English Blast Unit of Inquiry Lesson Plan
Unit of Inquiry Name: FORESTS
Unit Contributed by: Holly
Duration of Unit (in classroom hours): 4
Target Age Group (in years): 5 - 9
Basic Goals and Objectives: Introduce children to biology of trees; help children   
learn some basic tree identification methods; help children gain an appreciation for forests.
Reference Materials Recommended (texts, workbooks, picture books,
maps, videos, websites, audio materials, etc.): This unit uses the magazine
Click, October 1999 by Cricket Magazines; the book Tropical Rain Forest, by April Pulley
Sayre; The Great Kapok Tree, by Lynne Cherry.
Additional Notes, Suggestions or Comments about the Unit: One class
should be conducted in a forest that teachers visit in advance.
Week 1
Materials Required: Assorted leaves, paper, colored pencils, crayons.  Photographs of
trees.
Class Content and Activities:
  1. Ask the children what is a tree?  Discuss the characteristics of trees -- roots; a woody
    stem or trunk; bark; branches; leaves -- either broadleaf or needle-like; seeds -- from
    cones or flowers.  Explain that some trees are evergreen, and some are deciduous.  
    Discuss these terms and show photographs.
  2. Forest. Read from Click Magazine, (Cricket Publishing) October 1999 -- "Tree Story"
    and "Leaves."  Talk about leaves and show examples.
  3. Talk about photosynthesis.  Have each child select a leaf and do a leaf rubbing by
    placing the leaf under a piece of paper and rubbing the paper with a crayon or colored
    pencil.  Then make the photosynthesis equation on the paper using arrows to show
    CO2 and H2O going into the leaf and O2 and sugar coming out of the leaf with the aid
    of photosynthesis.  Explain the concepts as this is done.
  4. Introduce the concept of rainforest.  Use a world map to find the equator and find the
    tropics.  Show where tropical rainforests are found -- Brazil, Central America, Hawaii,
    Mexico, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Malaysia, Phillipines, Congo, etc.
  5. Distribute copies of Tropical Rain Forest, by April Pulley Sayre (Scholastic).
Homework: Children read Tropical Rain Forest.  Children conduct a tree investigation:  
Choose a tree nearby.  Find out as much as possible about it -- name, broadleaf or evergreen,
flowers or cones, shape of seeds, anything else -- and write about it in journal.  Include a
sketch of the tree.
Week 2
Materials Required: The Great Kapok Tree, by Lynne Cherry.  Tropical rainforest foods
(see Content and Activities).
Class Content and Activities:
  1. Children present reports of their tree investigations.
  2. Read The Great Kapok Tree, by Lynne Cherry and talk about it.
  3. Talk about characteristics of the rainforest.  List on a chart.
  4. Show tropical rainforest plants and foods -- cocoa, vanilla, pineapple, mango, tapioca,
    banana, cashew nuts, coffee, spices (ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon), nuts.  Try some
    samples.
  5. Talk about problems with rainforests being destroyed -- logging, land cleared for
    farming.  List what we can do to help:  don't buy goods made of tropical hardwoods
    (mahogany, teak); don't use disposable chopsticks (wari-bashi); tell others about the
    problems of the rainforest; give money to a group like World Wildlife Fund; buy a tree
    as a present for someone; raise money to adopt a small piece of tropical rainforest;
    encourage people to choose foods carefully--drink shade grown coffee.
Homework: Journal Writing:  You are an animal living in a forest.  Decide what kind of  
animal you are and what kind of forest you live in.  Write about your day.
Week 3
Materials Required: A forest!  Forests with various types of growth are best.   
Bandanas or other fabric for blindfolds.
Class Content and Activities:
  1. Walk into a forest.  Examine the forest floor and talk about decomposing.
  2. Look at the understory and what grows there.
  3. Look at the canopy and what grows there.
  4. Walk through different types of forest growth and observe the differences and
    similarities.
  5. In one section of mixed forest mark a boundary and count the number of different
    types of trees -- in Japan's mixed forests maybe 20 species of trees.  But in a rainforest
    maybe 200.
  6. Blindfold each child and parents lead them to a tree within a small area.  Have the child
    get to know the tree by touch.  Lead the blindfolded children back to a central meeting
    point, take the blindfolds off and then have the children try to find their trees.
  7. Talk about photosynthesis; deciduous vs. evergreen; leaves vs. needles. Find examples
    in the forest.
  8. Consider who lives in a forest -- forest floor, lower canopy, upper canopy.
ENGLISH BLAST!
Homework: In journals, have children write about their experiences in the forest.