The Lorax Free Lesson Plans

Author/Illustrator: Dr. Seuss
ISBN: 0394823370
Summary: Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth's natural beauty.

SOCIAL STUDIES

Character Building: Greed
The Lorax says that the Once-ler is greedy. Greed is defined as a selfish desire for food, money, or possessions over and above what one needs. Can your student think of ways that the Once-ler proves his greed? He says, "I biggered my money which every needs." Is it true that everyone needs money? How much money do people need? Is it right to make a ton of money while destroying the environment? Discuss these issues with your student.   You may also want to discuss the difference between a want and a need. (Did people need Thneeds?)

Human Relationships- Being Rude vs. Being Polite
The Once-ler says things such as,
                               "You poor stupid guy"
                                                     "Shut up, if you please"

--he can be quite rude. There are many times where his behavior and speech is despicable!   A rude person is not someone that people want to be around. Is your student ever rude? Does he interrupt you while you are talking to another adult or on the phone? Does he push around people to get to the front of the line? Discuss rude behavior and what is and is not acceptable in your household.

In addition, discuss the opposite, positive behavior-- being polite. A polite person is one who says, "please...excuse me...thank you...you're welcome." A polite person shows consideration of others by doing things like letting his little brother have the last cookie or sharing his toys with a friend. A polite person puts other people first.

You may also want to discuss I Peter 5:5 this week.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Vocabulary
    dank- unpleasantly moist or wet
    glorious- having great beauty or splendor
    tuft- a small cluster of long flexible outgrowths (as of hairs, feathers, or blades of grass) that are attached or close together at the base and
            free at the opposite end
    nuisance- an annoying or troublesome person, thing, or way of doing something
    grim- causing fear or alarm
    heisted- to raise or become raised into position

Making Up Words
Dr. Seuss took a lot of liberty in this story to make up his own words. You can't look these up in a dictionary, but this would make excellent practice for your student in deciphering the meaning of a word by its context. See if you and your student can determine what these words mean (in context of the story); there aren't really any wrong answers for this, so have fun!
moof
gruvvulous
slupps
snergelly
rippulous
snargled
cruffulous
smogulous
biggering

Your advanced student may enjoy the challenge of trying to figure out which part of speech these words belong to.

APPLIED MATH

Counting Change
If you want to hear the Once-ler's story, you have to toss fifteen cents into his tin pail. What change combinations could equal .15? (three nickels; two nickels, five pennies; a dime and a nickel; a dime and five pennies; fifteen pennies, etc.)

Multiplication
The Once-ler's new machine let him chop down trees four times as fast! If he was chopping down 25 trees per day, how many could be chopped now? What if he were chopping down 50? 65? 85? 100?

ART

Drawing the Once-ler
Throughout this story Dr. Seuss only lets us see parts of the Once-ler (his eyes and hands). Ask your student, what do you imagine the rest of the Once-ler to look like? Help him brainstorm some ideas, and then encourage him to draw a full body picture of this greedy guy.

Color Choices
Look at the first few illustrations with your student, what colors are used (grey, purple, blue-- cool colors). Then, look at the first illustration with the Truffala Trees. What colors are used? (bright colors). Which place would your student rather live? Why? What feelings does your student get when he looks at the first illustrations? (sad, gloomy, depressed) What feelings does your student get when he looks at the Truffala Tree illustration? (happy, cheerful)

Botany: Trees
Discuss different items in your home made of trees/wood. Trees are important to us! We need to remember that we not only need them for building houses, furniture, kitchen utensils, firewood, and paper; we also need trees in the forest where they provide oxygen, soil protection, beauty, and a place for animals to live.

If you have the opportunity, visit a garden nursery this week and observe the different young trees for sale. You may even wish to buy one and plant it!

Tree Anatomy Simple Version
Tree Anatomy Regular Version

Library List
The Man Who Planted Trees by Jean Giono
A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry
The Great Kapok Tree by (another HSS Unit)
Meeting Trees by Scott Russell Sanders (another HSS Unit)
Be a Friend to Trees by Patricia Lauber and Holly Keller
Tell Me Tree by Gail Gibbons
A Tree is a Plant by Clyde Robert Bulla

Ecology: Pollution
Discuss what pollution means with your student-- it is to make something impure; to spoil a natural resource with waste made by humans. Find examples of pollution in The Lorax with your student.

Water Pollution
One type of pollution we find evidence of is water pollution. "You're glumping the pond where the Humming-Fish hummed." All the Gluppity-Glupp and all the Schloppity-Schlopp made by the machinery chugging is being dumped right into the pond.    What is the consequence of putting all this pollution into the water? (The fish can't live there anymore). Can your student think of any other problems this may cause? (the water wouldn't be fit to drink).

Air Pollution
Another type of pollution in the story is air pollution.   The smogulous smoke being put in the air by the Thneed factory made the Lorax cough, whiff, sneeze, snuffle, snarggle, sniffle, and croak. The Swomee-Swans were no longer able to sing! The Lorax had to send the birds away to find some cleaner air to live in. Discuss air pollution with your student.   Is it only dangerous for birds? No! It is dangerous for any creature that breathes.

Humans and Air Pollution
Explain that air enters our bodies through the lungs; we must have air in order to keep breathing hence to stay alive. The lungs show the effect of the air they breathe. If we breathe clean air, our lungs stay healthy and pink. When we breathe polluted air, our lungs darken from the dirty particles present in the air. Breathing dirty air damages our lungs and make us sick.

Enchanted Learning Lungs Diagram

Causes of Air Pollution
1. Driving cars
2. Wasting Electricity
3. Smoking
4. Fires
5. Household Products (paints, pesticides, etc.)
6. Air Planes
7. Burning Trash, Burning Fields

Air Pollution Experiment
Materials Needed:
labels
markers
five jar lids
white cardboard or oak tag
magnifying glasses

Procedure
1. Write the numbers one through five on the labels. Then attach a label to the top of each jar lid.
2. Place the jar lids on the cardboard. Carefully trace around the jar lids. Then number these circles to
match the labels on the lids.
3. Take the lids and cardboard outside. Place them flat in an open area. (Note: Rain will spoil the
results, so bring the experiment inside if the weather turns inclement.)
4. At the end of the first day, have your student remove one lid, starting with number one. Repeat this
procedure for the next five days, taking away one lid each day. Have students compare the circles
as they remove the lids. What observations can they make as the days go by?
5. At the end of the fifth day, take away the last lid and look at the circles. If the air is dirty, the circles
covered by the low-numbered lids will have more specks of dirt than the others. Have the children
use magnifying glasses to count the dirt specks.
6. Discuss results of experiment. Ask your student, "Is our air clean or is it dirty?

Different Ways to FIGHT Air Pollution
You can help keep the air cleaner by

Riding a bike or walk instead of driving a car
You can also take the bus or trolley instead of driving a car
Recycle (see lesson in science section)
Don't use spray products
Plant a tree
Don't waste electricity

Sources (many of these sites have the exact same information, so I'm not sure who to credit):
www.sdrafvc.org/PDFS/KFCA_LessonPlan_2005.pdf
www.theteachersguide.com/earthdaylessonplans.htm
www.tceq.state.tx.us/assets/ public/assistance/education/air/lorax.pdf
www.esi.utexas.edu/outreach/gk12/docs/lessons/lorax.pdf

Ecology: Recycling
"UNLESS someone like you...cares a whole awful lot...nothing is going to get better...It's not."

Recycling is reprocessing materials into new items preventing potential resources from being wasted. A wide range of sources can be recycled including glass, paper, aluminum, and plastics. Items that can be recycled must be sorted and separated into material types.   There are two common household methods of helping increase recycling. The first is curbside collection where consumers leave presorted materials for recycling at the front of their property, typically in boxes or sacks to be collected by a recycling vehicle. The second method is where a householder takes the materials to be recycled to a recycling or collection facility.

Discuss the information with your student. If your family doesn't currently recycle, consider becoming active recyclers; it is one way we can all help our environment.

Library List
Recycle!: A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons
Garbage and Recycling (Young Discoverers: Environmental Facts and Experiments) by Rosie Harlow
Where Does the Garbage Go? by Paul Showers
Why Should I Recycle? (Why Should I? Books) by Jen Green

Printable Recycling Coloring Book

Zoology: Endangered Animals
Because of the Once-ler's greed, the animals had to leave the forest they once lived in.   Does your student remember why the bears had to leave? The fish? The swans? The sad reality is that if the animals would've stayed, they would've started dying. The bears couldn't survive without food; the swans couldn't breathe the air any longer; and the fish couldn't continue on in gluppy, schloppy infested waters.

When a group of animals start to die out, we say that they are endangered. What animals in our world are in danger of dying out? Let your older student do some research and possibly write an essay on one of the animals that interests him (some are mentioned below).

Ivory-billed Woodpecker
Arakan Forest Turtle
Javan Rhino
Cheetah
Blue Whale
Snow Leopard
African Wild Dog

Extended Learning

The Once-ler sold his Thneeds for $3.98. How many trees did it take to make a Thneed? Is a tree only worth $3.98? Have your older student research and find out how much a tree is worth.

What are some things that the Once-ler could've done to help the environment? (He could've planted a tree for every tree that he chopped down; he also could've figured out a better means to get rid of the waste coming out of his factory. Discuss other ways to solve this problem.)

Recipe (Source)

Truffula Tree Snacks

Ingredients:
Peanut Butter
Celery Sticks
Tangerines
Fruits of your choice--try to get some fruits your student has never tried such as papaya or mango (kiwi, banana, and pineapple may also be good exotic choices)

1. Distribute paper plates to each student.
2. Place approximately 1-2 Tablespoons of peanut butter on each student plate.
3. Help your student place a celery stick in the peanut butter so that the celery stick will stand up.
4. Give your student 1/2 tangerine (cut in a zig-zag pattern) to place on top on the celery stick.
5. Give your student different "Truffala fruits" to sample. Cut the fruits of your choice into small pieces and encourage your student to try some new fruit.

Materials and information on this website belong to the original composers. It may be used for your own personal and school use.