Learning Site

El Salvador

Life Outside El Imposible

Key Concept - Interdependence between people and the fauna and flora of a region.

Essential Questions -

How do the people of El Salvador adapt to their environment?
How do the animals and plants interact with each other?

Background Information Available for Teachers:

Slideshow: This slideshow will introduce students to the country of El Salvador, the wildlife of El Imposible and the conservation of the region. An easy-to-follow script has been provided. The slideshow can be downloaded for viewing in the classroom, printed out and read as a story or viewed online with the students.

View On-Screen Download [PDF ~3.2M]
Download Script [PDF ~16K]

Species Profiles: See below for profiles that include that include photos, along with information on habitat, foraging behavior, group relationships, threats, etc.

Ocelot       View on Screen       Download [PDF 80K]
Great Curassow       View on Screen       Download [PDF 46K]
King Vulture       View on Screen       Download [PDF 26K]
Turquoise-browed Motmot       View on Screen       Download [PDF 27K]

Unit-Specific Stories: The Rainforest Alliance has developed two original stories for use with these units. The stories are available to download and print or can be viewed on-screen.

Alex Goes Exploring in El Imposible
English: View On-Screen       Download [PDF ~1.5M]
Spanish: View On-Screen       Download [PDF ~442K]
Portuguese: View On-Screen       Download [PDF ~432K]

Life in San Miguelito
English: View On-Screen       Download in PDF [PDF ~1.6M]
Spanish: View On-Screen       Download in PDF [PDF ~449K]
Portuguese: View On-Screen       Download in PDF [PDF ~441K]

Park Profile: Click here for a basic introduction to El Imposible National Park:

Rainforest Poster: A colorful two-page poster is available for you to use in explaining the layers of the rainforest, its products and the environmental threats facing many rainforests around the world.

Inside the Canopy - Structure and species of the rainforest
Download 8.5x14 [PDF ~2.3M]

Status Report - What is happening to the rainforest
Download 8.5x14 [PDF ~356K]

Rainforest Products - here for a summary of products found in our homes and supermarkets that either originated in tropical forests or are currently produced there.

Profiles in Sustainability - Click here for case studies on companies who work closely with the Rainforest Alliance to ensure that their practices protect wildlife, workers and communities.

Conservation Coffee Summary: An eight-page introduction to the issue, including a glossary of terms. Appropriate for students to read independently. Download [PDF ~92K]

Venn Diagram Template: Click here [PDF ~322K] for a photocopy-ready Venn diagram for use in this unit.

Certificate of Accomplishment - Print out colorful rainforest certificates for your students to commemorate their completion of these units. Download [PDF ~594K]

Great Resources - Check out this page for easy access to additional supplemental materials that complement these dynamic units.

Step 1 - CONNECT (The Concept to Prior Knowledge):

A) Geography and Related Issues: How do you adapt to where you live? How have plants and animals adapted to the climate where you live? Visualization: Show a world map. Identify the location of El Salvador.

Questions:

What is the major body of water bordering El Salvador?

How does it affect El Salvador's climate and weather?

What are the land boundaries?

Where is El Salvador in relation to the equator?

How does that location affect its climate and weather?

What are the major physical features of El Salvador? (i.e. mountains, rivers, deserts).

How would the people living in that environment dress?

Post all of this information on chart paper, an overhead projector or a computer screen for later use in writing activities.

B) Circle Time Activity: Fictional Literature. Read and then discuss The Magic Dogs Of The Volcanoes, by Manlio Argueta. Presented in English, this story by one of El Salvador's greatest living authors, includes a page-by-page Spanish translation. Salvadoran people love to tell stories about the magic dogs called cadejos (pronounced: cah-day-hose) who appear mysteriously at night to protect people from danger.

Ask the children to describe what the cadejos are like:

What do they eat?
Why do they appear?
How do the cadejos help the people?
What other folktales do you know that feature magical creatures like these?

Step 2 - LITERATURE/DISCUSS (Give Expert information Book; Ask Questions):

A) Information Book or Text:

Read The Forest in the Clouds by Sneed B. Collard III. This beautifully illustrated book demonstrates the interdependency between various animals and plants indigenous to a Costa Rican cloudforest. Ask the children:

What animal is found on the forest floor?
The lower canopy?
The upper canopy?
What is an epiphyte?
What plants are found at each level?
What are some of the threats to life in this cloud forest?

Read Alex Goes Exploring in El Imposible: View on screen or download [PDF ~1.3M] of a story about a boy who lives near El Imposible Park describes the park, its flora and fauna, and people's interactions with it. The conservation of parks --including national parks -- is important not only because people enjoy nature, but because of the interdependency of the plants and animals that inhabit parks, and the general role that undeveloped areas play in maintaining nature's delicate balance.

Read People and Places Central America by Marion Morrison; pp. 6-15.

Read El Salvador in Pictures by Nathan A. Haverstock; pp. 7-11.

Read Geography: The World and Its People pp. 174-181.

B) Lower and Higher Order Questions (Bloom's Taxonomy): Exercises and Activities:

List some of the plants and animals found in the rainforest.
List five things that rainforests provide for us.
Describe where plants and animals are located in the rainforest and why they inhabit those particular locations.
Compare and contrast a rainforest animal and plant with an animal and plant native to your town. Suggestion: Use one diagram for plants and another for the animals.
Think of how you could modify your lifestyle and reduce your use of unsustainable products to help protect rainforests. Some thoughts may include the types of purchases you make, the products you recycle, or ways that you might conserve energy.
Pretend that you are a rainforest animal. Describe how it would feel if your home were to be destroyed. Describe where you would go to find food and shelter.
If you were in charge of the rainforest, how would you solve the problems associated with deforestation and pollution from pesticides?

C) Technology Resource:

The World Resources Institute (www.wri.org) This site maintains a great deal of statistical information, including graphs, charts and text on various countries.
Visualization: Songbird Story (13 min. video K-6) Migratory songbirds, including tanagers, buntings and orioles are disappearing. What does it mean for the rest of the ecosystem? Where have they gone? In our backyards in North America, the songbirds' nesting habitats are being lost to development. But is that the whole story? The video is available from Bullfrog Films (www.bullfrogfilms.com).

D) Using the overhead projector or an LCD projector, give an interactive mini-lecture. Encourage students to take notes. You can either use the slideshow available from the Rainforest Alliance or create your own. Points to include:

Deforestation has lead to desertification in El Salvador, and around the world. Without rainforests to retain moisture, the air becomes exceptionally dry, resulting in a general increase in temperature and a corresponding decrease in rainfall, as well as an overall decline in crop yields.
El Salvador has the largest numbers of volcanoes in Central America.
Izalco Volcano earned the nickname "Lighthouse of the Pacific" because beginning in the middle of the 18th century, it erupted continuously for nearly two hundred years.
The region is uniquely rich in Indian languages, with at least 25 still in use. The most widely spoken is Mayan. The Maya civilization and centuries of Spanish rule have left a rich culture throughout Central America. Indian and Spanish traditions are still strong. These influences are reflected in the literature, art, music, dances, festivals and handicrafts of the region. Apart from the Maya, the other indigenous groups include the Izalco and the Panchos. Today, most of Central America's inhabitants are mestizo or "mixed blood".
Spanish is the official language of El Salvador.
Only two percent of El Salvador's rainforest still remains.
El Salvador occupies the smallest amount of land and has the highest density of population of any country in Central America. Most people in El Salvador live in the highlands, where the climate is generally cool and more comfortable.
Birds: Great Curassow: Solitary by nature, this poor flyer, spends most of its time like a chicken, scratching the ground for food. The razor-billed curassow is critically endangered in El Salvador. Threats include humans, large mammals and snakes. Trogons are amongst the most brilliantly colored birds, with over 40 species in the world. Threats include large animals and snakes. Motmots have long tails, lay 3-4 eggs and are predominantly greenish with some blue or black markings. Threats include habitat destruction and snakes. Tanagers, sometimes called "Firebirds," are important to the food web chain because they eat many insects. One tanager was recorded to have eaten 35 gypsy moths in 18 minutes. Threats include snakes, habitat destruction.
Butterflies: Zebra Butterfly: Florida's official state butterfly and a creature of habit, the zebra butterfly sleeps in the same place each night. Morpho Butterfly: With wings that act as solar heaters, they regularly bask in the sun.
Mammals: Ring-tailed Coatimundi: This endangered mammal belongs to the raccoon family. Active by day, it occasionally ventures into local villages and where it is often found rummaging through trash. Enemies include jaguars, boas and large birds of prey. Ocelot: The desirability of this large cat's fur is ever in great demand. Because their markings are distinct, no two ocelots look alike. By night, ocelots stalk their prey both in trees, climbing down headfirst, and on the ground. Spider Monkey (some species are critically endangered): with human-like fingerprints, these monkeys have no thumbs. With a lifespan of about 20-30 years, their enemies include poachers and jaguars.
Plants: After they die, rainforest plants and trees quickly decompose and are recycled by fungi, bacteria and insects. Rainforest trees support many species of bromeliad and orchids. Bromeliads suck water from the air.
Trees: In rainforests, flowering continues year-round. While every plant and tree flowers regularly, they do not always produce seeds. Leaves are usually broad, thick and glossy and come to a point that is called the drip-tip. To keep them upright and steady, trees have a tendency to develop buttressed trunks. The roots enlarge and rise above the ground to form big, conspicuous flat plates that reattach to the trunk. Stilt roots grow out from the trunk or branches well above the ground. Bamboo, an all-purpose plant, is used for cooking and drinking, building materials and to craft spears, arrows and furniture.
Tropical Cloud Forest - As tropical trade winds blow over they Caribbean Sea and adjacent lowlands, this tropical air at higher elevations forms clouds in the forest. Home to many types of plants and animals: Bromeliads, paddle-leaf ferns, schefflera, wild avocado, fig tree (Ficus), bamboo, tanager, shrew, hummingbird.

Students should be given enough background information to begin their research in the Performance Tasks. They should locate information and assimilate it into the various Performance Tasks of their own choosing. Performance Tasks should not reflect a collection of notes taken from the lecture with no independent research.

STEP 3A - PRACTICE (Math and Learning Centers):

Language: Students will write for a variety of purposes and practice oral speaking. Math: Students will practice basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, problem solving, averaging and metric conversions.

A) Reading/Writing (Center) Task: Writing and Speaking Activity.

Circle in a Circle. Give each student an index card (3 x 5 is fine). On the front of his or her card, each student will write three questions about the plants, people or animals of the rainforest. Include answers on the back. There are three types of possible questions: "Fact" questions, "thinking" questions and "opinion" questions. For example: What is an epiphyte?: What would happen if only one type of tree were to be cut down and the other trees were allowed to grow? Do you think everyone should be forced to recycle? When the students have completed writing their questions on the cards, divide them into two groups. One group will form an inner circle, with all students facing outward. The second group will make an outer circle, facing the students in the inner circle. When the teacher announces that it's time to begin, each student in the inner circle will read his or her questions to the student standing directly opposite him/her. The student in the outer circle will reply to each question. Students may confer with each other about any question. When the first student has finished asking his/her question, it is the student in the outer circle's turn. As students are finished, they will sit on the floor to signal to the teacher that they have completed their round of questions. When the entire class is sitting, the teacher will say "turn." Only the students in the outer circle will move clockwise, so that they are facing the next person and the questions will begin again. This continues until the students rotate back to the original student. These cards may be collected for use in designing quizzes or tests.

B) Writing Activity 2: Using poster board or several computers with a word processing program, create class brainstorming lists on recycling. Students must each write/type an idea on how to reuse one of the objects noted on the list. No recorded idea can be duplicated. Keep the lists up for future writing activities. Some example ideas for recycling could be plastic yogurt cups, glass jelly jars, cereal boxes, etc. Alternative exercise: List a variety of everyday products. Have students brainstorm on where these products come from and how they were produced/harvested. Include both rainforest products and processed products. Discuss alternative production/harvesting techniques that would reduce environmental impact, such as sustainable forestry, reduced agrochemical use, recycling, etc.

C) Math Task: Students will create "Math Fast Facts" using information that they have learned about El Salvador and the rainforest. Each student will be responsible for five word problems and answers. When students have completed the assignment, they may either share them with a partner, or write them on the board to share with the class. The word problems can also be sorted and copied onto an overhead or ditto for class use. (Use recycled paper of course!)

Example: Tropical rainforests receive up to 400 inches of rain a year.

How many feet of rain would that amount to in a year? In five years?

STEP 3B - CREATE (Performance Tasks Related to Standard Indicators):

A) Interpersonal Task: You are employed by a children's book company where you have been asked to create a non-fiction picture book about the interdependency of rainforest plants and animals. Write an introduction that includes information some of rainforest animals that are now extinct. Your pictures may be hand drawn, computer drawn or pasted from Internet sources. Document all sources on the last page of your book. Keep the text minimal, providing only identification details along with brief facts. Books should be no larger than 8 1/2 by 11" and no smaller than 6 by 8". Be prepared to read the book to the class and use it as a basis for a class discussion.

Standard: Writing for a purpose, uses visual representation, uses conventions of grammar and spelling, revises, edits and publishes. Understands how species depend on one another and on the environment for survival.

B) Analytic Task: The supporters of El Imposible National Park have invited you to a debate on the rainforest. Your job is to present the advantages of expanding the park. You need to persuade the public and the government to preserve and expand the park while improving the standard of living for local people. Write a persuasive speech detailing the reasons why it is important to maintain and expand the park and how the people, flora and fauna can benefit from this. Be prepared to field questions from the audience (your peers) to defend your ideas.

Standard: Writing for a purpose, writing to synthesize information using research skills, speaking for a purpose. Understands how human action modifies the physical environment.

C) Hands-On Task: You work in the advertising department for a travel agency where you will need to design a brochure encouraging tourism in El Salvador. You'll need to highlight major attractions: El Imposible National Park, volcanoes, cities, and types of indigenous food. You must also include in text or pictures the five themes of Geography: Location, Place, Human/Environment Interaction, Movement and Region. You may design the brochure using Clariswork (Appleworks), creating a word processing document with three columns so that the brochure may be folded. Make sure you use both sides of the paper and be careful to fold the brochure so that information is easy to read and appears in the correct order. Be sure to include photographs and even a map to enhance your brochure. If you decide not to use a computer to design the brochure, make sure you use a ruler to create even borders and align all text and pictures in a visually pleasing and informative way.

Standard: Writing for a purpose. Selects various forms of media to convey information, writes to synthesize information using research skills. Understands how the community benefits from the physical environment.

D) Creative Task: You are an efficiency expert for a major recycling company where you will need to design a recycling program for a household (your real-life home). You will design a program based on the number of adults, children and pets living in the home during a one-week period. Create a chart inventorying the basic use of paper, plastic and glass products. Identify opportunities for recycling (for example, using ceramic plates as opposed to paper). Identify areas where you can reduce the impact of your household's activities by changing to more sustainable products (i.e., recycled paper, environmentally-friendly products, etc.). Keep a log of changes in the family's habits. Measure the average weight of weekly garbage before the project begins and after the week-long recycling program has been in operation, and document any changes. Post all of information on a poster board to be presented orally to the class for discussion.

Standard: Writing for a purpose, writes to synthesize information using research skills, creating visual presentation, speaking for a purpose. Organization, constructs reads, selects and analyzes a graph to represent data, understands that math is a part of daily life. Understands how human action modifies the physical environment.

** www.rainforestweb.org - This has many links to information on El Salvador's agriculture, industrial development and rainforest products, specifically shade-grown coffee.