Brazil is the home of the Amazon rainforest, perhaps the most biodiverse land habitat in the world.
Learn about Brazil. Begin by creating a mind map about Brazil. We used ConceptDraw MINDMAP 5 Pro, but you can use markers and white boards. Start with what students already know and add to it as you study.
Online resources:
- You might need a printable outline map of Brazil.
- Edhelper has a collection of printable worksheets for Brazil, ranging from tracing to reading comprehension passages.
- An ecology report for Brazil is just right for middle school readers.
- One of my favorite books for Brazil is The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest, by Lynn Cherry. AtoZ Teacher Stuff has is an ecology- oriented lesson for the book. TCR does one of their excellent literature units for this book, too, if you wanted to go into more depth.
- The Portugese language is spoken in Brazil. Learn some Portugese songs.
- Carneval is a time for fun and frolic, and Rio de Janeiro is a famous spot to celebrate Carneval. Read tourist information or study the religious roots of the custom. Lent, the 40 days before Easter, is traditionally a time of fasting, so Carneval (or Carnival in English) is a way of saying goodbye to meat. Brazil celebrates for four days before Lent.
- Learn about soccer, an important sport in Brazil.
- The samba is a traditional dance of Brazil. Try it out, or click that link for a serious social studies unit on the subject.
Books:
- For younger students, Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme is fun. Young children can also enjoy Brazilian music, simplified soccer, and pictures of rainforest animals.
- The Rainforest Grew All Around is a beautiful book for young students.
- Rainforests: An Activity Guide for Ages 6-9 includes several projects focusing on South American rainforests.
- The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest is a wonderful picture book.
- Jan Brett’s The Umbrella is set in the Amazon, but actually in Costa Rica. Since the Amazon doesn’t respect political boundaries and we love this book, we’re tucking it in here. Make a rainforest mural for your classroom or print out masks to use with the book.
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This is an excellent collection of resources to jumpstart a classroom study of the world’s rainforests. I like the mindmap you’ve created! Posting this in a prominent place in the classroom can serve as a visual “roadmap” of so many topics to study, creating that excitement within kids of, “Wow! What are we learning next?” And perhaps the best way to wrap up a rainforest unit is to adopt an environmental stewardship group!
That’s a great idea!