Eight-year-old Rachel Majoria has kept her family informed – not about her latest encounter with a math problem or a new vocabulary word – but about the rain forest.

“I told them if you cut down trees, we will lose oxygen, and we won’t have what we need to be alive,” she said.

Rachel isn’t the only student at South Park Elementary who knows about the five layers of a tropical rain forest – the emergent layer, canopy layer, understory layer, shrub layer and forest floor. In fact, students in grades kindergarten through fourth all had a part in creating a rain forest at their school.

From birds to bugs to butterflies, what used to be a normal stroll to and from class is more like an adventure now.

“Watch out for that lizard – he’s big,” a teacher warns.

As the students walk from one hall to the next, they see giant trees, wildlife, waterfalls – everything that makes up a rain forest. The walls are covered with colored paper cutouts of exotic animals and plant life. The rain forest-covered school is just one environmental project in which students at South Park take part.

“Almost the whole year, we do environmental projects,” teacher and theme coordinator Barbara Applebaum said.

She created a service group called the S.E.A. Lions (Student Environmental Awareness) in 1997 and has 52 second- through fourth-grade South Park students involved this year. They meet on Wednesdays after school to do research, prepare presentations and make art out of garbage, Applebaum said. S.E.A. Lions is a children’s service organization sponsored by Vicksburg’s Lions Club.

Applebaum said the rain forest project, which involved all of the South Park students, was a good way to make them aware of the people’s relationship to the planet.

“They’re learning to improve the environment and be of service to their community at the age of 5,” she said. “That’s the way you develop good citizens.”

Rachel said she enjoyed working on creating the rain forest. She added color to a cut-out bird that was put on the second-grade section, which was the understory level.

“I like the way the second- and first-grade combined to make the hall look like a rain forest – I think it’s really cute,” she said.

Third-grader Marquis Goodwin researched rain forest animals on the Internet to come up with a good animal to add to the canopy layer section of the hall. He chose a howler monkey – the loudest animal in the rain forest, he said.

“I went on the computer and researched it,” he said. “It looked like a regular monkey – just black.”

Marquis said he learned a lot while working on decorating the hall.

“I learned we need to protect the rain forest from having trees cut down because we will waste the oxygen,” he said.

Students have also been saving money for the Earth’s Birthday Project, a national program to teach children about the Earth and make them responsible citizens.

Throughout the year students at South Park have raised more than $600 for the project. They also have been bringing trash from home to recycle – either in bins or by creating art to sell. Each student receives one service point for each recyclable item they bring to school.

“They get one point for every newspaper, plastic bottle or aluminum can. When they bring in 60 things, they get an hour’s credit,” Applebaum said. “They’re the ones who came up with the point system.”

She gives certificates and awards to students with an hour of points. She said it has made the children enthusiastic about recycling.

“They are so excited to bring garbage to school,” she said.

Applebaum has become passionate about teaching children about the environment. As the math and science lab teacher, she said she can expose all of the children to environmental concerns such as the rain forest.

“I’m teaching the rain forest in my lab,” she said. “They love learning about endangered species and how trees put off oxygen.”