The Lorax Project
by Liesbeth (Eda) Koning
This project is part of my honors thesis project. For my thesis, I
am putting together an environmental studies curriculum for 4th through
6th grade students. The curriculum is being implemented at Ottawa Hills
Montessori School, a public elementary school in Grand Rapids. A big
part of the curriculum will be The Lorax project. The goals of this
project are to improve student’s knowledge of environmental issues,
improve their writing skills, use their writing to create a play based
on the book The Lorax, and teach theater through play production.
The Lorax is a great book to use when teaching about environmental studies.
It sets up a fictional world, which the students can later compare to
their own world. It also offers great opportunities for journal writing.
These journals can be used to inspire all kinds of writing projects,
including writing a play. Here is a list of possible journal entry topics:
Pick a character from the book (Truffula Tree, Swomee-Swan, Brown Bar-ba-loot,
or Humming-Fish) if they could speak for themselves what would they
say to the Once-ler? [this is a great lead in to writing monologues,
poems, or stories]
If you were the Once-ler what would you say to sell a thneed? [great
lead in to writing a persuasive speach]
As the Once-ler, write a letter to your relatives to get them to come
help you make and sell thneeds. Then, as one of the Once-ler's relatives,
write a letter in response to the Once-ler. [this is a great way to
teach letter writing]
what happens when the boy gets the seed? Continue the end of the book
to make a new ending. [this is a great way to show the students they
can write alternative endings to stories for fun and it helps them realize
that the author leaves us to decide what happens]
write a scene that isn't in the story. [this is a great way to teach
dialogue writing]
This project also works very well as a cross-curricular project. Have
the students research environmental problems in their area. Have discussions
about pollution and other environmental issues in class and have students
journal about their thoughts about the discussion. The students should
be learning about earth systems and cycles in science class, then this
project can help them see how humans affect those systems and cycles.
This project also works very well with "Best Practice." There
are many opportunities for writing for real audiences and real purposes.
Students can write a letter to a congressman asking them to take action
against a specific environmental problem. They can write a letter to
a business, asking them to be more environmentally conscious. They can
make a brochure to educate the public about a local environmental problem.
They can write a play and perform it to raise awareness of environmental
issues. And a big part of the writing process is publishing their work,
whether it be by sending a letter, distributing a brochure, or producing
the play. The writing should also be taken through the whole writing
process. The journals can be the brainstorming, and students can decide
which journal entries they would like to polish. Students should meet
in peer groups and do peer revisions. They should have many opportunities
to get feedback on their writing. Students should have a lot of choice
in their writing, a lot of revision time, and the opportunity to publish
what they write.
If you are going to have the students write and produce the play, make
sure to use all of the talents of your students. Not every students
will want to be on stage, but many of them have artistic talents. Each
student should be assigned to a group. The groups could include: actors,
set designers, costume designers, props crew, set builders, costume
makers, publicity, backstage run crew, assistant director, and any others
you think of.
This project can also be helpful in teaching students to reflect on
their own behavior and improve their group working skills. Many of the
students at Ottawa Hills Montessori School have trouble with working
in groups and staying focused on school activities. They will be asked
to reflect on their participation in the group and work on the project.
They will be writing journal responses throughout the project, and at
the end of the project they will do a final self evaluation. They do
not have a letter grade system at the school, so the depth of the students
self evaluation, how they have grown, and their participation will be
reflected in their class participation score.
Here are some additional activities that can be taught with this project:
Deer and Resources: a game that teaches students about habitat loss.
The hand motions for the game are: hands on stomach = food, hands on
throat = water, and hands in a triangle shape above head = shelter.
Split the group in half and have them stand on opposite sides of the
room. One half are the resources, and the other half are the deer. Tell
the students to turn their backs to each other. When you yell "decide"
the deer decide what they need and put their hands to represent that,
and the resources decide what they are and put their hands to represent
that. When everyone is ready, yell "go." At that point everyone
turns around and the deer run to find the resource they need. Only one
deer to each resource. If a deer gets what they needed, they take the
resource back with them, and that resource becomes a deer. If the deer
does not get what they needed, they "die" and become a resource.
After you have played for awhile, secretly three of the resources to
link arms (they have become a parking lot). The next round tell three
more people to link arms and tell them they are a mall. Keep doing this
until all of the deer die because there are no resources left. Make
sure to have a discussion with the students after the game.
River Pollution: a game that teaches how pollution grows.
Before the students arrive, lay out as many pieces of paper that there
will be students. Draw a river that runs through all of them. Number
the backs of the papers so that you can get them back in that order
again later. The papers should be in a stack when the students arrive,
so that they don't know that they all connect. Give each student a piece
of paper and tell them that this is their property. There is a river
running through it, and they can build whatever they like on their land.
Students may draw a farm, mansion, roller-coaster, boats in the river,
and many other things. Tell the students not to color the river blue,
but they can draw things in it if they want. After everyone is finished
put the papers in order to make a complete river. Start from one end
and ask the students what on that property would cause pollution to
the river. This could include, farm animal excrete, human waste, oil
from boats, oil from cars, etc. Then draw with a brown marker lines
in the river to represent the pollution. On the next paper draw the
pollution from that property, plus the one before it. By the time you
get to the end sheet, almost the whole river should be filled up, because
all of the pollution upstream. Make sure to ask the students questions,
and get them to tell you that the pollution continues down the river
and what causes the pollution.
