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A Language Arts lesson on precipitation in rain forests


Language Arts, Social Studies  


4, 5  

Language Arts Lesson Dealing with Precipitation

Sara Broughton


: Comparing Precipitations

Content Area

: Language arts (multicultural), math, and


: Resource materials on rain forests, library,
encyclopedias, CD-ROM encyclopedias, world almanacs that show
precipitation around the globe, paper, pencils, and ruler


: Students will make a bar graph comparing the
monthly precipitation of Missouri to that of rain forests in different


: Introduce the concept of monthly precipitation
to the students. Discuss with them places that might receive
more rain than others (rain forest and a desert). Break the class
into groups of three, assigning each group rain forests of different
countries (Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador). Each group should research
to find out how much rain falls each month in the rain forest
and where they live. Let the students know that their information
should be accurate because they will be making bar graphs. After
they have researched they should begin making their graphs. The
bar graphs can be done in several ways but the one on the following
page works well because it shows the amount for both locations.
Discuss with the students the need for clarity of the information
in their graph. Thus, the students should see the need for having
direct comparison. Once the groups have completed their graphs
have them share their results with the class.


: Students’ comparisons or the monthly
precipitation locally and in the rain forests could be evaluated
on how well they were interpreted from their bar graph as well
on its accuracy.


: This lesson could be followed up with students
actually recording their local precipitation for a month to have
a real-life example of what monthly precipitation means. This
extension would be great for those students who had trouble with
the lesson or in understanding monthly precipitation.

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