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Amazon Rain Forest School Project

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Follow the guidelines below to participate in OneWorld Classrooms' Amazon Rain Forest School Project.

(Also: See our Tips for a Great Adventure and Collaboration Tools and Resources for Teachers in the right hand column.)

The project is aligned with EdStep's Global Competence Matrix.

PROGRAM TIMETABLE

The Amazon Rain Forest School (ARFS) Project will take place between February 1st and March 30th, 2012. Teachers who are not completing their Amazon study during the program dates may save program content for future use.

ONEWORLD CLASSROOMS' TRAVELING TEAM OF EDUCATORS

The program coincides with OneWorld Classrooms staff and volunteers traveling to visit Amazon Rain Forest schools in February and March, 2012 (Feb. 24-Mar. 4). The traveling team of educators will be led by: OneWorld Classrooms Director, resident poet and educator, Paul Hurteau (who lived and taught in the Ecuadorian Amazon for one year and has since traveled to the region to visit schools eleven times); and muralist and art teacher, Liza Mills, who has organized school murals at her school in NY and partner schools in Ecuador and Belize. Paul and Liza will lead volunteers on trips to Amazon schools near Puyo and Tena, Ecuador.

LEVEL 1 - FOREST FLOOR PARTICIPATION

Electronic Travel - (Global Competence Matrix Skill: Investigating the World)

All registrants will gain access to the following electronic content via Email, the project blog or the project Web site. These resources are designed to facilitate curriculum-based classroom travel to the Amazon Rain Forest. Teachers may use whichever resources best match their curriculum, grade level and timetable. Registered teachers who are not completing their Amazon study during the program dates may save the content for future use.

OneWorld Classrooms will post some of this content on a password-protected section of its Web site and announce the URL to participants via Email before the program period.

1. Amazon Adventure Team Blog - Our team of traveling teachers and volunteers will send photos, videos, stories and curriculum-based content as they travel to schools in the Amazon and explore the rain forest (starting on Feb. 13th). Sections will include Plant and Animal Watch, Culture Watch, Student Profiles, True and Perhaps Not 100% True Stories, and more.

2. Google Earth Tours - 10 Google Earth tours that trace our team's actual journey to the Amazon and explore your curriculum, with photos, cultural information and activity suggestions. Includes Google Earth tips that guide teachers to get the most out of their Google Earth travels.

IMPORTANT: In order to view the Google Earth tours, classes must have the latest version of Google Earth and a high-speed Internet connection. Teachers may download a free version of the latest Google Earth at http://earth.google.com. We highly recommend that teachers take advantage of this free and extraordinary classroom tool!

3. OneWorld Classrooms' Field Trip to the Amazon, a four-part 100+ slide field trip to Limoncocha, Ecuador, a small village along the Napo River in the Amazon Rain Forest. Through the slides, Amazon children lead your students on a tour around their school, their village and the forest that surrounds their community. Along the way, they'll share many aspects of their daily lives and their amazing, but quickly changing culture. The tour includes poetry written by OneWorld Classrooms project leader Paul Hurteau, songs by children from Limoncocha, and photos of rain forest plants and animals.

4. Videos and PowerPoints contributed by Amazon schools during previous years' projects, featuring Amazon students.

5. The Amazin' Amazon Mystery Animal Poetry Contest

Participating teachers will receive six Emails, each featuring one or more guess-who animal poems written by project leader Paul Hurteau. Paul's goal: to 'stump' your students in a fun and friendly guessing contest (as they learn about and enjoy poetry). The poems will get progressively more challenging until the final 'ultimate stumper.'

In the Emails, Paul will also share poetry writing strategies that he uses in his poems and will provide teachers with poetry writing activity ideas, encouraging students to write their own guess-who Amazon animal poems.

WIN AMAZON CRAFTS FOR YOUR CLASSROOM: Teachers may submit their students' guess for each animal to paul@oneworldclassrooms.org within two weeks of the send date of the original Email. The participating class that guesses the most correct animals by the end of the project will be awarded a set of authentic Amazon Rain Forest crafts* (see below). If there is a tie, one of the tied classes will be chosen randomly. Guesses received after two weeks from the send date of the original Email will not be counted.

Follow-up Emails will contain answers, animal photos and animal facts. IMPORTANT: Since follow-up Emails will contain the answers, teachers must submit their students' guesses within two weeks of the send date of the original Email in order for correct responses to be counted.

PLEASE NOTE: Only teachers should submit Emails. OneWorld Classrooms will not reply to student Emails.

*Amazon Crafts - Contest winners will receive a set of 4 authentic Amazon Rain Forest crafts which will include a combination of the following items: balsa wood carvings, seed necklaces, fiber baskets/bags, tagua carvings and/or balsa drums. The crafts will be mailed one week after the completion of the project (in early April), via regular mail.

6. Rainforest Activity & Resource Emails for teachers, with related classroom activity suggestions, lesson ideas, reading materials, links to valuable online resources and more.

7. Amazon Travel & Learn Online Content - OneWorld Classrooms' free online content contains an Amazon section which includes The Amazon River Elementary School Web Site; the Amazon Classroom Package for teachers; archived E-Travel Logs; Baños: Where the Rain Forest Begins (with Spanish and English content), Amazon student artwork, and more. Available at http://www.oneworldclassrooms.org/travel/latinamerica/index.html.

LEVEL 2 - UNDERSTORY PARTICIPATION (Global Competence Matrix Skill: Recognizing Perspectives)

Teachers who are registered for the Understory level will receive all of the Forest Floor content, plus be able to participate in:

1. Curriculum Exploration with Amazon Peers and Experts

To participate:

Formulate curriculum-based questions your students would like to ask their peers in the Amazon. Classes may send 3 questions each, teams of classes may send 5 questions each and schools may send 8 questions each.
Email your students' questions to paul@oneworldclassrooms.org before February 15th, 2012.
Questions may be submitted in English or Spanish. English questions will be replied in English and Spanish questions in Spanish.
Our team of traveling teachers will interact with students, teachers and experts in the Amazon to create multimedia responses to your students' questions. These may include text, audio, video, PowerPoint or VoiceThread replies.
OneWorld Classrooms will post the multimedia replies on the project blog or the project Web site before March 30th, 2012. We will notify you about how to access the replies to your questions.
All participating classes/teams/schools (who have registered for Level 2) will be able to access ALL replies.
PLEASE NOTE: Only teachers should submit Emails. OneWorld Classrooms will not reply to student Emails.

LEVEL 3 - CANOPY PARTICIPATION (Global Competence Matrix Skill: Taking Action)

Teachers who are registered for the Canopy level will receive all of the Forest Floor and Understory content and benefits, plus be able to participate in:

1. A 'Taking Action' Video Exchange with Amazon Students - US and Amazon classrooms share videos expressing their concerns about their environments, challenging each other to take action and documenting the actions they take in their communities that have a positive impact on their environment.

To participate:

Send a video featuring your students to OneWorld Classrooms, Phillips Academy, 180 Main St., Andover, MA 01810 USA before February 15th, 2012.
Your video should be 8-15 minutes long and include footage of your students: 1) briefly introducing themselves; 2) taking specific action to improve/nurture their local environment; 3) expressing their concerns about their local environment and the world's forests/rain forests or the Amazon Rain Forest in particular; and 4) challenging Amazon students (in a friendly way) to take action that matches their own.
Videos may be in English or Spanish or both.
You/students may edit your video at your own discretion (adding titles, effects, etc.), though it is not necessary to do so. (The videos you receive will have minimal editing.)
Please review the video for appropriate content (for more on this, see our Terms of Use.)
Please burn your video onto a CD and mail it BEFORE Feb. 15th, 2012 via regular mail to:
OneWorld Classrooms
Phillips Academy
180 Main St.
Andover, MA 01810
USA
Include a cover letter or note indicating the teacher's name, grade level, school, city, state/province and country and explaining the content.
We will share your video directly with an Amazon school or we will deliver it to a Peace Corps Volunteer or a teacher who works in one of our Amazon partner schools.
Please send questions or concerns to paul@oneworldclassrooms.org.
We will record and post similar videos featuring Amazon students on a password-protected section of the OneWorld Classrooms Web site and announce the URL's via Email in March.

2. Optional Art Exchange - We will mail all Canopy Level participants 3-5 pieces of Amazon student art focusing on the theme, ' Why the Amazon Rain Forest is Important to Me' in March. You may optionally mail your students' artwork focusing on the same theme or 'Why My Environment is Important to Me' for distribution at Amazon schools.

OneWorld Classrooms will also post 100+ digital images of artwork created by students in the Amazon on the project Web site. Participating schools will gain password-protected access to the images and permission to print them for classroom use.

To contribute art to be distributed at Amazon schools:

Mail your students' art BEFORE Feb. 15th, 2012 via regular mail to:
OneWorld Classrooms
Phillips Academy
180 Main St.
Andover, MA 01810
USA
You may send any number of pieces of artwork (however, you will only receive 3-5 pieces).
Students may use any artistic media (paints, pastels, crayons, etc.) and submit artwork on standard (A4) or legal (A3) or in-between sized paper. Please avoid repetition of subjects (houses, flags, etc.).
Attach a student information label with a paperclip to each piece of artwork (do not glue labels to back of art). The label should list the student's name, age/grade, school, town/city, country, subject/description of the drawing/painting and any comments the student would like to add about his/her artwork or him/herself. Use these labels or your own: HTML -- English | Spanish;
Microsoft Word -- English | Spanish.
If possible, attach a photo of each student artist to each corresponding piece of artwork with a paperclip. (Students in the Amazon will enjoy 'seeing' their peers this way and will value the photo as much as the art.)
As soon as your artwork is in the mail, send an Email to paul@oneworldclassrooms.org to let us know you have sent the artwork.
Send any questions or concerns to paul@oneworldclassrooms.org.

EMERGENT LAYER PARTICIPATION (Global Competence Matrix Skill: Communicating Ideas)

Teachers who are registered for the Emergent Layer level will receive all of the Forest Floor, Understory and Canopy content and benefits, plus be able to participate in:

1-on-1 Skype Sessions

All participating classes/teams/schools will have opportunities to schedule Skype sessions with:

1. Students and teachers in the Amazon Rain Forest. These 30-minute sessions will be scheduled from February 27th through March 30th. They will be monitored by OneWorld Classrooms staff or volunteers.

2.OneWorld Classrooms project leader Paul Hurteau, who has lived and taught in the Amazon Rain Forest and has visited the Amazon eleven times since 1994. These 20-30-minute sessions may be scheduled in March.

3. Amazon experts, including indigenous leaders, indigenous crafts makers, scientists, travel writers and more.* These 20-30-minute sessions may be scheduled in March.

*We will post a complete list of participating Amazon experts and available dates in February, 2012.

We will Email you with details and guidelines.

TERMS OF USE/PRIVACY POLICY

For information about OneWorld Classrooms' Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, including use of submitted artwork and digital content, please visit this page.

CONTACT US

If you require support or have questions at any point during the program period, please send an E-mail to paul@oneworldclassrooms.org.

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FREE TRAVEL & LEARN ONLINE CONTENT

Travel to the world region you are studying from right inside your own classroom, meet students who live there and learn about their languages and cultures. Visit OneWorld Classrooms' FREE Travel and Learn Online content at www.oneworldclassrooms.org/travel/index1.html.

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Artwork by middle school student in Yunnan Province, China

AMAZON RAIN FOREST SCHOOL PROJECT AT A GLANCE

Watch your curriculum come alive as your class travels with our team of educators, from the comfort of your classroom, to the Amazon Rain Forest!
Explore the Amazon - and your curriculum - with our dynamic electronic content: a video 'Field Trip' to an Amazon village; Google Earth tours; E-Travel Logs; our Amazon Adventure Team Blog; resource activity Emails; guess-who animal poems; and more.
Interact with Amazon students: art, multimedia curriculum-based Q & A, video and Skype exchanges.
Seamlessly integrate technology and art into your curriculum
Program timetable: February 1st - March 30th, 2012. The program coincides with OneWorld Classrooms staff and volunteers traveling to visit Amazon Rain Forest schools in February/March, 2012.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

To contact OneWorld Classrooms regarding your participation in the ARFS Project, send an E-mail to: paul@oneworldclassrooms.org. We provide E-mail support, whenever needed.

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TIPS FOR A GREAT ADVENTURE

The ARFS Project is a unique opportunity for your students to interact with children from a very different culture. Start by having them explore their own lives and culture, so they can extend their understanding to their new friendship. Explore how similarities bond us as human beings and cultural differences make us unique. Emphasize that 'different' does not equal 'better or worse.'
You will gain access to a wide variety of Amazon content. Review the content quickly to assess whether it matches your curriculum and needs. If so, review it more thoroughly to determine how you can best integrate the content into your lessons.
Teachers are busy people! Where possible, recruit a parent or two to help coordinate your exchanges.
Art and technology are powerful ways for your students to share who they are, teach about their culture -- and make friends. Encourage them to do their best!
(For art exchanges,) where possible, involve your Art teacher -- or an Artist in Residence, to empower your students to create artwork they will be proud to share.
For a more meaningful art exchange, include student photos, attached to the artwork.

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COLLABORATION TOOLS &
RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

From OneWorld Classrooms

From Other Sources

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