We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen was a favorite even before we started doing Before Five in a Row (BFIAR). This classic story is about a family who, in hunting for a bear, had to go through grass, mud, a river, a forest, and a snowstorm. The lyrical words BEG to be chanted and we made up our own song and actions to go along with it.
BRAIN BOOSTER, LISTENING, COMPREHENSION Little T loves playing hide and seek so I decided to have a bear hunt of our own. I hid five teddies around the house and gave her clues on where she can find them: someone is hiding in a pocket, or is peeking out from under the covers, etc.
PRETEND PLAY The biggest hit, as expected, was acting out the book. I made her run barefoot on the grass, stomp on mud, splish splash in a tub of water for the river, hide under trees for the forest, catch bubbles for the swirling whirling snowstorm (we’re in a tropical country!), and peek through the climbing wall for the cave. “We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it, oh no we’ve got to go through it!” is now a mantra whenever she finds an obstacle.
SEQUENCING Being an old favorite, Little T knows this exciting adventure story by heart. She enjoyed recounting the story with the sequence cards I found in Homeschool Share to work on her memory.
ANIMALS, VOCABULARY I introduced the word hibernate to Little T in our study of different kinds of bears (black, brown, panda, polar bear). I said that bears sleep for a long time in winter and that they eat a lot before doing so. We were so surprised one cold night in Baguio City when she hid under the covers and declared that she was going to hibernate!
THE LEARNING BASKET FOR THE WEEK
Make magic!
