Truffula Tree: Wise Use of Resources

Truffula Tree: Wise Use of Resources

Written By:

· Hannah Pekel

· Melanie Ober

· Valerie Powell

· Robert Hooper

· Jessica Hilton

FOCUS:

Overview:

Students create their own Truffula tree and then determine the best use of the tree. As in the book, The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, there is a scarcity of trees so choices must be made. Students are encouraged to be creative as they design their trees and then to think critically as they decide on the best use of this scarce resource. They learn about the value of trees as they participate in a daily choice activity. The value and uses of trees will follow them throughout their lives.

Objectives:

Grade: Third to eighth

Curriculum Alignment:

National Content Standards in Economics

Content Standard 1: Students will understand that: Productive resources are limited. Therefore, people cannot have all the goods and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.

Grade 4-Benchmark 1: People make choices because they can't have everything they want.

Grade 4-Benchmark 2: Whenever a choice is made, something is given up.

Grade 4-Benchmark 3: The opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative given up.

Content Standard 2: Students will understand that: Effective decision making requires comparing the additional costs of alternatives with the additional benefits. Many choices involve doing a little more or a little less of something: few choices are "all or nothing" decisions.

Grade 4-Benchmark 1: Few choices are all-or-nothing decisions; they usually involve getting a little more of one thing by giving up a little of something else.

Grade 4-Benchmark 2: A cost is what you give up when you decide to do something.

Grade 4-Benchmark 3: A benefit is what satisfies your wants

PREPARE:

Materials:

For this lesson, materials needed are:

· “The Lorax” book

· Construction paper

· Crayons

· Markers

· Any other art supplies of teacher’s choice. Examples: feathers, beads, stones, pipe cleaners, glitter, glue, etc.

· Prizes of varied value to students. Examples:

Monday – candy or treat

Tuesday – extra free time in class

Wednesday – extra recess time

Thursday – lunch with the teacher

Friday --- will be pizza party with a movie

Construct:

1. Gather all materials needed for tree construction. Include varied items so the students can be creative with their tree construction. The trees can be life-sized or about 18 inches high. You might want to provide a few trunk patterns for sizing.

2. Label materials – natural resources.

3. Provide glue, scissor, etc. Label these as capital tools.

4. Make a “teacher tree” to display in the front of the classroom that has five different branches. The following economics terms and definitions will be displayed on each branch.

a. Natural resources – gifts of nature – ex. Water, air, soil, temperature, coal

b. Capital tools – human made tools used to produce goods, services and leisure activities – ex. Hammer, desk, bowl, mixer, computer

c. Scarcity – not enough resources to fulfill our unlimited wants – Ex. Water to produce plastic, care for people, or to water cattle

d. Opportunity cost – the next best foregone alternative when a choice is made – Ex. If you choose to spend your time reading a book, your opportunity cost was watching TV

e. Utility – the measure of satisfaction you receive from consuming a good, service or leisure activity

TEACH:

Introduction:

1. Ask students if they are familiar with The Lorax. Invite a couple to explain what they remember from the story. (Responses will most likely include comments about using all the trees.)

2. Explain that the earth provides us with a lot of resources that we use to produce things we want. These naturally occurring resources are known as natural resources. An example would be corn so that we can feed corn to animals and have corn dogs, corn tortillas, and anything else made from corn. Challenge: Ask students to check ingredients on things they eat at home to see how many identify corn in some form including corn syrup. Another example of a natural resource would be soil. It is a natural resource. Ask students to explain how we use soil. (Replies can include to grow things or to filter our water. Some students might suggest that we mine things from the soil such as bauxite to make aluminum foil.)

3. Explain that water is a natural resource. Ask for ways that water is used. This can be a fairly lengthy list by the time you mention drinking, production, fishing, water sports, etc.

4. Tell students that you want them to think of natural resources and how they are used while you read the book.

Activities:

1. Read the “Lorax” to the students. Ask the students to note the use of natural resources.

2. Upon completion of the story, ask the following questions.

a. What was wanted by everyone? (the thneed)

b. What was used to produce the thneed? (the truffula tree)

c. As the truffula trees disappeared, what happened to the animals? (they left because their environment became polluted and they had no food sources)

d. Were there enough trees to fulfill all the wants of the people and animals? (No, there were more wants than trees to fulfill them.)

e. Wants are goods and services that satisfy people’s desires. What was wanted by the people in the story? (the thneed) By the animals? (the trufala trees for homes, for food and to clean the environment)

f. The specific wants are not exactly stated in the story but this can be explained by discussing what trees do for us such as stopping erosion; filtering the water; providing fruit, nuts and syrups; cleaning the air we breathe; and providing homes for many animals.

g. Discuss the value of trees to the planet earth.

3. Explain that when wants are unlimited and resources are limited, like in The Lorax story, a scarcity exists. A scarcity is when we have more wants than we have resources, goods or services to fulfill those wants. Because of scarcity we must make choices.

4. Define production as the use of resources to create goods, services or recreational activities.

5. Create a list of things produced from trees. This can be displayed on a board or long piece of paper where this can be added to continually. The list can go from bowling pins, to syrup, to furniture, to mattresses, to gum, etc. More ideas can be found at this site: http://www.domtar.com/arbre/english/les_utilisations_des_arbres/index.asp . Also, http://www.mnn.com/money/green-workplace/sponsor/the-many-uses-of-trees provides a lot of specifics on the uses of trees.

6. Tell students they now get to be creative and create their own truffula tree using the provided resources. Have the resources sorted into boxes or on tables with their labels: natural resources and capital tools. Define capital tools as human-made inputs into production. Things that are used in production but that were made by humans. Explain that as a teacher you use a computer, desk and board. These are all capital tools. They are human made and will not be used up. They can be used over and over and over in the production of trees.

a. Capital tools: Scissors, crayons, glue, glitter, desk, chairs,

b. Natural resources: paper, feathers, and other items to be used to make the trees creative. You are encouraged to gather items from outside.

7. Allow time and space for students to create trees. Life sized is nice of you have the materials, time and space. An alternative that uses fewer resources would be to make them about 18 inches tall. Encourage students to include names on the truck of the tree.

8. Explain to students that if you own a tree you must decide what is best to do with it. Should you leave it for animals to use? Should you cut it down and sell it for wood? Should you gather the sap and make maple syrup? Should you leave it for bird nests and woodpecker holes?

9. Define opportunity as the next best foregone alternative when a choice is made. For example, one truffala tree can be used to make a thneed, provide home for animals, or provide nuts and berries. Rank your preferences from top to bottom. For me, the choice would be: to provide homes for animals. I would also be able to eat any fruits or berries produced by the tree. I would give up the opportunity to have a thneed produced by from the tree. So my opportunity cost would be the thneed. That is the alternative you gave up – or the next best foregone alternative.

10. Explain to students that each one owns the tree he/she created. Each student must decide how to use the tree during the week. Each day you may decide to leave your tree or to cut it down in exchange for the item offered. The students will not know what is offered on the next day. The alternatives will get better as the week progresses but students should not be told this.

11. An example of daily alternatives might be:

a. Monday – candy or treat

b. Tuesday – extra free time in class

c. Wednesday – extra recess time

d. Thursday – lunch with the teacher

e. Friday --- will be pizza party with a movie

Modify the choices based on your grade level and the interests of your students.

12. Students should make choices that give them a lot of satisfaction or utility. Utility is the measure of happiness or satisfaction.

13. On Friday show the movie The Lorax. Students who have not yet consumed their tree may join in a pizza party.

14. After viewing The Lorax discuss:

a. What wants were unlimited in the movie? (wants for thneeds)

b. What resource was scarce? (the trufala tree)

c. What was the opportunity cost of the thneed production? (homes for the animals)

d. What was the Lorax’s job? (to speak for the trees and to inform the Onceler what his opportunity cost was)

Closure:

Unless . . . someone like you cares an awful lot. Discuss with the students the meaning of the ending to the story. Discuss ways they can care. The first suggestion will probably be to plant trees as they did in the movie. Hopefully, ideas such as wise use of trees for erosion control, purifying water, cleaning the air, producing goods, etc. will be discussed.

Evaluation:

1) Read The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry and describe five things that will be given up if the tree is cut down.