On The Banks of The Amazon by Nancy Kelly Allen: Classroom Activities For
On The Banks of The Amazon by Nancy Kelly Allen: Classroom Activities For
On The Banks of The Amazon by Nancy Kelly Allen: Classroom Activities For
Classroom Activities
for
On the Banks of the Amazon by Nancy Kelly Allen
Classroom Activities
Assign selected words from the story that are grade-level appropriate.
Assign two words to pairs of students. Ask students to create flash
cards that explain and illustrate what each word means. Use flash
cards to create a “rainforest” word wall.
Decorate the tube using crayons or markers. Cut two aluminum foil
sheets that are twice as long at the tube. Crush one sheet of foil into a
long rope and twist the rope around your finger to make a coil. Keep
twisting until the entire foil rope is a coil. Repeat with the second
sheet. Place the two coils into the tube. Spread the foil so that it
reaches from end-to-end in the tube. Cut a circle larger than the end
of the tube to use as a cover for one end of the rainstick. Glue the
circle over the end of the tube so the material will not come out when
the rainstick is shaken. Pour one cup of dried beans, unpopped corn
or dried rice into the open end of the tube. Use more or less beans,
depending on the sound you want. Cover the open end of the tube
with a circle of construction paper and glue into place. Shake!
Shake! Shake!
Allen, Classroom Activities for On the Banks of the Amazon, 3
12. Students will write sentence pyramids to form poems. Use animals
that live in a rainforest.
I saw a parrot.
13.Assign each student a letter of the alphabet. Assign all letters. The
letter “x” may have to be omitted. Students will research rainforest
animals whose names begin with their assigned letters of the
alphabet. The student who receives the letter “P” may choose to
research parrots or piranhas. Students will record interesting facts
on the bottom of a sheet of paper and will illustrate the animal in
the upper section. Arrange papers in alphabetical order and bind
into a classroom book.
Core Content
RD-04-2.0.7
Students will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is
read.
RD-04-3.0.1
Students will explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a
passage.
RD-04-4.0.1
Students will connect information from a passage to students’ lives
(text-to-self), real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-
text - e.g., novel, short story, song, film, website, etc.).
RD-04-5.0.2
Students will identify literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery
or figurative language ( similes, metaphors, and personification).
WR-04-1.1.2
In Personal Expressive Writing,
• Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life
experience by narrating about life events or relationships.
• Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form (e.g.,
personal narrative, personal memoir).
• Students will create a point of view.
Students will sustain a suitable tone or appropriate voice.
Plants make their own food. All animals depend on plants. Some
animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the
plants. Basic relationships and connections between organisms in
food chains can be used to discover patterns within ecosystems.
SS-05-4.4.3
Students will describe how individuals/groups may have different
perspectives about the use of land (e.g., farming, industrial,
residential, recreational).
AH-05-4.3.2
Students will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a
clear beginning, middle, and end. (Literary elements)
AH-05-4.4.2
Students will use a variety of media and art processes to produce two-
dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) artwork.
AH-05-4.2.1
Students will create patterns of movement incorporating the elements
of dance (space, time and force).
Allen, Classroom Activities for On the Banks of the Amazon, 7
Rainstick
Supplies needed:
• Crayons or markers
Supplies needed:
• Crayons (optional)
Liana is a woody, climbing vine that grows on tree trunks in order to reach
sunlight in the rainforest. Rattan, used for making wicker furniture, is
made from liana vines.
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Supplies needed:
• Construction paper (many colors)
• Crayons or markers
• Scissors
• Glue, tape, or staples