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GRADE 5: Lesson Plans
(click here for corresponding communication projects)

Lesson Plan 1:

Subject:	Costa Rica Curriculum Science (lesson plan 1 / lesson plan 2 / lesson plan 3)
Title:	The Ecosystem of a Tropical Rain Forest - Animal Species
Timeframe:	One week (1 hour per day)
Materials:	Construction paper (all colors), butcher paper (all colors), colored markers, pencils, scissors, glue, toilet paper rolls, and crayons or markers. Also photographs, reference books, periodicals, videos, and slides about rain forest animals.
Objective:	The children will show an understanding and recognition of the variety of animals and insects that coexist in the different layers of the rain forest. The children will also understand how and why the animals and plants of the rain forest depend on each other to survive. They will be able to create replicas of animals and insects existing in the different layers of the rain forest.

Lesson Procedure:

1. Engagement: Introduce the various animal species found in the rain forest to the children by reading the picture book, The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. Discuss the many animals, birds, and reptiles that flourish in a rain forest. The tropical rain forest has as many as 125 species of mammals, 400 species of birds, 100 species of amphibians, and 150 species of butterflies.
2. Explanation and Modeling: Children will then use the resources in the computer room to locate the web site, Tour Through the Rain Forest in Costa Rica, as an introduction to the animal species found in the different layers of the Costa Rican rain forest. Discuss how plants and animals work together to survive in the rain forest. All animals need rain forest plants for food and habitat. Some plants need animals to pollinate them and spread their seeds to other places. Discuss animals the children found on the web site, Tour Through the Rain Forest in Costa Rica. Have children brainstorm about ways these animals and plants might be dependent on each other to survive.
3. Guided Practice: Discuss Bromeliads as an example of the interdependence of plants and animals in the rain forest. Bromeliads capture and hold water in their leaves, providing a source of drinking water for animals high up in the rain forest canopy. They also provide a home for frogs, snakes and insects. Some creatures may live their entire life inside a bromeliad. Have entire class make a bromeliad plus a frog or insect to glue to a leaf. Materials: Toilet paper rolls, green and blue construction paper, pencils, scissors, crayons or marker, and glue.
   
   Instructions:

1. Cut 4 sheets of green construction paper so that one edge has long zigzag spikes like the leaves of a pineapple, and the other edge remains a long continuous strip. Make the leaves of one of the sheets shorter for the top layer.
2. Begin with the shorter leaves. Wrap it around the top of the toilet paper roll so that the leaves extend above the roll. Tape the ends to the roll. Curl back each leaf by curling it around your fingers and holding it a few seconds.
3. Repeat with the other sheets overlapping each layer of leaves and positioning them so that the leaves don't hang one above the other. Curl the leaves and trim any excess construction paper hanging below the roll.
4. Cut a circular shape out of blue paper slightly wider that the top of the roll. Gently push it into the top of the bromeliad.
5. Cut a paper frog or insect and glue to a leaf.
6. Add the bromeliads to the rain forest on the classroom wall.

4. Elaboration: Children will take a field trip by bus to visit the Moody Garden's Rain Forest in Galveston. Children will take a sketch pad and map colors. They will sketch, color and label 2 animals (birds, butterflies, fish) and 2 plants they observe in the rain forest. They will be prepared to share these with the class and be able to tell in which layer of the rain forest their animals and plants are located.
5. Independent Practice: The children will work independently in small groups on their assigned layer of the rain forest (the same layer they were assigned for rain forest plants). The children will draw and cutout the mammals, insects, and reptiles found in their assigned layer of the rain forest. They will add their animals to the rain forest wall beginning with the Forest Floor, followed by the Understory, the Canopy, and the near the ceiling, the Emergent layer.
6. Summation: Each group will report to the class about the animal species found in their layer of the rain forest. The class will view the video, Costa Rican Rain Forest, in summation and preparation to act as guides for other classes to view their rain forest.

Student Product:
The students will invite other classes to visit their rain forest as tourists. Each group of students will act as guides explaining and pointing out the various plants and animals coexisting in their layer of the rain forest. The guides will also explain how and why the plants and animals in the four layers of the rain forest are dependent on each other and work together to survive.

Assessment:
Students will be assessed on their representation and knowledge of the plants and animals in their assigned layer of the rain forest.

References and Resources:
Web site: Tour Through the Rain Forest in Costa Rica

1. http//www.pbs.org/tal/costa_rica/index.html
2. http://www.pbs.org/tal/costa_rica/rainwalk.html

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Lesson Plan 2:

Subject:	Costa Rica Curriculum Science (lesson plan 1 / lesson plan 2 / lesson plan 3)
Title:	The Ecosystem of a Tropical Rain Forest - Plants and Trees
Timeframe:	One week (1 hour per day)
Materials:	Construction paper, butcher paper, colored markers, scissors, and glue. Also photographs, reference books, periodicals, videos, and slides about rain forest plants and trees.
Objective:	The children will show an understanding of the structure, layers, and interdependence of plants and trees in a tropical rain forest. They will be able to create a rain forest depicting the plants and trees of the rain forest from the Forest Floor through the Understory and Canopy to the Emergent layer.

Lesson Procedure:

1. Engagement: Begin the lesson by explaining that a rain forest has different layers of plants and trees that are dependent on each other. Use the rain forest chart in Richard Orr's Nature Cross-Sections as a visual guide to illustrate the four layers. Divide the class into four groups and assign each group a layer.
2. Explanation and Modeling: After dividing students into four groups and assigning each group a layer, have them visually demonstrate their assigned layer. The Forest Floor group will lie on the floor, the Understudy will kneel on the floor above the Forest Floor, the Canopy group will stand shoulder to shoulder on the floor above the Understudy with their arms wrapping around each other, and the Emergent group will stand on chairs with their arms raised above the canopy layer.
3. Guided Practice: View slides of the Costa Rican rain forest. Discuss the rain forest layers and the types of plants, vines, and trees located in each layer. Emphasize to the students the fact that there are as many as 1500 species of flowering plants and 750 species of trees in a rain forest. On the chalkboard list the types of plants and trees growing in each layer of the rain forest. The Emergent layer has giant trees that grow to heights of 250 feet or more. The Canopy layer contains trees standing 60 to 150 feet tall. Their branches form a canopy, or umbrella. Thick woody vines, called lianas, climb the trees in the canopy to reach for sunlight. Epiphytes, known as air plants, grow on the trees of the canopy. These include orchids, mosses, and lichens. The Understory is composed of vines, smaller trees, ferns and palms. They've adapted to poor soil with few nutrients and little sunlight. Among these plants are caladium, philodendron and garden callas. The Forest Floor has very little sunlight and few plants. The floor is covered with wet leaves, leaf litter, mosses, herbs and fungi. There is much decay on this level which returns nutrients back to the soil.
4. Elaboration: Children will use resources in the computer room to locate the website, Plants of the Rain Forest. They will browse through this site observing and noting the types of plants and trees found in each layer of the rain forest. The groups will also use the library resources (OPAC, books, internet and periodical guides) to locate materials about the plants and trees in their layer of the rain forest.
5. Independent Practice: Children will work independently in small groups on their assigned layer of the rain forest. They will draw and cutout plants, shrubs, flowers and trees from their assigned rain forest layer using construction paper and butcher paper. The Forest Floor group will attach the floor vegetation they have made (mosses, herbs, and fungi) to the base of a wall in the classroom. After the floor is complete, the Understory group will add their small trees, vines and shrubs to the wall. Next, the Canopy group will add their trees and vines to the wall, followed by the Emergent layer of trees reaching to the ceiling.
6. Summation: Each group of children will report to the class about the plants and trees found in their layer of the rain forest. The class will view the National Geographic video, Rain Forest, in summation and preparation for Lesson 2 about the animal species found in a rain forest.

Student Product:
After completing Lesson 2 on animal species of the rain forest, the students will invite other classes to visit their rain forest as tourists. Each group will act as guides naming and pointing out the various plants and animals coexisting in their layer of the rain forest. The guides will also explain how and why the plants and animals in the four layers of the rain forest are dependent on each other and work together to survive.

Assessment:
The students will be assessed on their representation and presentation of the plants and animals that coexist in their assigned layer of the rain forest.

References and Resources:

1. Videos: National Geographic:Rain Forest , Costa Rican Rain Forest
2. Slides: Costa Rica
3. Books: The Rain Forest by Billy Goodman, Rain Forests by Lynn M. Stone, At Home in the Rain Forest by Diane Willow, Nature's Green Umbrella: Tropical Rain Forests by Gail Gibbons, Our Endangered Planet: Tropical Rain Forests by Cornelia F. Mutel, Vanishing Rain Forests by Paula Hogan, Adventure Guide to Costa Rica by Harry S. Pariser, and Richard Orr's Nature Cross-Sections,
4. Plants of the Rainforest
   http://www.spa3.k12.sc.us/GuidedTours/Rainforests
   /RainforestPlants.htm

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Lesson Plan 3:

Subject:	Costa Rica Curriculum Spanish (lesson plan 1 / lesson plan 2 / lesson plan 3)
Title:	Proper Manners Towards our Friends in Costa Rica
Timeframe:	30 minutes. One class period.
Materials:	Construction Paper, Name Tags, Clothing for props
Objective:	The students will learn the proper formal way to communicate with Costa Ricans.

Lesson Procedure:

1. Engagement: Ask who can tell the teacher the proper way to say hello to the Headmaster. Now, ask how to greet classmates. Which of these forms is the formal greeting, and which one is the informal.
2. Explanation and Modeling: Begin the lesson explaining that in the Spanish language it is very important to use the formal manner when talking to adults. In Costa Rica people use the formal manner to communicate among themselves, even children.
3. Elaboration: Costa Ricans are immensely respectful and courteous. Politeness is greatly appreciated by being both courteous and patient. Always greet your host with "Buenos Días" in the morning, "Buenas Tardes" when they pick you up after school. It is also important to have eye contact with anyone you are talking to. And never neglect to say "Gracias".
4. Independent Practice: Students will work in pairs to write one dialogue that represent the formal way to communicate with parents of the host children, teachers, and with children. The students will bring costumes to perform. Students will perform the dialogue for the class.
5. Summation: The students will be better prepared to understand Spanish when they visit with their Costa Ricans friends.

Student Product:
Students will perform the situations using the formal interactions.

References and Resources:

1. Textbook, Dime Algo, United State of America: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.

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