The 'Polar biomes' and "Rainforest biome' - Worksheet and activities for Geography Gr 3-5

You have now learned about what a biome is and which types we find on earth.  Answer the following to test if you can still remember

1. What is an environment?
2. What is the difference between living and non-living individuals?
3. Name the types of biomes we find on Earth.

We will now look at a few of the different biomes and the first one we will learn about is the

Polar Biomes

We refer to the polar ice cap biome as the regions of the planet covered by ice most of the year. This includes large portions of the arctic and antarctic. Defining an Ice cap: A polar ice cap or polar ice sheet is a high-latitude region of a planet or moon that is covered in ice. 

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There are 7 continents on Earth (can you name them?).  Antarctica is one of the continents and is also a 'polar biome'.  It is the 5th largest continent and the highest continent on Earth.

On this continent are no people that lives there permanently, but scientists come and go to do certain experiments.

• What do you think the weather is like on this continent?
• Why do you think the people do not live here permanently?
• Can you think of a reason why scientists would go there?
• Do the think the animals on this continent are adapted to live here?  Why do you say that?

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The 'Tropical rain forest biome' is totally opposite from the 'Polar biome'

Here you will find more species (kinds) of plants and animals than in any other biome.  The humidity and temperature is nice and warm and a great place for plants to grow.  This biome also gets more than 2000 mm rain per year.

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The forest consist of different layers that starts from the ground up to the highest tree.  In each of these layers you will find different plants and animals.

The four layers are 

Emergent Layer. These giant trees thrust above the dense canopy layer and have huge mushroom-shaped crowns. ...

Canopy Layer. The broad, irregular crowns of these trees form a tight, continuous canopy 60 to 90 feet above the ground. ...

Understory

Forest Floor

• You are going to do research and find out what types of animals and plants you will find in each layer - try and find at least 5 types for each layer as well as a picture of each.
• You can design a poster where you divide it into four parts with your different pictures of animals and plants pasted in the correct layer.
• for enrichment you can read more on the different layers on http://www.mbgnet.net/sets/rforest/explore/layers.htm

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A lot of the rainforest have been destroyed by humans and this is actually a huge problem because the rainforest is very important to us.

Plants take up the carbon dioxide that we exhale and gives off oxygen that we need to live.  The more plants there are, the more oxygen we will have.

The rainforest with all its plants is also very important for the discovery of medicine.

We get a lot of resources (things we can use to make something) from the rainforest like for instance bamboo and rubber and wood an minerals.

There are also a lot of animals and plants that either needs to be protected or some species that we must still discover.

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Plants and animals and also humans have adapted to survive in this biome.  Unfortunately there is a lot of deforestation (cutting down of trees) going on and the rainforest is in danger.