Legend of the Lorax

Legend Of The Lorax

(Adapted from Classroom Activities, Department of Economic & Community Development, Augusta, ME)

GRADE LEVELS: 4-6

SUBJECT AREAS: science, language arts, social studies

CONCEPT: Conservation of Natural Resources.

OBJECTIVE: Students will read or listen to an environmental fable and understand the concept of an ecosystem. Students will be able to draw conclusions and make predictions about the environmental impact and wise use of resources.

MATERIALS:

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Worksheet:  THE LORAX
Teacher's Page THE LORAX

KEYWORDS: uninhabitable, wasteland, ecosystem

BACKGROUND: In The Lorax, Dr. Seuss introduces the "Once-ler" who cuts down the beautiful Truffula tress so that he can use their wonderful silk tufts to knit "thneeds". Thneed sales are so successful that the Once-ler builds a factory and invents the Super Axe Hacker which cuts down four trees at a time. The Lorax speaks up in defense of the trees, animals, air and water that the Once-ler is destroying in pursuit of bigger and bigger profits. Finally, when the last Truffula tree is cut down, production of the Thneeds ends. Closed factories, polluted air, polluted water and an uninhabitable wasteland are all that remain on the once beautiful site. The Lorax can no longer live here, but he leaves behind a small pile of rocks on which the word UNLESS is inscribed.

The Lorax illustrates an ecosystem, a natural unit in which living and non-living parts interact. All of the parts are linked together and functions as a unit. When one of the parts is altered or damaged, the entire system may fail.

PROCEDURE:

Students should read, or have read to them, The Lorax, and then complete the questions on the worksheet individually. Focus the follow-up discussion on the concept of an ecosystem and note how each step on the Once-ler' developing business removed a piece of the ecosystem until the entire system ceased to function.

Encourage the students to speculate on:

Why the Super Axe Hacker was invented
Why the Once-ler ignored the Lorax's warnings
What happens to the Lorax
What the Lorax's message "UNLESS" means

FOLLOW-UP:

1. Have children write poems about real forest and the wildlife which inhabit them.

2. Distribute drawing paper for before and after pictures of the Truffula-trees forest.

3. Have children create a collage of "thneeds" (things that we think we need), either as a class project or individually, by cutting pictures from magazines.

4. Create ads for Natural Resources, modeled after the Once-ler's Ad for the Thneed:

"A Thneed's a Fine-Something-That-All-People-Need.
It's a shirt. It's a sock. It's a glove. It's a hat.
But it has other uses. Yes, far beyond that.
You can use it for carpets. For pillows! For sheets!
Or curtain! Or covers for bicycle seats."

5. Encourage students to discuss the ways we use Natural Resources and to emphasize the value in our lives.

6. Instruct children to draw diagrams or flow charts of the steps involved in the production of thneeds, accompanied by diagrams displaying the process of manufacturing iron or other precious metals.

7. Have students illustrate their needs and wants as contrasting pictures.

8. Plant something or raise money for a tree to be planted on the school grounds in honor of the Lorax and in memory of your class.

THE LORAX

Name: _____________________________________________________________

1. Why did the Once-ler cut down the Truffula trees?

2. Why do the Brown Bar-ba-loots have to leave?

3. What kind of problems does the Thneed factory cause for the environment? Name at least three.

4. What happens to the Once-ler when there are no more Truffula trees?

5. What happens to the Lorax?

6. What do YOU think the Lorax's message "UNLESS" means?

7. What could the Once-ler have done to minimize his factory's effect on the environment?

8. Is bigger always better? Give an example to back up your opinion.

9. A "Thneed" is defined as a fine thing that everyone thinks they need (but probably really don't). What are some examples of thneeds - things that we think we need but could do quite well without?

10. The Lorax spoke for trees "for the trees have no tongues". What would you choose to speak for, and what would you say? Plan a one minute talk on behalf of something which cannot speak for itself.

Teacher's Page
THE LORAX

1. Why did the Once-ler cut down the Truffula trees? The Once-ler uses the Truffula tufts to make Thneeds.

2. Why do the Brown Bar-ba-loots have to leave? Truffula fruit, their main food, become scarce when Truffula trees are cut down. The Bar-ba-loots get crummy tummies from hunger.

3. What kind of problems does the Thneed factory cause for the environment? Name at least three. Create smog, polluted pond, cut down all trees, forced wildlife relocation

4. What happens to the Once-ler when there are no more Truffula trees? Manufacturing ends, the factory closes down and all the Once-ler's relatives leave. The Once-ler lives alone at the top of his store.

5. What happens to the Lorax? He leaves the forest forever.

6. What do YOU think the Lorax's message "UNLESS" means? Students should mention the need for future generations to care for the earth.

7. What could the Once-ler have done to minimize his factory's effect on the environment? Install air pollution and water pollution safeguard devices, replant Truffula trees continuously.

8. Is bigger always better? Give an example to back up your opinion. Student opinion.

9. A "Thneed" is defined as a fine thing that everyone thinks they need. What are some examples of thneeds - things that we think we need? Answer will vary. Students may mention some of the items which advertising persuades us to buy which quickly becomes outdated, such as Cabbage Patch dolls.

10. The Lorax spoke for trees "for the trees have no tongues". What would you choose to speak for, and what would you say? Plan a one minute talk on behalf of something which cannot speak for itself. Answers will vary. Encourage students to consider a wide variety of natural resources.
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