The Lorax Knows Why We Teach

A movie for all ages... including 6th grade!!!

This past week was Dr. Seuss' birthday... which I am sure you all knew this.... anyway.... our whole school was decorated in Dr. Seuss stuff all week.  We even had Truffala Trees all over the school- it looked A-MAZ-ING!  (Unfortunately I can take no credit for it as it only pertained to the pre-k through 3rd grades)  The younger grades even put on some kind of performance on Thursday night  about Dr. Seuss!  (Once again, I knew nothing about this as I teach 6th grade... yes I felt left out this week).  Ok... pity party over... maybe..... for now anyway....

My partner teacher has been teaching the kids poetry and I am about to teach my kids about conservation and human-environment interaction.  So on Monday, we decided we were going to take our 6th graders on a little field trip to see The Lorax on opening day FRIDAY!!!  Even though I got left out of all the Dr. Seuss activities this week at our school (including buying awesome Dr. Seuss t-shirts.... one for each day of the week..... last of the pity party.... )  I do have to commend my principal and school for letting us take this field trip on such a short notice.

Friday morning I read The Lorax aloud to my students.

 

I love the fact that my 6th graders still like to sit around me and have a book read aloud to them every now and then.  NO one is too old to have a story read aloud to them.  Anyway, I told them that I wanted them to hear the story and compare the book to the movie when we came back.  The movie was awesome and so was the behavior of our kids!  The students even clapped at the end of the movie! 

When we got back to the school, they were talking about recycling and energy uses (we have just finished discussing energy forms and transformations) and it just made me beam with pride.  As I watched the movie (and got teary-eyed) I began to relate the Truffala seed to my students.  Thinking that from this seed grows so much more- but only if I nurture it, care for it, and help it.  The tear finally trickled down my cheek when the Lorax said "UNLESS someone cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."  We, TEACHERS, ARE THOSE WHO CARE!  It is through us that things do get better... through education.

Even though our little field trip was to the movies, my students came back with something learned from it, and isn't that the main point of a field trip??

This is a teacher's mantra.  This is the reason we teach.