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School 4 of the Amazon Guardian Schools Network

A class that researched the AmazonReus, 2018-2019, year 5

Escola La Vitxeta, in Reus, joined the network because of a visit: Àlex, a teacher at Escola La Canaleta, came to tell them the story of the Puyanawa people and to read them the tale he had written himself, «L’Eruga de colors» (The caterpillar of colours).

What came next was a whole year of work. The year 5 pupils were working on climate change, and the Amazon became a whole year of research: what a rainforest is and how it differs from a wood, how it absorbs CO₂, which animals and plants live there, why it is in danger.

The school gathered all of it in a 22-page report written from the classroom, in the children’s own words. Almost everything on this page comes from there.

The school’s timeline

A year of classroom work that ended with the letters from Acre in their hands.

  1. 29 November 2018

    A teacher from another school comes to tell it

    Àlex Gimeno, a teacher at La Canaleta, visits the school. He tells the story of the Puyanawa people, explains how important it is for them to live connected to nature, and reads them «L’Eruga de colors», the tale he wrote himself. The year 5 class, already working on climate change, says yes to joining the network.

  2. Winter 2018-2019

    What the Amazon actually is

    In class they discuss what the Amazon is and gather what they already know: that it is the lungs of the Earth, that there is rubber, that it was invaded. They read an article about deforestation and work out the causes: soy, tropical timber, hydroelectric dams. One of them, Biel, asks: «Què té un bosc que no té una selva?» (What does a wood have that a rainforest doesn’t?), and out of that comes a whole session on how to search the internet properly and what keywords are.

  3. Winter 2018-2019 · laboratory

    The photosynthesis experiment

    They want to understand how the rainforest absorbs CO₂. They go to the laboratory, submerge water plants in a beaker with water and bicarbonate and cover them with a funnel. Within minutes the bubbles appear. «Això són bombolles d’oxigen!» (Those are oxygen bubbles!), someone says. Then they research Amazonian plants and animals: each child picks an animal or a plant, makes a poster and presents it to the class.

  4. 13 March 2019

    Adolf’s visit, and the letters

    Adolf Sanz visits the school and gives a talk to the 50 year 5 pupils. He brings photographs and crafts from the village, and describes what life is like there. The pupils hand him the letters they have written for the children of the Puyanawa school.

  5. May 2019

    Getting ready for the trip

    Before the gathering they prepare: they study the route on Google Maps, the plants and animals of the Mediterranean woodland, the climate and how beaches form. Each group researches and explains it to the others. And they choose two representatives per class who will speak directly with Puwê and Vari, because 150 children will come together at the gathering.

  6. 27 May 2019

    The Marquesa woods

    They arrive first and get a while to talk with Puwê and Vari. They walk through the woods collecting litter —«ens ha impressionat la quantitat de brossa» (we were struck by how much rubbish there was)—. In the middle of the woods, Puwê and Vari hand them the letters from the Puyanawa children: letters with drawings, necklaces and earrings made by them. Then Puwê teaches them two dances.

  7. Back in class

    Reading the letters in Portuguese

    They read the letters in Portuguese, and discover something: that Portuguese and Catalan resemble each other. «És clar, són llengües romàniques!» (Of course, they are Romance languages!) They do not understand every word, but almost. The school’s report ends by saying that next year they will want to keep writing letters to their Puyanawa friends.

What they wrote themselves

La Vitxeta’s report was written by the school, in the first person plural, recording what was happening in the classroom. These are some of the pupils’ sentences, exactly as they were left:

  • «És el pulmó de la Terra, és una selva, tenen cautxú i va ser envaïda.» (It is the lungs of the Earth, it is a rainforest, they have rubber and it was invaded.)
  • «Es diu pulmó perquè els arbres fan oxigen i com hi ha tants arbres…» (It is called the lungs because trees make oxygen and there are so many trees…)
  • «Es pot trobar el dofí rosa i molts animals verinosos com la granota de verí de fletxa.» (You can find the pink dolphin and many poisonous animals like the poison dart frog.)
  • «Això són bombolles d’oxigen!» (Those are oxygen bubbles!) — in the laboratory
  • «Què té un bosc que no té una selva?» (What does a wood have that a rainforest doesn’t?) — Biel’s question

It is the difference between telling a class about the Amazon and a class researching the Amazon.

In the report and in the network

Amazon Guardian Schools Network

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