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Prep for Teachers
Prior to this lesson, bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each
computer in your classroom. Load the Shockwave plug-in (available free
from http://www.macromedia.com)
onto each computer as well. Prepare the hands-on element of the lesson
by:
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- Collecting old papers for recycling
- Building screens for paper molds. You will need window screen,
doubled and stapled to a wooden frame. A 6-8" square frame is
easily manageable for the students.
- Copying "History of Paper Fact Sheet" and "Steps
to Making Handmade Paper" worksheet per each group of 4-5 students.
When using media, provide students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION,
a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after
viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements. |
Step 1:
Ask students to look around the classroom and collect all the products
they can find that come from trees. Have additional products available,
such as fruits, nuts, rubber bands, wrapping paper, and birthday cards.
Discuss the variety and abundance of products we use that come from trees.
Step 2:
Log on to
http://www.afandpa.org/kids_educators/forestfacts.cfm#anchor29605.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to recount the information pertaining to the history of paper. Ask
questions to CHECK their comprehension. How many pounds of carbon
dioxide (CO2) does a tree need to grow one pound of wood? (1.47 lbs.)
How many pounds of oxygen does a tree give off? (1.07 lbs.) Name other
objects made from trees. (Houses, furniture, baseball bats, clothing,
toothpaste.)
Step 3:
Log on to http://www.afandpa.org/kids_educators/2renewable.cfm.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to explain some of the important uses of trees. Ask them to define
CO2 (carbon dioxide). Why do we depend on trees? (For oxygen.) List other
uses of trees. (Shade, moisture, to cool the air, food, wood for shelter
and furniture.)
Step 4:
Log on to http://www.afandpa.org/kids_educators/wood_you.cfm.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to review their knowledge of trees by taking the True/False quiz.
(The answer to every question on the quiz is "true.")
Step 5:
Log on to http://www.ipst.edu/amp/collection/museum_forerunners.htm.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to explore the different kinds of paper made throughout history.
(Kinds of paper include: clay tablets – the pictograms had
evolved into wedge-shaped characters that were carved into soft clay that
later dried into hard tablets; bark cloth – made by beating
moistened sections of bark with a serrated beater. Sections of this bark
cloth were joined with vegetable adhesives and gums; leaves and leaf
books – leaves of the bai-lan tree, which are similar to palm
leaves, were trimmed, flattened, and polished smooth with sand; rice
paper/pith paper is cut spirally from the inner pith of the kung-shu
or Fatsiapapyrifera plant; papyrus – made from the smooth,
triangular stalks of the plant, harvested and peeled, and the pith was
sliced and pounded together in strips, then polished smooth with a stone,
bone, or shell.)
Step 1:
CUE the video What's Up in the Environment? to the image
of the earth spinning when the host Elan says, "So what's up with
global warming?" Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA
INTERACTION, asking them to identify the human activities that affect
the environment. PLAY the segment and PAUSE when Elan says,
"Yeah, Einstein," while they are walking in the forest.
Discuss our activities (using machines, driving cars, burning fuels) and
how these affect the changes in the weather. Ask students how some of
our everyday activities can affect our environment in such a negative
way. Ask the students if they can think of some alternatives to using
machines and driving cars (riding buses and bicycles and carpooling).
Step 2:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to define the Greenhouse Effect theory. PLAY the tape from
the previous pause point. PAUSE at the graphic on the screen after
the explanation and the host says, "...forms a blanket which holds
heat close to the earth." On the television screen, have a student
trace the image of arrows and the earth's atmosphere to label the theory
of global warming (be sure to use a dry erase marker). Ask students to
define the Greenhouse Effect theory (gases, including carbon dioxide,
rise and trap the sun's heat in the atmosphere).
Step 3:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to define and describe a biosphere. PLAY the tape from the
previous pause point. PAUSE the tape at the close-up of the waterfall,
when the host, Adam says, "...do experiments without interfering
with the real planet earth." Review the explanation of this Arizona-based
biosphere (an airtight greenhouse covering 3 acres of land that performs
experiments on plants and trees). Discuss scientists' reasons for protecting
the actual earth by performing experiments in isolated situations.
Step 4:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to predict why scientists are performing these experiments. PLAY
the tape from the previous pause point. PAUSE when the scientist,
John, is putting on a safety harness and saying, "...what it may
be like 100 to 200 years from now." Discuss the control of temperature,
humidity, and carbon dioxide to forecast the effects on the environment.
Ask the students to consider the use of the safety harness. Also have
students predict what they think the environment may be like 100 to 200
years from now. (Student answers will vary.)
Step 5:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to explain the importance of the rain forest. PLAY the segment
and PAUSE at the close-up of the leaf when Adam says, "...and
they produce oxygen." Discuss that the rain forest takes in 1/3 of
all carbon dioxide and keeps the air clean. Show an example of how much
1/3 is through a diagram of a pie chart, so the students can grasp the
enormousness of this concept.
Step 6:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to define plant respiration. PLAY the segment and PAUSE
at the close-up of Adam to define plant respiration (plant respiration
occurs when trees release oxygen at night). Review the needs of trees.
(Sunlight, water, carbon dioxide.) Also, what do scientists predict will
happen to the atmosphere's intake of carbon dioxide? (It will double in
100 years.)
Step 7:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to define a "sink" and what we can do to help the environment.
PLAY this last segment and STOP the video on the image of
the host, Dr. Griffin, after he says, "If we all chip in, maybe we
can help the situation." Discuss possible ways that people can help.
(Ride bicycles, turn off lights.)
Step 1:
CUE the video Materials We Need to the image of a tree being cut
down, when the narrator says, "Wood is the raw material for the world's
paper." This is after the segment on the making of paper maché.
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to define fiber. PLAY the segment and PAUSE at the
close-up of paper, magnified to show the fibers when the narrator says,
"Can you see the fibers?" Discuss that fibers are the tiny pieces
of wood that are the starting point of making paper.
Step 2:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to express why we need to recycle paper. RESUME the video
and PAUSE at the image of the truck moving stacks of recycled paper,
when the narrator says, "...saves us cutting down trees." Discuss
ways the students can collect paper waste in the school and at home. Refer
to the first video shown and review the importance of trees.
Step 3:
Provide your students with a FOCUS FOR MEDIA INTERACTION, asking
them to observe the steps followed to produce paper. The screen will split
into two screens, the right side shows how paper is actually made in a
factory and the left side shows two children making handmade paper. PLAY
the segment when the narrator says, "Here's how you make paper."
STOP the video segment at the image of the newly grown tree, before
the cartoon, when the narrator says, "Plant a new tree for every
one we cut down." Discuss the process of replanting trees. List the
steps taken to make handmade paper to prepare for the activity (see steps
5-10 below). You may choose to REWIND and REPLAY this segment,
having students focus on one side of the screen each time to review the
necessary steps taken to make new paper. Have students compare the process
in factories to the process of making handmade paper.
Step 4:
Tear recycled paper into tiny pieces. Blend or mix pieces with water until
it becomes a pulp-consistency. Have students look closely at the fibers
of different kinds of paper. Discuss their observations. How does newspaper
fiber and notebook paper compare? Are there differences in the fibers
of envelopes?
Step 5:
Fill the tub 3/4 full of water. Tell students that they are making "pulp."
Add several handfuls of pulp and shake hand in tub to separate the fibers.
Avoid splashing. Discuss this process of using water to break apart the
fibers.
Step 6:
Hold the screen frame tightly, with the stapled side away from you. Place
arms in front of you and then drop them into the tub. Pull your arms toward
you and then lift them up. Shake side to side. This method will help in
collecting more paper pulp on the screen.
Step 7:
Allow the water to drain through the screen. (When water becomes a drip,
rather than a stream of water, it is ready.)
Step 8:
Place screen onto a damp cloth, press down, then slowly rock the screen
and lift. The handmade paper remains. Have students observe the mix of
papers that created their individual sheets of handmade paper. Can they
find pieces of newspaper or colored paper? Can they find letters or words
from the original recycled paper?
Step 9:
Place a cloth or blotting paper on top of the handmade paper and gently
press with a rolling pin to squeeze out excess water. Advise students
that the pulp will not easily dry and bond to form strong paper if left
too wet.
Step 10:
Place the handmade paper either on a dry tabletop or directly on a window
sill. When the paper dries (overnight), it will easily peel off.
You may add a variety of materials to the handmade paper. To make colored
paper, add a few drops of food coloring to the water. You may also add
glitter to the pulp for sparkled paper. Adding tiny pieces of leaves to
the water will enhance the concept of recycling all parts of the tree,
and add a natural touch to the paper.
To make "waterproof" paper to write on with water-soluble pens,
add liquid starch to the water. The starch will form a protective coating
on the paper; otherwise the pen or marker will dissolve the handmade paper
when written on.
MATH
Graph the amount of paper waste collected daily from your classroom. Discuss
how the class can decrease the amount of garbage thrown out.
SCIENCE
Research animals that make their home in trees. Explore the impact of
their loss of habitat as more and more trees are destroyed.
ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES
Visit the Columbia Biosphere Web site at http://www.bio2.columbia.edu/virtualtour/lower_rainforest.htm
for a virtual tour as well as to learn about other experiments. Investigate
other recyclable items (plastic, glass, metal). Find out the processes
used to recycle and their impact on the environment. Discover alternative
solutions.
Further explore global warming and other environmental happenings at Thirteen/WNET's
What's Up in the Environment? Web site at http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/wue/resources_air.html
CAREER EDUCATION
Explore careers in environmental studies at Thirteen/WNET's What's
Up in the Environment? Web site at http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/wue/cool_careers.html.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Research your state's tree. New York's state tree is the Sugar Maple.
WRITING
Have students write a story from the point of view of a tree. What kind
of tree would you choose, and where does it live? What are some of the
animals that live in it? What does it need to grow? How does it feel about
being cut down for tree products?
ART
View Reading Rainbow: Stay Away From the Junkyard. Discover the
"art" of recycling, when an artist collects trash to create
sculpture.
ART
Collect fresh green leaves to make leaf rubbings and leaf prints.
LANGUAGE ARTS
Read the following children's books:
Earth Book. Schwartz, Linda.
Earth Day. Lowery, Linda.
The Gift of the Tree. Tressell, Alvin.
The Giving Tree. Silverstein, Shel.
The Great Kappock Tree. Cherry, Lynne.
The Lorax. Dr. Seuss
Mother Earth. Luenn, Nancy.
Save the Earth. Miles, Betty.
Trees. Behm, Harry.
Trees are Nice. Udry, Janice.
- Visit a recycling plant. Contact the Bronx Community Paper Company
at www.bronxpaper.org for a tour of their facilities.
- Take a field trip to the Bronx Zoo's Tropical Rainforest exhibit.
- Take a field trip to the American Museum of Natural History. See
a giant redwood and tour the Hall of Biodiversity.
- Visit the Central Park or Prospect Park Conservancy and learn more
about Urban Forests.
- Plant a tree in your neighborhood.
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