The Maya Forest is Our Home

A story that explores respect and opens a conversation with your child.

★★★★★ Loved by families

Read the Guiding Questions

♥ This book teaches: Respect. seeing the worth in every person.

Before, During & After Reading

Guiding Questions for Parents.

Definition: Showing respect means to use words and actions that show we care about all people and things. In short: Value others, honor differences. Summary: This is a life science lesson that also teaches about the virtue of respect for the environment. The emphasis is on how we need to take care of trees because they provide homes for many different kinds of animals depending on where we live. The Maya Forest in Belize provides homes for some unusual animals, including the Near Threatened Black Howler Monkey and the national bird of Belize, the Toucan. This story is about how people need to protect the homes of these special creatures. Lesson Objectives:

Teachers can use this story and its guiding questions to launch science lessons about taking care of nature.
As students learn more about how animals depend on trees for homes, they will become more interested in doing something to address local environmental issues.

Guiding Questions:

Why do you think the loggers are cutting down trees in the Maya forest?
What animals live in those trees?
Why do the animals need trees in order to survive?
Do you think it’s a good idea to allow the loggers to remove trees in the Maya forest? Why or why not?
Do you think the animals that live in the forest could survive if they didn’t have enough trees? Why or why not?
Do animals live in the trees where you are? If so, which ones have you seen in your trees and why do they need those trees?
What could we do to take better care of our forests? Can you think of something you could do?
Where else do animals live besides in trees? What are people doing to protect their homes?
Do you have a pet or plants that you take care of? If so, what do you do to help them survive?
Would you like to have a howler monkey or a toucan for a pet? Why might that be difficult?

🌿 Virtue Connection: Respect means seeing the worth in every person.

Hands-On Practice

Activities for This Story.

Activity: Students will sit inside a rope that symbolizes their jungle habitat. They will imagine that they are howler monkeys and toucans. Inside the rope on the floor are pieces of paper with food items drawn on them. Two or three students are designated as loggers. When a signal is given to the loggers, “Cut down the trees,” the loggers make a buzzing sound and chopping gestures. The size of the circle made by the rope is reduced and some of the food items are removed. This is repeated until there is very little room left for the students to sit and almost all the food items are gone. The activity concludes with a discussion about what happens when a habitat is removed. Key point: It is much more difficult for the animals to survive and they may have to risk leaving their home in search of another. Materials needed: A large space in the classroom or on the playground, a large rope, big enough so that when it makes a circle on the floor, all students can fit inside (seated), 50 paper circles, drawing materials; a large blank poster board entitled: “Let’s show respect for our natural world” Directions: Explain: “This activity will demonstrate what happens when forests are logged with no concern for those that live there. We will begin by making some typical food items that howler monkeys and toucans eat.” Students prepare materials for the activity (5 - 8 minutes) by drawing various food items on circles of paper around 5 inches in circumference. Students are provided with a list of 5 food items and 5 pieces of paper, one food item per paper, a total of around 50 pieces. The items are the following (food that howler monkeys and toucans eat): bananas, leaves, flowers, insects, and nuts. These materials will be used in the activity. Designate two students as loggers, and ask the rest to imagine they are toucans and howler monkeys. “Sit down inside the rope circle and place your food items on the floor next to you. I will let you know when the loggers come to chop down trees. Your habitat will become smaller and smaller, and your food supply will diminish.” Give a signal to the loggers, who make a buzzing sound along with chopping gestures. Reduce the rope and remove some of the food. This is repeated until the students have very little space left and there are no more food items. Students return to their desks. Conclude the activity with a review about what happened.

In the drama we just enacted, what happened to your habitat, toucans and howler monkeys?
Loggers, why were you cutting down the trees?
The Maya forest provides not only food, but other essentials for the animals that live there. What are they?
Do you think it’s a good idea to allow the loggers to remove as many trees as they want in the Maya forest? Why or why not?
Do you think the animals that live in the forest could survive if they didn’t have enough trees? Why or why not?

Wrap it up: Explain: respect is a very important virtue. In this lesson, you learned about the need to show respect for nature, especially how animals need us to protect their habitats. Encourage students to look for opportunities to show respect for the earth and all the plants and animals on it. Post a blank poster board and explain that this is where students can make suggestions whenever they find organizations that are helping take care of the environment. For homework, each student must find at least one to record here. Remind them to include contact information so others can find out more.

About the Story.

This guide is part of the Values & Virtues library, a free collection of 400+ book guides and activities organized around 12 core virtues for children from pre-K to 6th grade. Each guide includes Guiding Questions designed to open a real conversation with your child in 10 minutes or less.

Belize is a country in Central America that has a very special rainforest called the Maya Forest. The people of Belize are troubled by what’s happening to some of the animals that live in the rainforest. Here’s a story about two of the creatures that live there: the black howler monkey and the toucan. Just as we humans live in houses, these animals have homes, too - in the forest canopy, high above the ground. This is where they sleep, eat, take care of their children, and travel. The black howler family woke up one morning to the sound of machines cutting down trees. They were way up in the canopy, almost at the very top of the broadleaf evergreen trees. With loud howls, they warned the howler troops that lived nearby to move away from the loggers. The monkeys swung through the trees, using their hands, feet, and tails to grasp the branches so they wouldn’t fall to the forest floor where snakes and other predators live. The machines roared and the trees fell, making a sound like a clap of thunder when they hit the ground. As the machines came closer that day, the monkeys howled and moved as fast as possible to look for a new place to live. The large, yellow-beaked brightly colored toucans that shared the canopy with howler monkeys, were also forced to fly away from the machines. They had raised their young in tree hollows that could no longer be used as homes. The toucan families and howler monkey troops moved deeper into the forest that day, and began to search for a place that would provide them with what they needed - food, such as fruits, nuts and leaves, water, shelter, and safety. They dream of a time when their human brothers and sisters will preserve the forest and protect the animals and plants that live there.