By reading a story such as The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, students can examine the importance of conserving natural resources.
For the complete activity and more like this, purchase the Explore Your Environment: K-8 Activity Guide at Shop.PLT.org and/or attend a professional development training in your state.
Below are some supporting resources for this activity.
Expand your students’ learning and imaginations. Help students meet their reading goals, while building upon concepts learned in this activity, with the following children’s book recommendations:
The following tools and resources may be used to enhance the activity.
Story Maps are simple web apps that combine interactive maps, multimedia content, and user experiences to tell stories about the world. This introductory story maps workshop explains what story maps are, and why and how you can teach with them. Find and use existing Story Maps in your teaching and learn how to design and create your own story maps to teach content. Then, engage your students in creating their own story maps as part of their investigations.
The Minnesota Department of Education includes Indigenous-based learning benchmarks in science, language arts, and social studies. Learn how the Minnesota DNR worked with tribes to adapt several PLT activities to include Ojibwe and Dakota culture and knowledge, and get some tips for teaching about Indigenous Peoples with knowledge and respect. Access the Ojibwe and Dakota PLT Lessons that connect students in grades K-8 to forests using Indigenous knowledge and perspectives.
These three 2-minute videos highlight elements of an urban forest, how they’re managed, and the community benefits. More than 80% of all Americans live in urban areas and urban forests bring important benefits to those communities. Developed by forestinfo.org and the North Carolina Forest Service, these Forest Fact Breaks are a great way to help learn more about the following topics: Urban Forests, Urban Forest Benefits, and Urban Forest Wood Usage.
To highlight the importance of paper in our lives, Domtar (a producer of pulp and paper products) created a Paper Because campaign featuring ads and a series of short videos to dispel some common myths about the environmental impact of paper and the use of paper in today’s digital age. “There are times when no substitute for paper will suffice; it is how great ideas begin, how the world learns, how important news gets shared and how people meaningfully connect with each other,” according to John D. Williams, Domtar President and CEO.
Keep America Beautiful is a nonprofit that provides waste education materials, events, and programs.
Check out these student-written examples of sequels to The Lorax tale. Try writing and illustrating your own version!
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