At The Rainforest Site, we hope to foster an understanding of the delicate nature of our environment through education and awareness as well as the simple act of saving rainforest land. You and our charitable partners are doing a big part of the work. When you click the "Preserve Endangered Land" button and see our sponsors' ads, funds are generated to save rainforest ecosystems and their inhabitants. But what of the future? With a good understanding of the amazing interconnections within ecosystems, and how our actions affect them, our children can do even more to save the natural wonders that exist around the world. Help students get involved!

Mrs. Grybb's 4th Grade Class

The Rainforest Site recently received twenty-two wonderful posters from a class in Orange Park, Florida. Each poster viewed the beauty, diversity, and majesty of the rainforest from a different student's eyes. The accompanying letter asked if there was something we could do, here at The Rainforest Site, to help these students get the word out about the rainforest that is so rapidly slipping away. How could we say no? We decided to show the posters to the world. During the month of May, we will display a new poster every day from Mrs. Grybb's classroom. Imagine if we could all share in this classroom's dream. What a wonderful world it would be!

The Project:

"After reading The Great Kapok Tree, written by Lynne Cherry, a fourth-grade class of twenty-two students at Lakeside Elementary School in Orange Park, Florida, wanted to make a difference. The class feels very strongly that the rainforest should be preserved, especially after learning about the ongoing web of life that exists in this special habitat. Each student illustrated a poster with hopes of advertising how beautiful and important the rainforests are to our world. Their teacher, Mrs. Meghan Grybb, contacted The Rainforest Site after her students asked if their posters could be displayed somewhere where people could see them and be inspired to help. Please join these extraordinary students in their quest to save this endangered habitat!"

Lesson Plans

Below are a list of lesson plans that are unique to The Rainforest Site. Created by our caring staff, we hope that students and teachers alike will find these lessons exciting and useful. Please feel free to tailor them to your classroom's needs, and spread the culture of peace to the next generation.

Lesson: Raindrops on Roses: Water Cycles (click to download)

            Subject: Science & Social Studies

            Grade Level: Tailor to elementary or secondary

Lesson: A World of Change (click to download)

            Subject: Science & Social Studies

            Grade Level: Tailor to elementary or secondary

More Teacher Resources

Smithsonian Education : A rich collection of information for teachers and students. Be inspired by a wealth of innovative and deeply informative resources from multiple subject areas and grade levels, perfect to explore at home or in the classroom.

Raintree Nutrition : Need help writing a report on the rainforest? This site includes links to help you with your research, including information on what you can do to help preserve the rainforest.

Kid Territory at the San Diego Zoo : At this site, you can find fun science experiments you can perform at home, recipes, and games. You can also submit artwork and writing samples, and find information on animal husbandry, conservation, and other zoo-related topics.

Amazon Interactive : Online games and activities about the Amazon and indigenous ecotourism development. Find out how rainy the rainforest actually is, and who lives there. Learn about indigenous agriculture in the rainforest. Play the ecotourism game.

The CIA World Factbook : A public resource that includes facts and statistics about countries all over the world.

Some Books About Our Environment

The Lorax (children's picture book) Dr. Seuss. Random House Books, 1971. Elementary.

Classic children's parable. A boy learns the story of the mighty trees and wonderful animals that once lived around his home and the Lorax, a creature who spoke for them. Now the trees and creatures are gone, but the boy is given a gift for the future.

Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice: An Ethnobotanist Searches for New Medicines in the Rain Forest (nonfiction) Mark J. Plotkin. Penguin Books, 1993. High School and Above.

A fascinating tale full of information about the Amazon and its inhabitants. Mark Plotkin, inspired by the famous Professor Richard Evans Schultes, goes to the Amazon to study ethnobotany with various indigenous tribes. He finds that the knowledge he seeks is fast disappearing with the forest and the cultures, and desperation drives him to find a way to save that knowledge.

The Man Who Planted Trees (fiction) Jean Giono. Chelsea Green Publishing, 1985. High School and Above.

The tale of a single man's effort to re-forest a desolate valley, told from the perspective of a man in need of healing who finds the gentle tree-shepherd and watches the difference he makes over the years.