KS2 Rainforests: People and plants
Lower Key Stage 2: You are stranded in the rainforest, hungry, no shelter and some of your group are ill. Can the plants of the rainforest help you?
Upper Key Stage 2: How do the plants from the rainforest provide food, shelter and medicine for the people who live there and also provide us with products we need or enjoy?
Level
Duration
Allocated space
Overview
Lower Key Stage 2
Take part in this immersive experience, exploring the sights and smells of the rainforest plants located in one of Kew’s magnificent glasshouses.
Journey through the rainforest, observing and investigating rainforest products, discussing the importance of the rainforest in our everyday life and the lives of those who live within the rainforest.
Please note, elements of this session will be delivered outside.
Upper Key Stage 2
Explore the range of rainforest plants within one of Kew’s magnificent glasshouses, investigating how these plants supply people with what they need in.
Consider the different ways in which these plants are used, discuss their importance in our everyday lives and the lives of those who live within the rainforest and raise questions about the choices we make.
Please note, elements of this session will be delivered outside.
Learning outcomes
Pupils will be able to:
- Identify the location and conditions of the rainforest using appropriate vocabulary
- Understand the importance of rainforests and the need to conserve this habitat
We will ensure the learning outcomes focus on the year group taking part.
Keywords:
Rainforest, Equator, tropical, forest floor, understory, canopy, emergent, weather, climate, habitat, adaptations, biodiversity, food, medicine, products
Curriculum links
Science
Year 3 – Plants
- Identify and describe the functions of different parts of flowering plants: roots, stem/trunk, leaves and flowers.
Year 4 – Living things and their habitats
- Recognise that living things can be grouped in a variety of ways.
- Identify and name a variety of living things (plants) in the wider environment.
- Recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.
Working scientifically
- Asking relevant questions and using different types of scientific enquiries to answer them.
- Making systematic and careful observations.
- Using straightforward scientific evidence to answer questions or to support their findings.
Geography
- Identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
