The Lumber Industry with Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe

INTRODUCTION 

1. Write down “Lumber Industry” on the board with the definition: The industry that produces products made of softwood and hardwood used in building construction, furniture manufacturing, flooring, and cabinet making.

2. As a class, make a list of questions the students have about the lumber industry.

MINI-LESSON:

1. Underneath the definition, write down the steps for producing lumber:
Trees are felled and the branches are removed.
Logs are created sent to sawmills.
The lumber is cut into various sizes.
The lumber is shipped via truck or rail.

2. Watch this video from the 1950s featuring the logging and lumber industries. http://www.texasarchive.org/library/index.php?title=2011_02284

3. Discuss the video as a class. Was the process what the students expected?

4. Watch the video about what happens in a modern-day sawmill on this web page: http://alleghenymountainhardwoodflooring.com/what-happens-at-a-sawmill/

5. Compare the two videos. How has the lumbering processes stayed the same? How are they different?

MAIN ACTIVITY:

1. In Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, Cricket decides to live in the treehouse she built with her father in the ruins of Electric City. Instruct the students to read the Author’s Note in the novel. The author tells readers that Electric City is modeled after the real sawmill town of Electric Mills, Mississippi.

2. As a class, locate Electric Mills on a map.

3. Have students read the account about Electric Mills entitled “Mississippi’s Largest Lumber Operation: Sumter Lumber Company – Electric Mills, MS” on this webpage:
http://www.msgw.org/kemper/towns/electricmills.html

4. Discuss why the town built up around the lumber mill.

5. Discuss why the mill closed. Resource Links:
http://mshistorynow.mdah.state.ms.us/articles/171/growth-of-the-lumber-i...
http://www.msgw.org/kemper/towns/electricmills.html

6. Research how logging practices have changed since the town of Electric City was founded. How have logging practices become more sustainable? As a class, discuss what is being done to protect our natural resources and insure we have lumber in the future.Reference Articles: https://www.nrs.fs.fed.us/sustaining_forests/conserve_enhance/timber/
https://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/global-warming/stop-deforestation/planti...

CLOSING ACTIVITY:

Discuss how the author of Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe drew from her experiences at Electric Mills to create the town of Electric City in the novel.

EXTENSIONS:

1. Read the description of Electric City found in Chapter 3 of Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe. As a class, make a chart showing the differences and/or similarities between Electric Mills and Electric City.

2. Electric Mills can be called a ghost town. Research to find the locations of other ghost towns. Choose one of these towns. Write a paper describing the town and what caused it to die out.

3. Research the role that logging has played in the history of your own community and/or state.

4. Create a poster encouraging forest sustainability practices.

As a class, review what the students learned about the lumber industry.