The Lorax: A Community Engagement Project Part Deux
We need wire mesh, plaster, and carving tools to design a sculpture of the Lorax.
$276 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
The students leading this project are excited to announce that they have received special permission from Dr. Seuss Enterprises L.P. to design and install a sculpture of the Lorax on our campus as a symbol of our pillar of sustainability.
During our EcoDay a few years ago, students and staff were designing earthworks as part of a rainwater harvesting system in the front of the school. A tree stump was unearthed by the bulldozer and was kept in place because I dreamed of one day putting a statue of the Lorax on it to symbolize the type of work our school does in the community.
During my project, The Lorax: A Community Engagement Project (part 1), I shared the story of the tree stump with my current students. They thought it would be AWESOME if we could actually fulfill my dream. We realized that copyright and trademark infringement would be a problem, so they started a letter writing campaign to Dr. Seuss Enterprises L.P. At the end of the quarter, we received word (on official Dr. Seuss letterhead) that we were granted permission to build our statue.
The story of the Lorax is the text from which I am basing my students' understanding about the social and scientific impacts of our daily lives on the environment. Students have developed a sense of empathy for their natural environment and are working on several school projects to improve it. This project, in and of itself, will result in creating a symbol that is a metaphor for all that we do. The design of the statue will incorporate the visual and kinesthetic learning modalities of several of my students. They will have to work as a team in the design phase to come up with a sound structure that will withstand the weather. In addition, they will need to figure out how to incorporate as much repurposed material as possible, so that the majority of the statue is representative of the Lorax's message of sustainability.
In Their Own Words
Jesus: We want to make our teacher's dream come true by creating a statue of the Lorax to put in front of our school. We believe the Lorax is a great symbol of the type of projects we do as a school and in our community.
Amira: I am an artist and love to draw. I believe that I can create several examples of what the statue could look like and help my team members decide on the best way to build it. I have never made a sculpture before, so this will be a great learning experience for me, too.
Jose: As a school, we try to reduce as much waste as possible. We compost our school lunch leftovers. We recycle plastic bottles, aluminum cans, cardboard and paper. We have been encouraged to use these items for our class projects instead of spending money on new materials. We want to build our statue out of materials that otherwise would make it to the dump to show our community that with a little creativity we can reduce our waste by using it to create beautiful things.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Snook and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
