This awesome last week of school, we were asked to read a book symbolizing world literature, and then to answer questions.

1. What is the title of your story?

Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees

2. Who is the author?

Franck Prévot

3. Who are the main characters?

Wangari Maathai

4. What is the plot or storyline of the story? (a short summary is fine here)

Wangari becomes educated after being raised in Kenya, and begins a rebellion against President Moi to plant more trees. 

5. What role do trees play in the story?

She fights for them. 

6. What is the outcome or solution to the conflict?

Wangari succeeds and millions more trees are planted. 

7. How are trees used in the story? (main character, prop for action, metaphor or symbol?)

Symbol of people and life, but also as trees. 

8. What is the overall message that is conveyed in the story?

To fight for what you believe in and trust, and to keep alive what keeps you alive. 

9. What should readers learn from reading this story?

Understand that trees can be fought for and are important. 

10. What is the central conflict of the story?

Wangari believes more trees should be grown after the British cut them down.

This and last week, we learned about Smokey Bear, and did some research on our enviorment.

My rewrite of the Smokey Bear story:

Once Upon a Time, a fire was ignited in the hot spring in New Mexico, USA. It spread across the fields there, chasing out some animals and killing others. It wasn’t until a line of officers came and tried to stop the fire, but couldn’t. They were surrounded by it for almost an hour, until it died down and they were saved. Many animals were killed, even the fish from the fallen debris. But hanging on to a tree was a brown bear cub. He was taken to the vet and bandaged up, healed, and was named Smokey. 

He became famous after people heard about the news, about how Smokey and other animals were in terrible danger because of one small cigarette. He was seen on television, on the radio, and was even taken to Washington D.C. As he grew up, he let people know his message. To always be safe with fire. He let them know the consequences, what he loses, what everyone loses, and he was forever known as Smokey the Bear, with a short and sweet motto:

Only YOU can stop forest fires!

• Earth carries more than 50,000 species of trees.
• Before trees, historians think that Earth grew fungi instead of trees.
• The Amazon rainforest produces about 20% of Earth’s oxygen.
• Humans use only one percent of the Earth’s available water. 
• Earthquakes are apart of the planet’s natural state, and it is incredibly hard to assume when they come. 
• The combined weight of ants on Earth make them heavier than all people!
• America is Earth’s #1 trash-producing country.
• Recycling a water bottle saves enough power to work a normal lightbulb for almost four hours.
• The five hottest years recorded have occurred in the last ten years. 
• Germany has the highest recycling rate on Earth, followed by Austria, Wales, and South Korea.

We were asked to answer these questions in our blog posts:

Why is it important to learn about trees and forests and the benefits we receive from them?

Who is responsible for conserving forests?

What are you doing to help? (talk about a specific idea or plan). 

How can you encourage others to do the same?

1. I believe that it’s important to learn about trees and forests because they give us life and water, and it’s good to learn those facts because we wouldn’t be able to live off of these resources.
2. I think we are responsible for conserving forests, because we use the trees, and there’s nothing to provide for them. 
3. I want to help by making posters and making sure that people see how to help the environment and what to do everyday, everywhere. 
4.  By making things they can see all the time that is informative and bright, so they know to do it.