People are increasingly spending more time indoors. As much as 96% of our day is spent inside, so consequently, we are experiencing the outdoors less and less.1 This is an unfortunate and unhealthy trend. Nature-deficit disorder, a term coined by Richard Louv in his book Last Child in the Woods, identifies a result of this extreme amount of time spent indoors. Children are not being exposed to nature regularly and are not making connections to their natural world. He points out that the children who play outside are less likely to get sick, be stressed, or become aggressive, and are more adaptable to life’s unpredictable turns. Preparing and teaching a unit about nature provides an opportunity to change this, even just a bit.
In this unit, Kindergarten students will learn about the ecology of tropical forests. The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry will anchor the initial learning. This children's picture book about rainforest conservation, published in 1990, tells the story of a man who is sent to chop down a giant kapok tree. The man falls asleep and is visited by a jaguar, monkey, toucan, and other creatures, including a child from the Yanomami tribe, who each explain how the tree is essential. Ultimately, he is convinced to stop by these various rainforest animals who explain the tree's importance to their survival and the ecosystem, that all living things depend upon one another, providing food, shelter, and life. Lynne Cherry is known for her detailed illustrations and immersive research, including the book’s dedication to Brazilian activist Chico Mendes.
In 1989, Lynne Cherry learned about the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and thought that maybe young people could help to save it. She was attending graduate school at Yale University at the time and wrote The Great Kapok Tree while on a train ride between New Haven and Washington, DC. Soon thereafter, Tom Lovejoy, then at World Wildlife Fund, gave Cherry an artist in residence, and he and the other scientists there provided her with their rainforest photographs to use as reference. Cherry also immersed herself in the "tropical forest" in the New York Botanical Garden. Lovejoy and other WWF biologists, and Brian Boom, the director of the NY Botanical Garden, facilitated her travel to Manaus, Brazil, so she could experience the rainforest firsthand. She explored the vast forest around Lovejoy's research site and sketched and photographed the plants and animals there.
When the book was released in 1990, coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of Earth Day, Cherry told a reporter, "When kids grow up, in another 20 years, they'll be the people making the decisions. If they're raised with these ideas ingrained in them, it will affect national policy. We will have raised a whole generation of environmentalists.” 2
As a Kindergarten teacher in a self-contained classroom at Edgewood Magnet School in New Haven, I find the neighborhood/magnet setting a rewarding environment, with students coming to school each day from a variety of home circumstances and with differences in academic levels. As a result of these variables, the children arrive with differing levels of background knowledge and life experiences. The classroom is a mixture of varied ethnicities, economic strata, and social and emotional strengths and weaknesses. Edgewood is a STEAM school, with our curricula focused on science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. This planned unit aligns with the school’s philosophy. The use of scientific inquiry allows all students at all levels to learn in an inherently differentiated environment, learning new concepts and experiencing science in the classroom and outside, particularly across the street at Edgewood Park. This 120-acre park was designed in 1910 by Fredrick Law Olmstead, Jr., co-designer of Central Park in New York City. The land was donated by several wealthy New Haven residents and named Edgewood after the local farm. With six small ponds and the West River running through it, there are great opportunities for exploration and discovery. There are many trails to navigate around the park, including a sensory trail, and a wetland area with an observation platform for bird watching.
This unit is for kindergarten students to learn about what plants and animals need to survive. The ecology of the Amazon rainforest will be the vehicle to show the interconnectedness of how biodiversity sustains an ecosystem. Students will learn about the flora and fauna of the environment and the relationships they have with each other to survive and thrive. This four-week unit will have them working together on projects as they become young ecologists.
