PRE-K: PRESERVING THE AMAZON

Pre-K Students Support Amazon Rainforest Cause

With the study of the Amazon and the rainforest environment, Jane Leeds’s PreKindergarten class became concerned about the trees being cut down in the Amazon Rainforest. Leeds says they developed so much empathy for the plants, animals, and people of the Amazon that they wanted to do something to help. She says the kids continued to bring up the Amazon and the rainforest with her and explains they had two main concerns about the trees of the Amazon being cut down: – The animals are losing their homes and food sources. – We are losing trees of the Amazon

Rainforest that produce a large amount of the oxygen that our planet needs to stay healthy. Leeds researched organizations that focus on the plight of the rainforest and are working to help. They chose Amazon Conservation Association as their group because its mission seemed to align well with our students concerns.

As part of the project, students posted their finished “SAVE THE RAINFOREST!” posters around the school building. They also created a local fund to help and had the option to do an extra chore at home to earn money for the fund. The students collected the funds to make a donation as a class to the Amazon Conservation Association.

Grace Takase displays her fundraising artwork

Leeds forwarded the donation to the American Conservation Association along with a class photo and a letter explaining the students’ Amazon Rainforest classroom experience.

Some of Amazon Conservation Association’s goals are to protect millions of acres of the last wild places left on the planet, empower local people and indigenous communities to become champions for nature, and put the latest in science and technology to work for conservation. The Mission is to unite science, innovation, and people to protect the western Amazon—the greatest wild forest. •

Science teacher David Schuth introducing the LEARNING ABOUT game, “Pademic Legacy Season 1.” THE RAINFOREST: AMAZON INFO

THE AMAZON GIVES US UP TO 20% OF THE AIR WE BREATHE, STORES 25% OF THE WORLD’S WATER, AND STABILIZES THE EARTH’S CLIMATE.

Tropical rainforests cover less than 3% of the planet, yet they are home to more than half our planet’s terrestrial animal species. Rainforests add water to the atmosphere through the process of transpiration, by which plants release water from their leaves during photosynthesis. Deforestation reduces the moisture released into the atmosphere, causing rainfall to decrease. This is why the loss of forests often leads to drought. Due to the thickness of the canopy (the top branches and leaves of the trees), the Amazon floor is in permanent darkness. In fact, it’s so thick that when it rains, it takes around ten minutes for the water to reach the ground! Because rainforests are so rich in biodiversity, they hold enormous potential for future discoveries. Compounds in rainforest plants are already used to treat malaria, heart disease, bronchitis, hypertension, rheumatism, diabetes, muscle tension, arthritis, glaucoma, dysentery, and tuberculosis, among other health problems. A swath of rainforest the size of 40 football fields disappears each minute. According to Global Forest Watch, our planet loses tropical forestland equivalent to the size of Bangladesh every year. Seventy percent of South America’s GDP is produced in areas that receive rainfall or water from the Amazon. The Amazon influences rainfall patterns as far away as the United States

Cattle ranching accounts for roughly 70 percent of deforestation in the Amazon.

Behind the Curtain

Sycamore’s drama teacher, Courtney Corcoran, reflects on a successful performance of Shrek, Jr.

BY: COURTNEY CORCORAN

As the house lights dim and a hush falls over the audience, students straighten shoulders, adjust costumes, take deep breaths, and get into place for the performance they’ve spent months perfecting. A crew member pulls weighted ropes, and the curtain swishes open, sending a tickle of a breeze whispering through the theater in the few quiet moments remaining before voices swell with song. Theater is one of the few activities in which there is a place for everyone, and each role is pivotal to the success of a show. Without actors, there’s no need for sets, sound, costumes, and make-up. Without sets, sound, costumes, and make-up, the actors are merely people on a stage rather than characters making audiences suspend disbelief and enter a new world for a time. During this year’s performance of Shrek, Jr., students in grades 5-8 who otherwise

may never have spoken to one another learned the craft of collaboration to pull off a spectacular show. I marveled at the students who emerged as leaders, taking charge of a new skill or craft. Backstage, a flurry of activity kicks off as crew members dressed as ninjas take their places in the set-change-dance, just as the actors know their own choreography with sidelong glances to one another to keep steps in sync and as the nimble fingers of the tech and sound crew tap lightly on equipment. The precise timing of movement is key to a fantastic show. Energy. Movement. Art. Being part of a show is life-changing, and being able to bring live theater to students at Sycamore is a gift. It brings so many ways for students to shine, gain confidence, and make new friends. Everyone involved in this year’s musical remains grateful for the transcendent experience unique to being one with a stage, even for just a short time. I heard voices soar, saw students overcome adolescent self-consciousness and embody a character, and witnessed true compassion in the face of inevitable mistakes. Magic. •