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Stewardship and the Rain Forest (4th Grade)

Lesson 1:

From Unit Stewardship and the Rain Forest (4th Grade)

Lesson

Handouts

Academic Standards

Philanthropy Framework

3rd-5th Grade

Subjects:

Language Arts, Library / Technology and Social Studies

Key Words/Concepts click to view

ELA:	Great Kapok Tree (The); Expository Writing; Non-Fiction Literature; Reading; Understanding/Interpretation
PHIL:	4 lesson genOn; Common Good; Environmental Stewardship; Giving; Responsibility; Stewardship
SCI:	Environment; Nature
SOC:	Geography

Focus Question(s):

What is each person's responsibility for environmental stewardship?

NOTE: Prior to this lesson, use the Blue Sky Activity in which students envision a better world. If you already have a Blue Sky display, revisit it before beginning this lesson.

Purpose:

This lesson will familiarize students with the concept of stewardship and the practice of stewardship by problem solving actions an individual or group can do to take care of our natural environment.

Duration:

One Thirty-Minute Class Period

Objectives:

The learner will:

define stewardship and explain that good stewardship is necessary to maintain the environment.

define rain forest, use rain forest-related vocabulary, and name flora and fauna that live in the rain forest.

write a description of a beautiful place.

Materials:

The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry (see Bibliographical References)
Amazon Rain Forest (CD) or any CD or midi file from the Internet that has rainforest sounds to play in the background (see Bibliographical References).

Instructional Procedure(s):

Anticipatory Set:

Listen to the sounds of the rain forest. Ask students to be prepared to list the animal sounds heard when the selection is complete.

Review the fundamental democratic principles and common good.

Define stewardship as the wise management and use of personal resources (natural resources and financial resources) for the benefit of all. Discuss what it means to be a good steward of the earth. Why is it important? Include a discussion of irreplaceable resources.

Read aloud The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry. Review the vocabulary words (rain forest, oxygen, and layers of the rainforest, emergent layer, canopy, understory, forest floor and deforestation) as they appear in the story.

Tell students that we are stewards or the caretakers of the earth. Ask students to write a detailed description of a natural place they think is beautiful. Then, have the students write some of the activities of stewardship that are necessary to keep that place beautiful, natural, and healthy. Students should include the term stewardship and its definition in their writing.

Assessment:

Students’ paragraphs should use and define the term stewardship and give examples of responsible stewardship that is necessary to maintain irreplaceable resources and natural beauty.

Learning Link(s): (click to view)

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These Learning Links provide ten quick-and-easy, five-minute mini-lessons to promote student thought and dialogue about service and civic engagement. You may use as many of them as you wish, and in whatever order best meets your needs and the interest of your students. The purpose of these mini-lessons is to provide a deeper understanding of philanthropy (the giving of time, talent, and treasure for the common good) and to reinforce the lesson focus. These Learning Links also promote the development of character traits, civic engagement, and student leadership. As appropriate to your grade level, it is recommended that students play an active leadership role in presenting these mini-lessons to their classmates.

1. READ: Why do people throw trash on the ground? When some people see litter already on the ground, they think it’s OK to throw their litter there too. Some think it is okay to litter because someone is paid to pick it up. Some think that people who are being punished will pick it up. Some people think that because it is not their property they don’t have to be careful with their trash. While people would never throw trash in their own yards or dump it in their house, some don’t think twice about tossing it out the windows of their car. Some just leave their trash in public parks or on public beaches. Some toss it on the floor in a public restroom. “Be kind to your environment” means both at home and away!
DISCUSS: Based on what I just read, how is the saying “litter attracts litter” true? Why do you think some people are more careful of what they do with their trash at home than they are when they are away from their home? How is our Earth Day service project being kind to our environment both home and away?

2. READ: There are many animals in danger of becoming extinct. That means that they are disappearing from the Earth. The dinosaur is an example of an animal that has become extinct. Have any of you ever heard of the pygmy hippo? The Yangtze River Dolphin? The Loris? The Bumblebee Bat? These are a few of the animals that are now on the “almost extinct” list. But if we never heard of them why do we care if they disappear?
One scientist put it this way, “It’s like flying in an airplane. All of a sudden one of the rivets on a wing breaks loose. It weakens the other rivets. Soon another rivet breaks loose. Before long the whole plane is in danger of crashing. Our environment is like that. When one animal becomes extinct it’s not long before another one does. Pretty soon our environment could come to a crashing stop.”
DISCUSS: Our Earth Day service project is about caring for our environment. Why is it important that we do what we can for our school and /or our community environment? How is what we are doing going to help keep our environment from “crashing”? Is there anything we can do to help keep plants and animals from becoming extinct? If so, how? If not, why not?

3. READ: Gas prices are rising! Global warming is a threat! People are not getting enough exercise! For a growing number of people, these are good enough reasons to use their bicycle to get to and from places and leave their cars at home. May is National Bike Month. The third Friday of May each year is chosen as National Bike to Work Day. It is the final day of Commute another Way Week. Promoters of these events hope that people will begin to think outside the driver's seat. Every time you ride your bike instead of having someone drive you, you are being Earth-friendly.
DISCUSS: How is riding your bike instead of having someone drive you places Earth-friendly? How is riding your bike being friendly to yourself? During Earth Day, what other ways are we trying to be both Earth-friendly and friendly to ourselves?

4. READ: A wooden sign posted at the entrance of a State Park reads, Take only pictures, leave only footprints.
DISCUSS: If you were to read this sign before entering this State Park, what would you think it is trying to tell you? What do you think a State Park would like if everyone ignored this sign? What would you do if you found litter in this State Park? How is our Earth Day service project trying to leave only footprints everywhere?

5. READ: Long before explorers came to North America, Native Americans lived on the land. They believed everything in the world was very important. They honored, respected, and took good care of everything from the tallest mountain to the smallest plant and insect. They understood they were a part of everything and everything was a part of them. They believed that they were one with the Earth. Because they believed this they were very careful to take from the Earth only what they needed. For example, if they needed food they would hunt for buffalo. They would eat the meat from the buffalo. They would use the buffalo’s skin to make their houses and clothes. They would use the buffalo’s bones to make tools and weapons. Nothing was wasted.
DISCUSS: What do you think it means to be “one with the Earth”? Can you think of anything our Earth provides that we don’t take good care of? During our Earth Day event what are we doing to show that we honor and respect our Earth?

6. READ: We use an umbrella to keep us dry in the rain. We use sunscreen to protect us from sunburn. We wear a life jacket to keep us safe in the water. We wear coats, hats, and mittens to protect us from the cold and keep us warm. We do many things to keep ourselves comfortable and safe. Sometimes we need to be reminded to take our umbrella, to put on sunscreen, and to wear our life jackets, coats, hats, and mittens.

DISCUSS: What are we doing for Earth Day that might help keep our world more comfortable and safe? Why is our Earth Day service project a good way to “remind” everyone that we need to do what we can?

7. READ: On Monday our school playground was pretty trashed. There was an art fair there on Saturday, and Sunday was a very breezy day. Most of the trash from the fair had blown against the fence. My friend and I could see Mr. Arens, our school custodian, picking up the trash along the fence. His barrel was getting pretty full. Our class had decided to plant flowers along the fence as our Earth Day project this year. Picking up trash wasn’t part of our project, but we asked our teacher if we could help Mr. Arens pick up the trash. She seemed happy that we asked and said “yes.”
DISCUSS: Why do think these two students offered to help Mr. Arens even though it was not a planned part of their Earth Day project this year? Why do you think the teacher seemed happy that they offered to help? What are some things we could do during our Earth Day service project that are not part of our class’s plan for this year?

8. READ: Cassie doesn’t like bananas. Her father broke his arm when he slipped on a banana peel someone had carelessly dropped on the ground.
Andrew doesn’t like bubble gum. The veterinarian said that Shadow, Andrew’s pet cat, got sick after eating some bubble gum that someone had thrown on the ground.
Mr. Rodriquez’s class does not like seeing trash on the playground. When it is their class’s assigned day to pick up the litter on the playground during recess, it takes so much time they don’t have time left to play.
Mr. Covey doesn’t like cigarettes. They are bad for people’s health, and people throw their cigarette butts into his flower bed.
DISCUSS: There are lots of reasons people don’t like litter. Cassie, Andrew, Mr. Rodriquez’s class, and Mr. Covey had their reasons. Can you think of other reasons people might not like litter? What are some things we can do during our Earth Day service project to help clean up and make things more beautiful?

9. READ: One day Derrick was riding his bike to school. He noticed that someone had dropped a bottle on the sidewalk. Glass was everywhere. Derrick thought about stopping to pick it up, but he rode his bike around the broken glass. He wanted to get to school early so he could play with his friends. When the bell rang, everyone went inside. The teacher announced that Amy’s mother had called. Amy had to go to the hospital for stitches. On the way to school, Amy had fallen on some broken glass on the sidewalk. Derrick felt really sad.
DISCUSS: Why do you think Derrick felt really sad? What do you think could have happened if Derrick had removed the glass from the sidewalk? What could we do during our Earth Day service project to help make things better and safer for others?

10.READ: The class newspaper printed a story about a whale that had beached itself. It told how the whale must have gotten confused. Everyone knows that a whale belongs in the sea not on the beach. Lots of people went to help rescue the whale. People tried to get it back into the water where it belonged. Eron wished she was there to help. But this was happening 1000 miles from where she lived. She thought how exciting it would be to do such a wonderful thing to help nature. On her way to her friend’s house to play, she noticed a small turtle by the side of the road. She got off her bike to look more closely. It appeared to her that the turtle wanted to cross the road. Eron thought that a road was not where a turtle belonged. She reached down and picked it up. Carefully she walked it to the other side of the road and set it down in the grass. She felt good about having saved the turtle from possibly being crushed by a car tire.
DISCUSS: Eron wanted to do something big and wonderful to help nature like rescue the whale. Instead she rescued a turtle. In what way can her rescue of turtle also be considered something big and wonderful? Do you think that there are just as many opportunities to do good close to home as far away? Why or why not? In what ways can our Earth Day service project be something big and wonderful?

Reflection: (click to view)

Reflection plays a very important role in promoting student learning. The following suggested activities are ways to help students reflect on their learning after they have participated in a service event. Choose one or more of the activities most appropriate to the service and your students.

ACTIVITY ONE: Have the students write a paragraph about their personal experience using this prompt, or something similar: “This service project was like a chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk because…”

ACTIVITY TWO: Toss a tennis ball to a student and have that student use one word or phrase to describe or summarize how they felt about their service project experience. After a student has had an opportunity to respond, have him or her toss the ball back to you. Continue the process until everyone has had an opportunity to respond. As always, allowing a student to pass (not respond) is permissible.

ACTIVITY THREE: Give each student an 8 ½” x 11”-sheet of multi-colored construction paper, a pair of scissors, a glue stick/paste and a variety of old magazines and newspapers. Instruct them that they will have a certain amount of time to go through these magazines and newspapers to cut out pictures and/or words that could be used to describe their involvement in the recent service project. Once they have cut out pictures or words, instruct them to place their name somewhere on the construction paper and then glue the pictures and/or words they cut out to the construction paper being careful not to cover up their name. Display these in the classroom. If time allows, have each student share the contents of his or her collage with the rest of the class.

ACTIVITY FOUR: Provide each student with a sheet of construction paper, preferably of five different colors. Have the students cut from their sheet of construction paper, five different geometric shapes; namely, a square, a circle, a triangle, a cone, and a rectangle. Provide each student with a wire coat hanger and pieces of string. Collect all the squares in one pile; all the triangles in another, and so forth. Invite the students to select one of each shape from the piles. On the circle have them draw a face showing how they felt doing the service project on the reverse side have them write a word or two describing how they felt during the activity. On one side of a triangle have them draw a picture of what they did during the service project and on the reverse side write a brief description. On the square, have them list what they think were the affects/effects of the project. On the rectangle have them draw another act of giving or caring they would like to do and on the reverse side ask them to describe what they drew. On the cone have them place their name. Then demonstrate how the students are to attach the strings to each shape and tie the shapes onto the coat hanger to make a mobile. Display the mobiles in the room. If time permits, ask for student volunteers to explain their mobile.

Bibliographical References:

Cherry, Lynne. The Great Kapok Tree. Voyager Picture Book, 2000. ISBN: 0152026142.
Amazon Rain Forest. Madacy Records: 1997. (Audio CD)
ASIN: B00000JNQK.
Learning to Give Web site - Briefing Paper, “Stewardship” found at
http://www.learningtogive.org/papers/index.asp?bpid=61.

Lesson Developed By:

Clare Friend
Curriculum Consultant
Learning to Give