Fragile forests are disappearing! Learn why, discover the damaging effects, and inspire people to act now to save our Earth from this tragic loss.

• 1.

  Our world’s forests are vanishing! Cities, parking lots, highways, and farmers’ fields are replacing green trees that once covered half the Earth’s land. Study maps to see where deforestation is happening. This barren land leads to erosion. Animals are losing their homes and habitats. How can we save our environment? Who can you ask to help erase this problem?

• 2.

  How can habitats be saved? On white paper, use Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils to draw a dramatic before and after deforestation scene. If you change your mind, just erase. If only we could replace forests so easily! Show or describe actions we all can take to reduce deforestation.

• 3.

  Give your ideas extra dimension by using Crayola® Erasable Colored Pencils. Erase highlights and create negative space. Add texture to plants and flowers by erasing. Create details such as stripes on animals. Fill some areas with a different color or medium.

• 4.

  Share your message! Where can your class hang these posters to help others understand the urgency of solving this global problem?

Standards

• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
• LA: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
• LA: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade level topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing one's own clearly.
• SCI: Ask questions about the natural and human-built worlds.
• SS: Use appropriate resources, data sources, and geographic tools to generate, manipulate, and interpret information.
• SS: Examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected locales and regions.
• SS: Identify and describe factors that contribute to cooperation and cause disputes within and among groups and nations.
• SS: Examine the relationships and tensions between personal wants and needs and various global concerns, such as use of imported oil, land use, and environmental protection.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

• Classroom resource: The Vanishing Rainforest by Richard Platt & Rupert VanWyk; The Bear with the Sword by Davide Cali
• In teams of two, students create a triarama depicting the causes and effects of deforestation.
• In small groups, students brainstorm ways in which we can prevent deforestation. Students list these steps on chart paper and post them in the classroom.
• In small groups, students compose sayings to discourage deforestation. Illustrate each saying. Post the illustrations in the classroom and in the school building.