Subject Area: Social studies
Grade: 6
Time Required: 80 minutes
Reading Skills:
• Identifying cause and effect
• Making predictions and inferences
• Interpreting symbols & foreshadowing
• Explaining how a theme is supported
The Lorax and Human-Environmental Interaction
Description: While reading the Dr. Seuss book The Lorax, students will identify examples of humanenvironmental interaction (HEI) and their effects on the environment. This lesson comes near the beginning
of a unit on HEI and leads into later lessons about natural resources and pollution.
Essential Questions:
• How do people change the environment around them?
• How can I help to stop the pollution problem?
Standards Addressed:
1) New Hampshire GE: 6:2.1 Describe the ways regions change.
2) New Hampshire GE: 6:3.4 Explain how human activities influence change in the ecosystem.
3) New Hampshire GE: 6:5:1 Understand the consequences of human modification of the physical
environment.
Objectives
Assessments
At the end of the lesson, students will be able to . . .
I will know they can do this because they will . . .
1) Cite examples of HEI from The Lorax
Contribute to class discussion of HEI examples; write
examples in the “cause” part of a graphic organizer
Contribute to class discussion of HEI effects; complete
the “effect” part of a graphic organizer, including
inferences and hypotheses if story does not provide
enough information
Write a personal “pollution solution” for homework
2) Determine the effect that each example
has on the environment
3) Explain one way they can help to
stop/solve a current pollution problem
Procedure: Before Reading
1) Think/pair/share (7 min.): Remind students that they’ve been learning about human-environmental
interaction (HEI). Ask them to write down 2 examples of how they interacted with their environment this
morning and share examples with a partner. Choose volunteers to share interesting examples with class.
2) Spectrum (10 min.): Read and display the following statement: “When people decide to buy goods,
they think about the effect it has on the environment.” (You may need to review what goods are and how
they are made.) Have students indicate their level of agreement with the statement by standing along a
spectrum, labeled “Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree.” Then have them take a
seat to write a brief explanation of their view and report it to the class.
©2008 Andrea Damato, Gilford Middle School, Gilford, NH
Created with the support of The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory, a program of The Education Alliance at Brown University
Procedure: Before Reading (continued)
3) Intro to cause/effect graphic organizer (10 min.): Explain to the class that you’ll all be reading a story
about competition between humans and the environment. Hand out the graphic organizer, review the
expectations for completing it, and answer questions. Direct students to notice that examples of HEI are
really just types of causes, or actions that bring results. For example, “I shoveled my driveway” is a
cause and also a type of HEI. The effect could be many things: “I have a clean driveway.” “The car
didn’t get stuck.” “I fell and broke my arm.” “My brother and I started a snowball fight.” Students can
write “HEI” next to “cause” to remind them. Have students move to reading area with graphic
organizers.
Procedure: During Reading
4) Intro to The Lorax (3 min.): Show class the cover of The Lorax and some of the pages. Ask if students
have read it before, or if they’ve read other Dr. Seuss books. Discuss their expectations for a Dr. Seuss
book (rhyming words, bright colors, fantasy, usually a problem, happy tone/ending, made-up creatures,
characters look silly). Ask students to make predictions about this book, based on other Dr. Seuss books
they’ve read and on what they’ve seen of this one so far. Record a few key predictions on the board.
MATERIALS
5) Active Reading (25 min.): Read the book out loud. Stop frequently to share examples of HEI/cause
and effect, modeling how to infer effects when they are not stated explicitly. (For example, The Lorax
coughs and wheezes while complaining to the Once-ler about the “smogulous smoke” his factory is
producing. Therefore, we can infer that the smoke is making him sick.) Have students offer their own
examples of HEI causes and effects, and remind them to jot quick notes about both in pencil on their
graphic organizers. For some causes, students may have to hypothesize about effects, if there is not
enough information about them in the book. Allow students to work toward independence; by the end of
the story, they should be recording their own notes about causes and effects silently.
At a few key points in the reading, stop to revisit the predictions the class made. Which predictions were
accurate? Which should be revised, and why? Which new predictions can the class offer about what will
happen later in the story? Other literary elements to discuss during story: present-past-present
sequencing of story; foreshadowing; change in color indicating progression of pollution; theme, and how
this theme is supported; symbolism of the Lorax, Once-ler, Thneed, etc.
Procedure: After Reading
6) Identifying causes & effects (25 min.): Have students work with a partner to complete the cause and
effect graphic organizer on the worksheet, beginning with the notes they jotted down during the reading,
and rereading sections of The Lorax where necessary. Then ask partner groups to choose the one cause
that has the biggest, or most important, effect on the environment. Tell them they will have to justify
their decision with 2-3 supporting details. Discuss choices as a class, directing students to real-world
parallels in their own environment.
7) Homework: Pollution solution (20 min.): Have students work alone to write a paragraph about
something that is causing a pollution problem in their own environment, and one way they can help to
stop the problem.
©2008 Andrea Damato, Gilford Middle School, Gilford, NH
Created with the support of The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory, a program of The Education Alliance at Brown University
Materials
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Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
Worksheet with Cause/Effect Graphic Organizer & Homework Prompt (enclosed, 2 pages)
©2008 Andrea Damato, Gilford Middle School, Gilford, NH
Created with the support of The Adolescent Literacy Collaboratory, a program of The Education Alliance at Brown University