Rainforest Jamboree November 7-11

We headed to the steamy Amazon Rainforest in South America to learn about many of its unique inhabitants.

We read an all-time favorite book about the rainforest calledThe Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. We were introduced to many animals of the Amazon Rainforest and empathized with their plight- a man arrived to chop down the tree in which they lived. We were so happy when he dropped his ax at the end and walked out of the forest without chopping down the tree. The animals made a great case for not chopping down the tree.

Using our hands as the leaves, we designed kapok trees- majestic trees of the tropical rainforest, home to many rainforest creatures. We cut trunks out of brown paper and glued them onto a heavy piece of paper. Next, we painted our hands and printed them on our tree.

The Rainforest Grew all Around  by Susan K. Mitchell was another story about a kapok tree and its inhabitants.

We played, "Mr. Caiman, Can I Cross Your River, Please?". Caimans are members of the crocodilian family. They live in the rivers and lakes of the Amazon Rainforest. We took turns being Mr. Caiman. We had to ask permission to jump over his river made with two jump ropes or strips of masking tape. Players asked, "Mr. Caiman, can I cross your river, please?" "Mr. Caiman" responded with, "Only if you’re wearing _________ (a certain color or certain piece of clothing)".

We used eye droppers and diluted paint to create beautiful Blue Morphos- iridescent blue butterflies from the South American Rainforest. Butterflies are symmetrical, so we folded our paper in half and then opened it up and dripped a few drops of different shades of diluted blue paint onto the paper.  We then refolded the paper and smoothed it with our hands. When we opened it up, a beautiful butterfly appeared. When dry, we cut around the wings and mounted it on construction paper.

We met many more charming rainforest creatures in Jan Brett's book, The Umbrella. This book probably got most votes for favorite this week.

To the tune of "Five Green Speckled Frogs", we sang and dramatized:
Five red-eyed tree frogs (Hold up 5 fingers)
Sitting in the rainy fog (Make raining motion with fingers of both hands)
Eating some most delicious bugs,
(Fingers to mouth as if eating)
Yum, yum. (Rub stomach)
One jumped into the pool
(Point finger up and then down as in jumping)
Where it was nice and cool (Use hand as fan)
Then there were four red-eyed tree frogs.
(Hold up 4 fingers)
Four...Three...Two...One...

We chanted about a humongous snake from the rainforest. A boa constrictor can grow to be up to 13 feet long. They squeeze their prey and then stretch their jaws wide to swallow large prey whole. It was fun to sing and play with the  parachute. To the tune "Wheels on the Bus", we sang:

I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor,
a boa constrictor, a boa constrictor,
I’m being swallowed by a boa constrictor,
and I don’t like it very much.
Oh, no. Oh, no. He swallowed my toes.
Oh gee, oh gee. He’s up to my knees.
Oh my, oh my. He’s swallowed my thighs.
Oh fiddle, oh fiddle. He’s up to my middle.
Oh bleck, oh bleck. He’s reached my neck,
Oh dread, oh dread. He’s swallowed my head.
I’ve been swallowed by a boa constrictor,
a boa constrictor, a boa constrictor.
I’ve been swallowed by a boa constrictor,
and I don’t like it very much!

One thing we get from the rainforest that a lot of people couldn’t live without is coffee beans. We had coffee beans to play in- we poured them, measured them, scooped them, put them in containers with lids and shook them (they make a great sound!). If we didn’t know it already, we discovered something else- they have a really strong smell!

Many bright colored birds live in the canopies of the Amazon rainforest- toucans, macaws, and cock-of-the-rock. They like to eat fruit, seeds and nuts. We mixed together some dried fruits like raisins, banana chips, pineapple, papaya and mango, added some nuts and chocolate chips to create a "Macaw Mix" of special treats from the rainforest. We used different kinds of "bird beaks" to eat our treats. We had toothpicks to poke the soft fruit, clothespins for pinching nuts and spoons for scooping.

The Amazon rainforest is filled with many primates-
We went swinging with the monkeys in the trees. As we swung, we chanted:
Five little monkeys swingin’ in a tree.
(swing arm to side with five fingers hanging down)
Teasing Mr. Crocodile,
“You can’t catch me! You can’t catch me!”
(thumbs in ears, wiggle fingers)
Along comes Mr. Crocodile,
(one hand on top of the other, moving as a crocodile)
Quiet as can be…
(finger to lips as in shhhhh)
SNAP!
(clap hands together)
Four little...Three little...Two little…One little…
No little monkeys swingin’ in a tree
(swing arm with fist hanging down)
But here comes Mr. Crocodile as fat as he can be!
(both arms out in front as in “fat”)

The rainforest teems with an abundance of insects. Leaf cutter ants march through the rainforest carrying up to ten times their own weight in leaf pieces to take back to their underground nests.

We sang “The Ants Go Marching”.
We even made up some of our own verses!
The ants go marching one by one, Hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one, Hurrah, hurrah!
The ants go marching one by one
The little one stops to play the drums
And they all go marching
Down, to the ground
To get out of the rain
Boom, Boom, Boom...
 
Two by two...
The little one stops to tie his shoe

Three by three...
The little one stops to scratch his knee

Four by four...
The little one stops to shut the door

Five by five...
The little one stops to take a dive

Six by six...
The little one stops to pick up sticks

Seven by seven...
The little one stops to pray to heaven

Eight by eight...
The little one stops to shut the gate

Nine by nine...
The little one stops one last time

Ten by ten
The little one stops to say, “The End!”

Next, we played a dice game. We were each given 10 leaf cutter ants and a number line with 10 spaces. We took turns rolling a die. The number we rolled was the number of ants we used to place on our number line. The first one to collect 10 leaf cutter ants was the winner. We played again and again.

 We read Jaguar by Helen Cowcher.  Since jaguars got our vote for favorite animal of the Amazon Rainforest, we read this book many times, which endeared us to the jaguar even more.

Jaguars are one of the largest predators in the Amazon Rainforest. A jaguar’s spots that form rosettes on its fur, are like its fingerprints. The pattern of rosettes is unique to each individual jaguar. Our table game, was a giant jaguar. We rolled a dice to place  that number of spots on the jaguar. Some of us just had fun filling the jaguar shape with spots over and over again.

Our trip to the rainforest was a memorable one as always. We'll go back again someday!