Title : Biodiversity 3-5

Authors : Karl von Martius 1817 and Carol Miranda Chor 2017

Grade Levels/Ages : 3-5

Subject areas : Biodiversity,Birds,Earth Day,Ecology,Environment,Research,Taxonomy,Animals,Earth Science

Standards : Supplemental Resource material

Short description : Biodiversity is the key to a healthy Eco system. Study Bird Family images from the Album of Amazonian Birds 1906 and search for extinct and endangered species online.

Title: You are the Explorer  3-5

Authors: Karl von Martius 1817 and Carol Miranda Chor, 2017

Grade Levels/Ages: 3-5

Subject Areas: Research,Maps,History,Journaling, Creative Writing

Standards: Supplemental Resource material

Short Description: Today, you will become explorers. You will follow the path of the old explorers, make your own map, create a travel planner, and record all you have learned in your journal. Download pictures of the people, plants and animals to illustrate your story.  Imagine and write about your experiences along the way. Be creative and make your journal as interesting as possible !


Title: Populate Your Rainforest  3-5

Authors: Karl von Martius 1817 and Carol Miranda Chor, 2017

Grade Levels/Ages: 3-5

Subject Areas: Ecology,Earth Science,Earth History,Botany,Natural Science,Earth Day,Plants,Animals

Standards: Supplemental Resource material

Short Description: 

What begins as a leisurely browse for favorite plants and animals becomes a headline-grabbing seacrh for extinctions. Choose your favorites from thousands of rare rainforest images created by explorers from the Age of Collectors, when naturalists and artists converged on the rainforest to collect, record and classify the plants and animals that they found. Giving descriptive Latin names to classify plants and animals is known as Taxinomy.

Title: Plant Stalkers 3-5

Authors: Karl von Martius 1817 and Carol Miranda Chor 2017

Grade Levels/Ages: 3-5

Subject Areas: Ecology, Earth Science, Earth History,Botany,Natural Science,Earth Day,Plants

Standards : Supplemental Resource material

Short Description:  

The rainforest explorers launched their expeditions in order to collect plants and animals. They made detailed scientific drawings and classified the plants and animals according to their families and species. These families and species were given strange Latin names to describe them. Here's the challenge : unmask these mysterious strangers. Like, what in the world is a Musa paradisiaca, or a Cucurbita lagenaria ?

Today, you will choose your favorites from fruit, vegetable and ornamental plant lists. Unmask their true identity by searching the online plant guide to find common names, habitat, size, color, etc. Then complete the worksheet.


Title: Color the Rainforest

Authors: Karl von Martius 1817 and Carol Miranda Chor 2017

Grade Levels/Ages: 3-5

Subject Areas: Ecology,Digital painting,Art class,Computer lab,Earth Day,Earth History,Photoshop

Standards: Supplemental Resource material

Short Description:  

The Martius-Spix expedition was sent to Brazil by the King of Bavaria in 1817. Their mission was to study the wildlife, the language, the culture, and the people. They were instructed to return to Germany with detailed sketches of the diverse regions of Brazil : the Amazon, grasslands, desert, coastal and interior mountains. In those days, black and white etchings were the only way to display the rainforest. Today you can choose an etching and make it come alive with color by using Photoshop on your computer. Or use the etchings for a project in Art class.

Title: Animal Games  3-5

Authors: Karl von Martius, 1817 and Carol Miranda Chor, 2017

Grade Levels/Ages: 3-5

Subject Areas: Ecology,Rainforest,Taxonomy,Habitats,Zoology,Animals,Earth Day

Standards : Supplemental Resource materials

Short Description:  Meet the animal families : mammals, amphibians, birds, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, reptiles, zoophytes, insects and spiders.  

Remember the Rainforest is based on the journals of Martius-Spix expedition, 1817-1820. These explorers were Naturalists who collected plants and animals, made detailed scientific drawings , and classified them according to their family and species.

The explorers collected plants and animals from all the different habitats : the ancient forest, the riverbanks, the seashore, the grasslands, the mountains, the dry desert lands, and the areas where the forest had been chopped and burned.

Today you will choose your favorite animals and list them on your worksheet. Then decide the family to which they belong.


Title: Remember the Rainforest : Treasure Hunt 3-5

Authors: Karl von Martius, 1817 and Carol Miranda Chor, 2017

Grade Levels/Ages: 3-5

Subject Areas: Ecology,Rainforest,Habitats,Earth Day,Earth Science,Earth History

Standards: Supplemental Resource material

Short Description:  

When the explorers visited the rainforest in 1817, there were no cameras to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. In those days it was important to practice drawing and painting, so travelers could remember and pass along what they had seen. Searching the Expedition Etchings will raise your Eco awareness. If a picture is worth a thousand words, think what these thousands of images will teach you !

Treasure Hunt is a challenge for students to navigate the Expedition Etchings to search for the jaguar, the giant trees, the giant rivers, the lavender sky, etc. Open the Expedition Etchings section to begin your search.