Related Activity: Using this list, have students go
around your classroom/school, or around
their homes, on a "rain forest products scavenger hunt." Have
them make lists of their
findings.
Math Connection: Once they have lists, put students
together in groups of three or four and
have them make bar or circle graphs of their results. Display the
findings.
If you didn't do 'Fun with
Words,' teach students the meanings of these words encountered in Part
3 of the poem so you can complete the activity suggestions below: chicha
(Quichua) - a widely used fermented drink made with cassava (cassava is
also known as manioc or yuca and is the stuff that tapioca is made
of), sometimes taken as a meal and always served at festivals; minga
(Quichua) - a community work event where all community members work together
to complete a job; barco (Spanish) - a hopscotch-like game where children
also have to kick the stone from box to box.
Project Idea: In Quichua tradition, all members
of the community pitch in during a minga - even the children. If a
community member fails to attend the minga, he or she must pay
a fine. The money from fines is used to buy something that will benefit
the whole community, like a canoe - or goes toward the next festival.
Usually, woman make and serve chicha throughout the course of the minga.
After the minga, children play barco.
So, why not have your class stage its own minga.
Choose a job that will benefit all. Make a chicha-like drink (made from
ingredients that originated in the rain forest), maybe even a snack, to
be served during the minga. Give students an option to pay "a fine"
(perhaps food/drink that can be served at a follow up "festival") in
place of doing the work. After, the minga, have a barco
or hopscotch tournament. If you're successful in making the minga
lots of fun, you'll have taught your students excellent lessons in cooperation
and balancing life with work and play - and you'll have a rallying call
for group projects all year long!
You could even pull all of the above ideas together and host a 'rain forest
feast' or festival.
Rain Forest Mix
Mix together in a large container:
2 cups peanuts
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups cashew nuts
2 cups dried banana chips
2 cups dried papaya
2 cups Brazil and/or macadamia
nuts
2 cups coconut flakes
Rain Forest Sundaes
Add the same ingredients listed
in the recipe above, plus fresh tropical fruit, chocolate or pineapple
sauce and chocolate sprinkles, to vanilla ice cream.
Forest Punch
Mix together in a punch bowl:
2 cups orange juice
2 cups lemon-lime juice
2 cups pineapple juice
(optional: 4 cups ginger ale)
