Singing in the Rainforest with Grade 3

5/22/2025

The Taylor Performing Arts Center rumbled with the sounds of thunder, lightning, and cacophonous creatures as third-grade students performed their original play titled Thunder for parents and the Lower School community. The production concluded the Grade 3 unit of study on the Amazon rainforest.

The performance served as a cross-curricular, highly immersive project featuring elements of social studies, language arts, theater, music, and art through the guidance of teachers Alexis Harris 2001 and Natalie Tamjid, theater teacher Lisa Daly, music teacher Rachael Jungkeit, and art teacher Sue Bennett 1973.

As the lights dimmed, a pit viper snake, capybara, toucan, sloth, jaguar, howler monkey, red-eyed tree frog, and other animals that inhabit the rainforest took the stage with student Rita Nora serving as the narrator. The script written by Mrs. Harris and Ms. Daly told the story about the animals in the Amazon rainforest and the important roles they play in that environmental biome. Rita remarked how all the animals are enjoying their natural environment and that it’s alive with activity, chatter, climbing, swiming, and soaring. However, all the animals felt a disturbance: thunder and rain. They quickly sheltered together helping protect each other from the elements.

With Mrs. Jungkeit on the piano, they performed adapted lyrics to the song Thunder by Imagine Dragons. As the storm cleared and the sun shined, everyone cheered as the rainforest comes back to life. All the animals came together to talk about the significance of the rainforest and how to best protect it. The performance ended with adapted lyrics to the song Walking on Sunshine.

“I am so proud of all the students and the hard work they put into the performance and the art exhibit,” said Mrs. Harris. “Each year, our final unit of study rotates between different topics, and this year it was the rainforest. We always look to create a play that has some sort of take-away message. Ms. Daly worked on the roles to match the animals the students studied so everyone could play what they learned about. It was a fun experience for all involved.”

Following the morning performance, the students and their families were invited to an immersive art exhibit hosted in the Grade 3 classroom. The first-ever glow-in-the-dark exhibit welcomed guests as they walked through the doors. One corner of the room featured fluorescent toucans as another corner featured snakes and tree frog paintings using black light paint. Other art pieces included woven wing butterflies, miniature clay bird sculptures, acrylic painting of the different animals, and much more.

The process for the cross-curricular performance began back in January. In social studies class, the students learned about the Amazon rainforest and its importance as one of nature's biomes, its animals, and how everyone can help do our part to save the rainforest. Over the next few months, the students chose a particular animal to research and later depict in the live performance. In language arts class, the students wrote informational books about their animals and created tri-fold poster boards detailing facts from their research along with colorful illustrations. The students learned the two songs in music class with Mrs. Jungkeit and the script and performance staging with Ms. Daly. All the artwork was created in the art cottage with Mrs. Bennett for parents to take home afterwards.

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