map labels the continents where rainforests are found, but not the countries.
Use your atlas to find out the names of the countries that are shaded on this map. Label them.
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BLM 2
Name:
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Date:
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Use these words as a beginning for your rainforest glossary.
Research to find brief definitions for the words. On the back of this sheet, add more words and definitions that you think will be useful.
canopy
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debris
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decompose
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deforestation ..........................................................................................................................................................................................
ecosystem
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emergent
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endangered
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fungi ...............................................................................................................................................................................................................
germinate
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greenhouse
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herbivore
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humus
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logging
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photosynthesis
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rainforest
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seedling
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shrub
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temperate
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tropical
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understorey
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This page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.
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BLM 3
Name:
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Date:
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These are the average monthly temperatures and rainfall in a typical rainforest in Brazil. Graph them onto the climatogram.
Month
Temp ºC
Rainfall cm
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
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27
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27
10
28
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28
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28
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28
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Now see if you can answer these questions:
1. Which month has the highest average rainfall?
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cm
2. Which month has the lowest average rainfall?
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3. How much rain fell throughout this year?
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4. What does ‘average monthly temperature’ mean?
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J F M A M J J A S O N D
Tropical Rainforest (Brazil) Climatogram
Bar graph: average monthly rainfall
Line graph: average monthly temperature
º C
-20
-24
-28
-32
-36
0
-4
-8
-12
-16
20
16
12
8
4
36
32
28
24
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This page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.
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BLM 4
Name:
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Date:
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Tropical rainforests do not have the four seasons that cooler climates have. The changes are more subtle, and average temperatures stay much the same.
Research to find out the conditions in a tropical rainforest at the different times of year.
Write keywords that describe each ‘season’ into the boxes below. Use these keywords to help you write a script for a nature documentary on a tropical rainforest, or to design a poster showing how the rainforest’s climate changes throughout the year.
November to January February to April
April to June July to November
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BLM 5
Name:
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Date:
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When an old tree grows heavy with the weight of massive vines and epiphytes (plant parasites), it crashes to the ground. The leaves, twigs and bark are eaten by beetles, mites and tiny invertebrates. Fungi break down the harder wood, and wood-eating insects help them do it.
Possums and jungle fowl scratch through the remains of the decomposing tree as they look for insects. Then worms, millipedes and micro-organisms break down the tree further until it becomes nutrient-rich soil.
Other plants absorb these nutrients through their roots. The nutrients become part of a living plant again!
epiphyte
Draw and label a diagram of what happens to the tree when it dies.
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BLM 6
Name:
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Date:
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Aim: (What would you like to find out about how leaves rot?)
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Materials: (What will you need to carry out the experiment?)
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Method: (How will you carry out the experiment?)
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Results: (What happened?)
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Conclusions: (Think about the results: what happened and why?)
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BLM 7
Name:
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Date:
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Do some research to find out how the energy chain works. Add the information into the diagram below, so that it describes what happens at each stage.
Energy from the sun
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Plants
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Decomposition
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Carnivores
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Herbivores
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BLM 8
Name:
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Date:
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BLM 9
Name:
................................................................................................................
Date:
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Draft an email saying what you think about the conservation of rainforests.
Who will you send it to? An environmental group? The governments of rainforest countries? Logging companies?
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This page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.
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BLM 10
Name:
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Date:
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Brainstorm a conservation action plan with your friends to help protect our rainforests. Fill in your ideas under each heading.
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This page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.
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