A Trip to the Rainforest

Year Five enjoyed an immersive day out at The Living Rainforest on Tuesday 28th February.

Linked to their humanities topic of South America & their recent class text of ‘Journey to the River Sea’ the children were spellbound by their visit to the rainforest this week. The year group took part in an educational workshop on sustainability where they learnt what it means to live sustainably in the rainforest and how wide ranging the negative effects are from cutting down our rainforest for cattle farmers, logging or land clearing for profit-seeking companies.

The pupils were encouraged to think about how these activities affect not only the reduction in the forests and their biodiversity but the wider global climate and how this can impact their own lives. The children were also given examples of how the medical properties of some rainforest plants – such as the Rosy Periwinkle – have been used to cure or help protect children from childhood cancers such as leukaemia and Hodgkins’ Disease.

We also discussed how many of the items we love to eat originate in rainforest territories such as chocolate, vanilla, bananas, avocadoes, coffee, tea and many tropical fruits. This week is Fair Trade Fortnight and in class we have been learning about what it means for the producers to buy fair trade products.

Later in the day, the children were able to self explore the rainforest in small groups, where they could sketch the beautiful animals and birds, search for the nocturnal sloth or marvel at the monkeys.

I believe this will be a school trip Prep Five will be talking about for some time to come.