Unit 3E, Roles of Living Things

Unit Project: Creating a Tropical Rain-Forest Mural

Learn about the importance of rain forest plants and animals. Find out how people change the rain forest. Create a rain forest mural — a huge picture of the rain forest — for your classroom wall.

Project Link 1 (Chapter 1, p. E25)
Choose a rain-forest layer to research and design for the mural. Share what you've learned with the rest of the class. Find creative ways to decorate the rain-forest mural.

Internet Links
Rain-Forest Layers

Enchanted Learning: All About Rainforests
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/subjects/rainforest/

Public Broadcasting Service
Rainforest Layers
http://www.pbs.org/tal/costa%5Frica/layers.html

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI)
A Photographic Portfolio Taken From the Jungle Crane
http://photo2.si.edu/crane/craneport.html

Parques nacionales de Costa Rica
http://www.nacion.co.cr/netinc/costarica/parques/parquesnac.html

Árboles de Costa Rica
http://www.cientec.or.cr/ambiente/arboles/arboles.html

Tropical Rainforest Coalition Rainforest Mural
http://www.rainforest.org/resources/gallery/mural/mural.html

Project Link 2 (Chapter 2, p. E47)
Learn about the types of animals found in the rain forest. Include mammals, amphibians, birds, fish, reptiles, and insects. Make some camouflaged animals. Then "hide" them in the rain-forest mural. Challenge your classmates to find them. Attach predators and prey to show a food web.

Internet Links
Rain Forest Animals and Plants

Michigan State University
Virtual Rain Forest: Online Rain Forest Tour
http://www.msu.edu/user/urquhart/tour/

Public Broadcasting Service
Take a Walk in the Rainforest: A Self-Guided Tour
http://www.pbs.org/tal/costa_rica/rainwalk.html

Rainforest Action Network—Kids' Corner
http://www.ran.org/kidscorner/

Enchanted Learning: All About Rainforests
http://www.EnchantedLearning.com/subjects/rainforest/

Conservar la naturaleza
http://www.ancon.org/

Rainforest Action Network—Kids' Corner
http://www.rainforestheroes.com/kidscorner/

Art School Online
Draw Rainforest Animals
http://www.drawbooks.com/artschool/23index.html

Chunky Monkey
Rain-Forest Drawing Lessons
http://www.chunkymonkey.com/murals/murallessons.htm

Las familias de insectos de Costa Rica
Mira estas maravillosas fotos de insectos.
http://http://www.inbio.ac.cr/papers/insectoscr/Listord.html

Student Resources

• Producers of the Rain Forest
• Producers of the Rain Forest (continued)
• Animals of the Rain Forest
• Animals of the Rain Forest (continued)

Project Link 3 (Chapter 3, p. E73)
Find out what resources are found in the rain forest. Learn all about why the rain forests are being cut down. Explore what will happen if the rain-forest destruction does not stop. Find ways that you can help save the rain forests. Discuss these ideas with your classmates. Make posters showing what you can do to help save the rain forests.

Internet Links
Rain-Forest Resources

Rainforest Alliance
Rainforest Resources/Facts: Tropical Forest Products in Daily Use
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resources.cfm?id=daily_lives

Rainforest Action Network
Food from the Rainforests
http://www.ran.org/info_center/factsheets/s11.html

Rainforest Alliance
Rainforest Resources/Facts
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resources/forest-facts/tropical-forest.html

Rainforest Action Network
Kids' Corner: Rainforest Heroes!
http://www.rainforestheroes.com

Rainforest Alliance
Rainforest Resources/Facts
What YOU Can Do to Save the Rainforest
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/resources/forest-facts/what.html

Tropical Rainforest Coalition
How can I help?
http://www.rainforest.org/help.html

Student Resources

• Resources of the Rain Forest
• Resources of the Rain Forest (continued)