THE LORAX LANDSCAPES

POLLUTION MATTERS: THE LORAX LANDSCAPES

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will listen to the story The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Students will discuss the elements of art they see in the illustrations. Then, students will recreate their own scene analysis of the illustrations before and after the Onceler arrives in the story. Students will also focus on the changes in mood throughout the story. Students will then create a persuasive writing piece comparing and contrasting the Lorax’s habitat.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 3,5
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & SCIENCE
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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can create a persuasive piece to compare and contrast the scenes in the Lorax’s habitat before and after the Onceler.
  • I can create a piece of art that shows the cause and effect of the pollution that occurred in The Lorax.

Essential Questions

  • How can art be used to compare and contrast the land of the Lorax before and after the Onceler?
  • How can you analyze the mood in a piece of artwork using key vocabulary?
  • What are the effects of pollution on people and the environment?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 3:

S3L2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the effects of pollution (air, land, and water) and humans on the environment.

a. Ask questions to collect information and create records of sources and effects of pollution on the plants and animals.

b. Explore, research, and communicate solutions, such as conservation of resources and recycling of materials, to protect plants and animals.

Arts Standards

Grade 3:

VA3PR.1 Creates artworks based on personal experience and selected themes.

VA3PR.2 Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art processes (drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed-media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills.

VA3AR.1 Discusses his or her artwork and the artwork of others.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5:

5-ESS3-1. Evaluate potential solutions to problems that individual communities face in protecting the Earth’s resources and environment.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

Anchor Standard 4: I can organize work for presentation and documentation to reflect specific content, ideas, skills, and or media.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Compare/contrast - To find similarities and differences between two things
  • Cause and effect - A relationship between two events or situations where one event (the cause) directly results in the other event (the effect)
  • Pollution - The introduction of harmful or toxic substances, known as pollutants, into the environment
  • Conservation - The careful management, protection, and preservation of natural resources, the environment, and wildlife to prevent depletion, degradation, or extinction
  • Environment - The conditions and factors surrounding an organism or group of organisms, influencing their development, behavior, and survival. It includes both biotic factors (living elements like plants, animals, bacteria) and abiotic factors (non-living elements like sunlight, temperature, water, soil, and air)
  • Air pollution - Harmful gases and particles are released into the atmosphere, often from vehicle exhaust, factories, and power plants. Common pollutants include carbon dioxide (CO₂), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particulate matter
  • Land pollution - Chemicals, pesticides, and waste materials contaminate the soil, often due to improper waste disposal, use of pesticides, or industrial spills. This affects soil quality, plant life, and can contaminate crops.
  • Water pollution - contaminants enter water bodies like rivers, lakes, and oceans, often from agricultural runoff, industrial waste, sewage, and oil spills. This pollution harms aquatic life and can make water unsafe for human consumption.

Arts Vocabulary

  • Color - An element of art with three properties: 1) Hue: the name of the color, e.g. red, yellow, etc., 2) Intensity: the purity and strength of the color (brightness or dullness), 3) Value: the lightness or darkness of the color (shades and tints)
  • Warm colors - Yellow, orange, red (and shades of each)
  • Cool colors - Purple/violet, blue, green (and shades of each)
  • Shape - A flat, enclosed line that is always two-dimensional and can be either geometric or organic
  • Texture - The surface quality, or "feel" of an object, such as roughness, smoothness, or softness. Actual texture can be felt while simulated textures are implied by the way the artist renders areas of the picture.
  • Contrast - The arrangement of opposite elements in a composition (light vs. dark, rough vs. smooth, etc.) Similar to variety, which refers to the differences in a work, achieved by using different shapes, textures, colors and values.
  • Landscape - A type of art that shows a wide expanse of land and shows depth through a background, middle ground, and foreground
  • Background - The area of the artwork that appears furthest away and is smallest
  • Middle ground - The area of the artwork that appears in the middle of the picture plane between the background and middle ground
  • Foreground - The area of the artwork that appears closest and is largest

 

Materials

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Select one illustration from the first half of The Lorax by Dr. Seuss.
  • Engage students in the See, Think, Wonder Artful Thinking Routine.
    • What do you see?
    • What do you think about what you see?
    • What do you wonder about?

Work Session

Part 1:

  • Read the first half of The Lorax as a whole class.
  • After the first half of The Lorax with the students, discuss as a group the art elements they saw while reading. Ask them to identify colors, lines, shapes, and textures.
  • Use The Lorax movie clip to help with recalling the mood of the “beginning” of the story.
  • Pass out mixed media paper to students. Students will fold paper in half (landscape).
  • Students should label “Before the Onceler” on the left hand side of the paper and “After the Onceler” on the right hand side of the paper.
  • Show students the parts of a landscape diagram. Look at an illustration from The Lorax and have students identify the parts of a landscape in the illustration.
  • Have students lightly sketch the horizon line, the foreground and the background on both sides of the paper. After students sketch, they will use the black sharpies to go over the major lines in their drawings.
  • Students will then use oil pastels to recreate the before scene. Ask students to focus on using color to communicate the mood of the story at this point. This will be where the colors are warm and bright.
  • Remind students to include the characters Barbaloot Bears, Truffala trees, Hummingfish, and Swammie Swams in their artwork.

Part 2:

  • Read the second half of The Lorax with the students.
  • Discuss as a group how the illustrations changed in the second half of the story. What colors do students see?
  • Students will then use oil pastels to finish their landscapes recreating “After the Onceler”.
  • Remind students to think about how many characters have vanished from the setting. How did the colors change? What happened to the Truffla trees?

Part 3:

  • To conclude the project, as a whole class, discuss the point of view from the main characters (Onceler and Lorax). Have students pair up and recreate a quick conversation between the characters.  Point of view must be clearly identified and supported.
  • Students will then create their own persuasive writing piece using their Suess inspired illustration picture to compare and contrast the Lorax’s habitat before and after the Onceler.

Closing Reflection

  • Facilitate a discussion around the following questions:
    • How does the Land of the Lifted Lorax compare after the Onceler?
    • How would you describe the mood of the scene before and after the Onceler?
    • What was the main cause of the destruction to the Land of the Lifted Lorax?
    • How did you use color to communicate the mood of the story before and after the Onceler came?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Teacher will observe the students for the understanding of appropriate usage of unit vocabulary through the lesson as well as their ability to connect color and mood.

Summative

 

Differentiation 

Accelerated: 

  • Students can create a third panel of the artwork with the possibility of the UNLESS scene and how they think it would look (possible outcomes, new small plants growing, grass beginning to grow again etc.).
  • Discuss the artist Vik Munez. Use pictures to discuss his artwork and what inspires him.  Students can create their own art pieces using collected garbage.

Remedial:

  • Provide pre-folded paper with a horizon line drawn for students.
  • Provide sentence starters for students.
  • Include a visual word bank for additional support.

 

Additional Resources

 

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: Jill McNally, Alisa Moore, Julie Palmieri, Edited by Dr. Carla Cohen, Edited by Jessica Espinoza and Katy Betts

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

 

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