As a new teacher, I felt it was important to instill in my 6th grade students an awareness of the environment, and their part in caring for it...a sense of stewardship. I wanted them to realize their responsibility for not only their own "backyard", but for the whole earth as well. To do this, they had to expand their idea of themselves from the neighborhood level to a more global level as "citizens of planet earth".

I challenged my class to choose a project that would make the world a better place. I shared pamphlets and information about organizations who worked to make the our world a better place. From this wealth of information, the class decided to save a rainforest in Costa Rica by raising money to "buy" rainforest acreage through a project called The Children's Rainforest.

The Children's Rainforest is a non-profit organization in Maine established to promote awareness of and education about rainforests, and to channel funds donated from students in the U.S. to preserve undisturbed tropical rainforests in Costa Rica. The Children's Rainforest works cooperatively with the Monteverde Conservation League which buys and protects rainforest in northern Costa Rica and carries out local education and reforestation projects. The Costa Rican rainforest is a 16,000 acre remote tropical rainforest.

Funds are being raised by donations from children (and adults) from many nations: Europe, Japan, United States and Canada.

Fifty dollars protects one acre. Any group of individual giving $2,000 will have a tract named after them. Land purchased in this way is added to an already existing national park. The class decided to set a goal of $500.00.

We began our project by studying about Costa Rica: history, location, people, culture, resources and how these resources are used. We discussed the issues of the environmental crisis: pollution, ozone depletion, the greenhouse effect, species extinction and rainforest destruction. We generated ideas about why rainforests were so vital to our planet. This led to the question of "why, if rainforests are so important, are people cutting them down?"

At the same time we developed a plan to raise money by having a fundraiser each month starting in January, 1990 until Earth Day in April. As part of the Earth Day celebration we decided to build a tropical rainforest in our classroom to show all the students in our school what a "real" tropical rainforest looked like, who lived there and why rainforests were important to save.

Each student was asked to choose an animal from the rainforest and make a stuffed paper sculpture of the animal as close to lifesize as possible. We painted murals depicting the tropical jungle scene. We made a paper mache canopy tree.

We developed a floor plan for the rainforest in our classroom. We developed information for "short class tours" of our rainforest. We identified stations throughout the rainforest where students would present general information about rainforests, the animals, plants, birds, ecosystems, and rainforest products. Several students were assigned as guides. Their job was to go to each class prior to its tour to tell students about the rules and to walk the class through the tour.

We borrowed real plants, we made a pond, arranged animals, flora and fauna, designed and constructed a native hut and added some live birds for authenticity.

Our tours were planned for the whole school. For two days we were booked solid. We had a tour every 15 minutes. Each tour lasted 10 minutes. Besides students, we had parents, school staff and invited guests.

This project exceeded my expectations. One of the best things about this project was the integration of so many subject areas: social studies, art, language arts, math, science and speech. Students developed a broad range of skills: planning, organizational, critical-thinking and cooperation. It was truly an invaluable and wholistic learning experience...and, so far, the class has raised $700.00.

This was a real hands-on project that impressed the students with the fact that "they can make a difference" in their own future. Isn't this what planning is all about?

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Terry J. Walker is a former planner who decided to become a teacher so she could make a difference in the community. Terry teaches grade 6 at Sunset Beach Elementary School on Oahu, Hawaii. For more information, write: Editor-Resources, P.O. Box 1348, Honolulu, HI 96807.