During this unit of study we did so many things!

We were able to use different stamps to make Stamp-a-Stories.

The story wheel came from Linda Holliman. I put the stamps out in their case and the students choose 8 stamps
They use the stamps instead of the words. I use these stamps later in a different center.
My procedure for stamps is 1. free exploration. I just give them some srcap paper and let
them stamp. Linda Holliman suggests using black ink and using colored pencils or markers.
Second idea is writing "stories" or labeling each stamped picture. The last center that
that I do is to sort and classify and pattern stamps. For patterning I have them do an AABB pattern, AAABBB pattern, AABBB pattern, AAA/BBBB pattern, and their own.I have programmed sheets that the kids stamp the correct stamp where it goes. I do this type of center frequently.
Some of the categories that I used for this unit were: Where Do They Live?, Plant/Animal/Other
2/4/No Legs, How Do They move? Look down below in the center idea table for pictures.

There was a poision dart frog, a parrot, a lizard, and a monkey finger puppet to put on plays with.

Songs

The best part of learning about the rain forest was learning the songs.
There are four layers in the Rain Forest "sung to'If You're Happy and you know it"
There are four layers in the rain forest.
Four layers
There are four layers in the rain forest.
Four layers
Forest Floor, understory, canopy, emergent
There are four layers in the rain forest.
(This always gets our blood moving. We sing it over and over and go faster and faster.)

Rain Forests

Books we read:

The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry	A Walk through the Rain Forest	Rain Forest Ride by Scholastic	Colors of the Rain Forest
Colors of the Rain Forest emergent reader set	Here in The Tropical Rain Forest		One Day, chapter book
Who Lives	Flashy, Fantastic Rain Forest Frogs	Nature's Green Umbrella:Gail Gibbons	Rain Forest Activity book
Does it Always Rain in the Rain Forest	Rain Forest by Helen Cowcher	Rain Forest Sticker Book	Rain Forest by Barbara Taylor
RF Stained Glass	Save the Rain Forest	The stencils for my art center.	Rain Forest Animals
This is the 3-D poster from above.	Rain Forest Secrets	The Forest in the Clouds
Here are some teacher created books that I used	Teacher Guide	Rain Forest

Here are the activity cards that go with the rain forest counters.	Here are puzzels and the finger puppets.	The green tube is a rain stick that we made. The small cards are trivia questions that I came up with about the rain forest. The bag are the counters.I saved some copies of the science magazine from Scholastic, like Weekly Readers.	Here are some postcards that I hang around the room.
Stencils for the art center.	I got these free from Wild Republic	Here is the flannelboard for Rain Forest. It is about 3 feet in length.	Here are the pieces for the rain forest flannelboard. I think that there are about 50 pieces in all.
(Outside)I got this at Borders	(inside)It is a 3-D hanging poster. About 3 feet.	R.F. take home bag	For the writing center, we used a question sheet and then drew the answer on anothersheet and glued it on the back.
Here is a pocket chart that I bought.	These are the animals.	Here are all the words that we can use.
I created this book about the days of the week.	This is awriting frame that I use for a classbook.
Here are the stamping sheets:	Number of Legs	Making Patterns	Plant/Animal/ Other
Where Do They Live?	Mammal/Not a Mammal	How They Travel	These are just some ideas.

Emerald Boa	Greenery	Trees	Ant
Tree Frog	Flower	Jaguar	Sloth
Howler Monkey	Toucan	Blue Morpho Butterfly

Jungle Jumble

1 cup peanuts
1 cup Brazil nuts
1 cup cashew nuts
1 cup slivered coconut
1 cup pineapple
1 cup dried banana chips
1 cup dried papaya
1 cup dried mango
Mix all ingredients together in a large container with a lid. Makes about 4 cups.
More fun: explore fractions by varying the measurements of some ingredients. For example:
reduce papaya and mango to 1/2 cups, increase banana and pineapple to 3/4 cups.

Here is amini report that we do.

Here are some links to check out!

A little quiz	Animal information	Rainforest Action Network	Rainforest Alliance
PBS travels to the Rain Forest	Great ideas and downloads	ABC Teach	Enchanted Learning
Compare rain fall	Unit on the Rain Forest	Virtual Rainforest	EdHelper plans
KinderKorner ideas	Eduplace	Teachers Net ideas	Teacher Vison
Listen to sounds of the RF	R.F. Field Trip	RF Lessons	Many Ideas here
Early Childhood RF Ideas	8 Lesson PLans here	Wilderness Classroom	Lesson Plans and Activities
Lesson Plans	Lesson Plans	Many Links	Great Ideas!
RF Links	Rain Forest Activites	Kindergarten ideas	RF for Kids
RF Links	RF Web sites	RF Discovery	Preschool ideas
Classroom site	Ideas from ProTeacher	RF Week	Grow a pineapple