Amazon Alphabet
Science Activity
The great diversity of life in the tropical rain forest of the Amazon Basin is shown in this activity by having students create an alphabetic Amazon animal mural.
WHAT YOU NEED
- Nonfiction animal books and encyclopedias
- Amazon Animals list (optional to print and copy)
- Butcher paper
- Markers and crayons
- Scissors
- Oaktag
- Assorted colors of construction paper
WHAT TO DO
- Assign each student one or two letters of the alphabet, leaving out the letter X. Ask students to find the names and pictures of animals that live in the Amazon Basin whose names begin with the letter(s) given. Once they find the name, have students read and learn about the animal's lifestyle. You may wish to help students find the names by providing a list of Amazon Animals. Challenge the whole class to find an Amazon animal whose name begins with X. Here are some hints.
- Ask students to draw, color, and cut out oaktag pictures of their animals. Have them label their pictures with the animal's name making the first letter in the name very large.
- Students then create a mural of a tropical rain forest and place their animal cards in alphabetical order on the mural. Display the mural in the school hallway or cafeteria.
TEACHING OPTIONS
- Have students record interesting facts about their animals on the backs of the animal cards. Attach the cards to the mural in a way that people can flip them over and read about the animals. Each day post a new question about one of the animals to encourage students to look for answers on the back of the cards.
- Have students pretend they are the animals they researched and tell about their life in the Amazon. Encourage the rest of the class to ask lots of questions.
- Have the class work as a group to classify the animals by amphibians, arachnids, birds, fish, insects, mammals, reptiles, and/or any other class they find.
AMAZON ANIMALS
A - anteater, armadillo
B - boa constrictor, Birdwing butterfly
C - crocodile, cayman (or caiman), capybara
D - dolphin
E - egret
F - frog (red-eyed), firefly
G - gulls
H - heron
I - ibis (bird)
J - jaguar
K - kinkajou
L - Leaf-cutter ant, lizard
M - Marabou stork, manatee |
N - night monkey (or owl monkey)
O - ocelot, otter, ovenbird
P - parrot, piranha
Q - queixada (or peccary)
R - Red Howler monkey
S - sloth
T - tamarin, toucan, tarantula, Tartaruga turtle, tapir
U - umbrella bird
V - vampire bat, vulture
W - weasel, whippoorwill
X - (the challenge animal)
Y - yapock (or water possum)
Z - zorro (or flag-tailed dog fox |
You may download, print and make copies of this page for use in your classroom, provided that you include the copyright notice shown below on all such copies.
Copyright © 1997 Houghton Mifflin Company. All Rights Reserved.
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