Label: Rainforest
June 4, 2013
Cool Photo: Tiny Monkey
Today’s Cool Photo of the Week is of the smallest monkey in the world - the Pygmy Marmoset. This tiny animals lives high in the canopy of South American rainforests. If you saw one, you might mistake it for a squirrel, with its brown fur, long tail, and its habit of dodging between tree branches - scrambling, and then freezing in place.
A pygmy marmoset is less than 6 inches (15 centimeters) long, and weighs about as much as a stick of butter. This tiny monkey is always on the move because it has many predators, including cats, eagles, hawks and snakes. It uses its long tail to keep its balance as it skitters through the treetops. It is most comfortable living there, where there are many hiding places among the leaves and branches.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 25, 2012
Cool Photo: Canopy Walk
Today’s "Cool Photo of the Week" is a footbridge in Kakum National Park in Ghana (Africa). Visitors to the rainforest walk across this bridge to take a close look at life in the canopy - both plants and animals.
You need to be a brave explorer to cross this bridge, though. While there are hand rails and net walls on either side of you, you are putting one foot in front of the other, walking on a single plank that is just one foot (1/3 meter) wide. And, you’re a sky high 100 feet (30 meters) off the forest floor!
I’m not a big fan of heights; I probably wouldn’t walk across this bridge. Would you want to try?
Posted by: Seymour Simon
September 19, 2012
Writing Wednesday: Amazon Diary
Good Morning, and welcome to Writing Wednesday!
Today we’re going to work with an excerpt from a book called AMAZON DIARY.This is a fictional story about a 12-year-old boy named Alex Winter who is flying down to the Amazon jungle to visit his parents, who are anthropologists working there. When the small plane in which Alex is traveling crashes, he ends up living among an Amazon tribe, and keeping a diary about his experience.
This book is designed in a very unusual way. First, it uses handwriting (supposedly Alex’s handwriting in his diary) instead of printed text. It also incorporates drawings, doodles, and actual photographs of the Yonomami people. We’d like you to read this excerpt from Amazon Diary and as you read, think about ways in which how the story looks affects how you understand and enjoy what you are reading.
From AMAZON DIARY, by Hudson Talbott and Mark Greenberg
Your Assignment: Think about how the illustrations and pictures contribute to the story. How is this different than other books you have read? Then, write a reflection about how using diverse (different kinds of) media affects a piece of writing.
When you are finished, click on the yellow "Comments" below to post your writing. Enjoy today’s visit to the Amazon!
Note to Educators: Today’s Writing Wednesday exercise is designed to use in support of CCSS Reading/Literature Anchor Standard #7: Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem). Amazon Diary is one of the newly recorded and reformatted eBooks available in the StarWalk Kids digital collection. Click here for more information about signing up for a free, 60-day trial for your school.
Posted by: Liz Nealon
