Giving each student a bean plant creates a sense of ownership and responsibility. The students will be able to watch the plant grow from a bean to a plant, watering and measuring it's growth each day.
This would be a great activity for partnering- An ELL student could be paired with an English speaking student and they could work together as a team to take care of their plants and record plant growth.
Extension: Students can create mobiles to reveal their understanding of the rainforest ecosystem. Using coat hanger wire and string, students can construct a three-dimensional "dependence web" utilizing the animal and people-characters in The Great Kapok Tree.