Overview

The purpose of this unit was for students to understand how the choices they make influence others and impact the environment.  Students were read the story, The Lorax, by Dr. Suess.  In this story a character named the Once-ler visits a beautiful town and starts utilizing the resources.  We are told how he chops down all the Truffula Trees, pollutes the rivers, and creates a factory that pollutes the air.  The Lorax, the mayor of the town, warns the Once-ler to stop abusing their town.   Unfortunately the Once-ler’s greed causes him to ignore the pleas by the Lorax.  Eventually the town becomes uninhabitable and the animals and Lorax are forced to leave.  At the end of the story a boy is given the last Truffula Tree seed. 

The students in our class were asked, “What would you do with the last Truffula Tree seed?”  They were organized into five different groups with no more than four students in each group.  Each group worked cooperatively to decide what they would do with the last Truffula Tree seed.  The students brainstormed a list of ideas, put their ideas together on a pre-writing organizer, and created a rough draft.  They proof read, edited, and revised their own work.  The students not only took their stories through a writing process, but they worked on problem solving skills as they practiced following cooperative group rules. When each group completed their final copy, they used Hyperstudio to write and illustrate their stories.  When the unit was complete, we then visited the computer lab where we showed students their wonderful creations on the television monitor.  In addition, to celebrate Earth Day, we held an assembly where we displayed our project to the rest of the school.