Amazon River

Today we were back in the classroom. It was a little weird having all those trips to skip back to our previous subject matter. Our goal was to cover the Amazon river of South America in our Rivers of the World exploration. We started off looking at the atlas to locate South America and its rivers. The students quickly found the Amazon. I asked them to find the equator, which was also a little blue line, but didn't meander. We also pointed out the equator on the globe to show how it went all the way around the world. I explained how it was always hot near the equator and Cindy reminded the students of previous discussions about climate and seasons.
We then gathered the students and I read a book on "Rainforests", highlighting the Amazon region. Reading the book brought up many of the people, plants, animals, problems, and uses of the Amazon River. Cindy created a word splash for our vocabulary as I read and we explained. Cindy then did a picture walk on 2 books about the Amazon specifically as the students took notes on the people, houses, plants, animals, problems, and uses. I don't know if it was because of the content presented or because the kids were more familiar with the note-taking process, but our chart for the Amazon seems much more full than the one for the Mississippi. Throughout the lesson Cindy and I made comparisons between what we were introducing to what the students had already learned in class and on the fieldtrips.
To complete our Amazon lesson we passed out the students' world map embroideries. I reminded them of how to move the hoop and reviewed the tool vocabulary. I traced the path of the river on the overhead transparency and reviewed source and mouth vocabulary. We quickly passed out the materials and helped the students thread and knot to be ready to stitch.
Once again we went overtime, and the art portion was very rushed. I'm wondering how it might work to do the atlas portion, then stitch the river, then do the book activities and chart. I wanted the students to add imagery based on the 6 chart points for rivers, but there hasn't been time. Perhaps as a culminating activity instead, students can work on the continent/river they found most interesting to add detail to the map when we're finished stitching. Cindy noted that last year I had the students do a practice/free embroidery before they worked on their final projects. I didn't do it this time because of how pressed for time we are. I think the stitching was better on the first day. They really need another review of technique.
Today was a bit difficult because the kids had a half day and there was a lot of nervous energy and noise. Hopefully on Friday we'll be more on task.