About the Rainforest Curriculum Guide

This curriculum guide is filled with resources to help coordinate a unit about the rainforests. This guide provides non-fiction and fiction picture books, website links, poems about the rainforests, and a chapter books that would be a great classroom read aloud for your Rainforest unit. This curriculum resource guide will be useful for teachers in grades 3-6 because it takes concepts that have been tought in previous grades and builds on the children's knowledge and understanding of their environment. This guide is simple and easy to refer to and will help link you to many resources that can be used when teaching a unit on the Rainforest!

Website Links

SC ETV Streamline

• This website is full of video, video segments, images, and quizzes on the rainforest. This website will be helpful when you are trying to give the students a first-hand look at what the rainforest looks like and the animals that can be seen within it.
• http://search.discoveryeducation.com/
• Type in the search box: Rainforest
• This will then take you to the website and it's Rainforest resources

An Index of Rainforest Websites for Children

• This website links you to many different websites about Rainforests, and groups that are established to protect the Rainforests. It also has websites linked for teachers that will help develop your Rainforest unit.
• http://www.rain-tree.com/links.htm

Rainforest Chapter Book

Jaguar by: Roland Smith

• This book is the story of a young boy named Jake who goes to visit his father in Brazil. Jake's dad is a doctor who is working in Brazil on a jaguar preserve and this leads Jake and his Dad into the heart of the rainforest and on the hunt to find out who is trying to sabotage the jaguar preserve. This book is great for children in 3rd-6th grades and will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the entire book. A great classroom read aloud!

Rainforest Poems

Treasure of the Rainforest

R is for the rain that trickles down my face

A is for the anaconda that slithers round the branches of a tree

I is for the insects that run about the vines

N is for the noises that enchant everyone that listens

F is for the frog that jumps in the swamp

O is for the orange claw of the fiddler crab

R is for the red plant that smells of rotten meat

E is for everyone that watches silent and still

S is for the storm that floods all the trees

T is for the treasure of all rainforests.

In the Rainforest

In the middle of the rainforest

Trees are reaching up so tall

In the middle of the rainforest

I feel so small

In the middle of the rainforest

I am the only person there

In the middle of the rainforest

All the animals screech and stare

In the middle of the rainforest

Vines hang straggled, long

In the middle of the rainforest

Animals sing their rainforest song.

What We Saw in the Rainforest

A flying lizard on a rock, still as a stone

Huge buttress roots like monsters' claws

Curling vines, tight around trees like miniature flumes

A tarantula scuttling – demented

Bush babies, little balls of fur with huge watchful eyes

Snakes slithering slowly, softly, gracefully up trees.

Then a tropical thunderstorm came

–Ptchoum! Pattering rain.Kabourm!

– the lightening came

And we were scared

And could feel the water

trickling

down

our skin.

Nonfiction Picture Books

· Does it always Rain in the Rain Forest? Questions and Answers about the Rainforest by: Melvin Berger
Provides questions and answers to the rainforest and its weather.
· How Monkeys Make Chocolate: Foods and Medicines from the Rainforest by: Adrian Forsyth
Explains the vital role plants and animals play in the rainforest and the cures that can be found there.
· I Didn't Know That Some Plants Grow in Midair by: Claire Llewellyn
A guide to the rainforest plants that grow in the trees of the rainforest, and how they survive.
· Mystery in the Amazon Rainforest: South America by: Carole Marsh
A guide to the rainforests and the mysteries that have been discovered there.
· A Walk in the Rainforest by: Kristin Joy Pratt
A introduction to the rainforests and its plants, animals, and insects.
· Animal Babies in the Rainforest by: Kingfisher Editorial
Focuses on seven animals found in the rainforest and the mother and father of the animal.
· Welcome to the Green House by: Jane Yolen
Describes the tropical rainforest and the life found there.
· Nature's Green Umbrella by: Gail Gibbons
Describes the climatic conditions of the rain forest as well as the different layers of plants and animals that comprise the ecosystem.

Picture Fiction Books

Fifthteen Picture Books

· Tigress by: Helen Cowcher
The story of a mother tiger and her cubs that leave their forest sacuary to hunt. This picture book highlights the efforts of wildlife conservation in the rainforest.
· Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg
When he has a dream about a future Earth devastated by pollution, Walter begins to understand the importance of taking care of the environment.
· Traveling to Tondo by: Verna Aardema
The story of Bowane and his three friends who go on a mission to Tondo to see a wedding. Along the way each is tempted, distracted, and challeneged and this creates for a good storyline. Great read aloud that incorporates native Zaire people and their language.
· Aqassu - Legend of the Leopard King by: Rick Dupri
The story of an African boy who was captured and enslaved to help row a fishing pirogue. Tells the legend of the Leopard King which is a tale from the rainforest natives.
· Rain, Rain, Rain Forest by: Brenda Z. Guiberson
Takes a journey through a rain forest, investigating the plants and animals that dwell there.
· The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest by: Lynne Cherry
The many different animals that live in a great kapok tree in the Brazilian rain forest try to convince a man not to cut down their home.
· The Rainforest Grew All Around by: Susan K. Mitchell
Describes a rainforest, including bugs, butterflies, and more.
Komodo! By: Peter Sis
A young boy who loves dragons goes with his parents to the Indonesian island of Komodo in hopes of seeing a real dragon. Includes factual information about the Komodo dragon.
The Shaman’s Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest by: Lynne Cherry
Kamanya believes in the shaman's wisdom about the healing properties of plants found in the Amazon rain forest.
· The Umbrella by: Jan Brett
Carlos goes into the cloud forest to look for animals, but he manages to miss seeing them even though they have an adventure with his umbrella.
· Who is the Beast by: Keith Baker
When a tiger suspects he is the beast the jungle animals are fleeing from, he returns to them and points out their similarities.
· Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme by: Marianne Berker
Based off a popular series, it highlights the animals and habitats of the rainforest and gives children fantastic views of the wildlife that lives in the rainforest, while telling a rhyme.
· If I Ran the Rainforest: All About Tropical Rainforests by: Bonnie Worth
In rhyming text, the Cat in the Hat introduces the tropical rain forest and the ways in which its plants and animals interact.
· Ant and the Elephant by: Bill Peet
Of all the animals the elephant rescues, only the tiny ant returns the favor.

· Parrot Tico Tango by: Anna Witte
A rhyming book that tells the story of a greedy parrot and the life lesson he learns.