Traveling to the Rainforest

Each week we have a new theme.  I always ask myself questions before I plan.  "What do they want to learn?  Where would they love to go?  How will we achieve this?"  These 3 questions open so many possibilities.  So, here we are in The Rainforest.....

The above pictures is poster sized, painted by all our PattyKakes Kidz.  

We talked about each animal that live there and where is "there" exactly.  

We first locate rainforests and discuss what exactly "is" a rainforest.

Now let's bring on the animals...

I told the children that there were just too many animals to learn about in a week, but we would learn about some of the common ones.
  

The Sloth moves very slow. They spend most of their lives hanging upside down. Their fur has green algae that helps camouflage them in the rainforest. There are 3-toed and 2-toed sloths.

The Anaconda is the largest snake alive, but not the longest. Their homes are in the rainforest jungles. They are meat eaters. 
 

(oops mispelled in picture lol)

The Rhinoceros Beetle is one of the largest beetles in the world.  They cannot bite or sting a human. Only the males have the large horns used for fighting or digging. They look like a rhinoseros, that's why they have this name. 
 

The Dart Frog is poisonous.  They love to eat ants and termites.
They are anywhere from a 1/2 inch to 2 1/2 inches. They have beautiful colors.  Predators can't eat them because they taste disgusting and are poisonous.

Jaguars are the largest cat in the Americas. They love to swim and be alone. They eat meat and live in the rainforest jungles.  Some people mistake them for leopards, but they are larger and stronger.

The Toucan is a brightly colored bird. They stand about a foot tall.  They mostly eat fruit in the rainforest.
They make their nests in wholes in trees that were made by other birds like a woodpecker.

Crocodiles are large creatures living in the tropics like that of the rainforest. They eat mostly water animals since they live in the waters. They have been known to grow as large as 17 feet.  Wow, that's long!
(this picture is a 3 foot crocodile painted by the children, and taped to their loft)

Capybaras are the largest rodents of the world. They live near bodies of water in the dense forests.  The love to be in large families of other capybaras. They are just like our guinea pig pets but much larger. They are plant eaters and love grass, bark, and leaves.

Look I am learning to cut out a sloth!

Time to study and create our own
Anacondas

   Look how their anacondas wrap themselves around.

 

 J is for Jaguar

Our learning was so full this week.  Check out some of these pictures of how we displayed their work.

                Snakes and crocodiles on their loft.

Their bulletin board had pictures they colored, and they all made books on the Amazon Rainforest.   

As you will see, we snuck in some painting of Christmas ornaments.  Totally unrelated, but so much fun to do.  We also snuck in a class on germs, since the coughing sneezing season is upon us.

WOW, this was a fun week at the Rainforest.

Until our travels to the Arctic! Brrrrrrr!!!

♥ PattyKakesKidz ♥