Trees, Please

THE LESSON OF THE LORAX: You can't go into a store or turn on a TV right now without seeing a promotion for a major motion picture version of Dr. Seuss' "The Lorax."

We've read a few Seuss books in our time, but "The Lorax" isn't one of them. A few days ago CJ declared that before we could go see the movie he wanted to read the book and watch an old video of it, in that order. Today, that's just what we did.

First up, we found a (nicely) narrated version of "The Lorax" on YouTube. The text was shown adjacent to the picture pages, so the kids were able to read along - which helps, given Giesel's penchant for nonsensical words.

I asked their kids about their impression of the narrated book. Annabelle blurted out, "We need to speak for the trees, because everybody needs oxygen and trees produce oxygen with what we breathe out, so it's basically like a cycle. Even though we need wood, we still need to leave some trees."

CJ had an opinion about the book/video, but his mind was on another matter entirely. "I bet you that's going to wind up in a copyright claim," he declared. That made me LOL, and I had to admit I was wondering about that, too. No matter how well it's done, somehow, taking someone else's book and narrating it and posting it on YouTube seems like it might be a bit problematic when it comes to that whole copyright infringement thing ... But we digress.

After that, we cued up the 1972 animated version of "The Lorax." The music was retro-riffic - there was no mistaking the era from whence it came. (Trivia: It first aired on CBS on Valentine's Day, 1972). When the video was over, I pointed out to the kids that I was exactly Annabelle's age when the cartoon came out.

The animated version was pretty true to the book. Both the book and video delivered the same message. "The Lorax" is a cautionary tale about the need for conservation. In case you're not familiar with the story, in it an entrepreneur, the greedy Once-ler begins cutting down Truffula trees to make thneeds (something everyone needs). The Lorax, a  objects, saying he speaks for the trees. Before long, the entrepreneur expands his empire, cutting down more trees and let's just say it doesn't end well.

After the book and video, I asked the kids to write about "The Lesson of the Lorax."

Annabelle wrote:

The lesson of the Lorax is to speak for the trees! We do have to cut them down, but at least leave a few! The Lorax spoke for the trees, the animals spoke for the trees, we should all speak for the trees! Every time a tree gets cut down that means less fresh air for us!

Dr. Seuss made his point by having the "villain" change his mind, but it was too late. I was glad he changed his mind, though. And it ended there.

CJ wrote:

The Lorax is a great book/cartoon and it has a lesson in it. That lesson is to speak for the trees (well sort of!)

Throughout the book/cartoon, you learn more to speak for the trees. One example is that the place looks like a dump after the Once-ler cut down all the trees. Another reason is how would be get our oxygen if there were no trees?" It is good to speak for the trees. So you should too!

After they were finished writing, we went outside and planted a tree, of course!

A mokey tail or monkey puzzle tree, it's small and slow growing, but a tiny, tree is better than no tree at all. Just ask the Lorax.

A side note: We learned today the Araucaria araucana tree is native to western Argentina and

central and southern Chile. It is, in fact the national tree of Chile. 

NOT JUST NOTHING: To ease into our math lesson today, We read the book "Zero Is it Something? Is it Nothing" together. Wrttien by Claudia Zaslavsky with pictures by Jeni Bassett, it's part of the Discovering Science Book series (which I'd never heard of until today).
 
Using several easy-to-understand examples, the book did a nice job of showing that sometimes zero is nothing (like there are zero monsters under your bed), but other times, you can't count it out. For instance, with the number 100, if you cross out or disregard the zeros, your 100 turns into 1. Also what would happen if you lived at 204 Washington St. and you disregarded the 0? Trouble!
 
After that, we busted out the text books. The kids got a respite from long division today. The exercise was about number patterns and a review of multiplication or "times tables." Annabelle asked if they could sit on the couch and do their math. I didn't hesitate to say 'yes.' After all, who said math can only be done sitting at a table or desk? I reminded the kids that's one of the freedoms we're lucky to have approaching their schooling the way we do. If you want to learn lounging on the couch in your PJs, so be it!  

SIZING IT UP: Today, CJ was on the Newgrounds Web site - a pretty great video game site. I asked him what he was playing and he told me it was Newgrounds' Best of All Time" game "Scale of the Universe 2."

I was a bit bemused because I had shown him that amazing creation weeks ago (thanks reader Undine for the tip!), but for some reason when he found it today, on a GAMES site, CJ was more interested. In fact, he and Annabelle spent about an hour exploring the amazing creation of 14-year-old twins Cary and Michael Huang. It's an amazing interactive animation allowing users to compare relative sizes of everything from minuscule quarks to the observable universe. It's worth checking out (but takes a few seconds to load, FYI).

NEGLECTED: I forgot to include in last night's post a note about our starry skies. On our way home from dinner last night, we pulled over to the side of the road and hopped out of the car at 6:51, when the ISS was supposed to be flying over.  There was a significant amount of light pollution in our area, and a little bit of haze, but by 6:52 Christian spotted it approaching from the west. It was wild, within one tiny slice of the sky, we saw the moon, Venus and Jupiter shining brightly, the ISS AND a satellite (traveling north to south) overhead. Amazing!