Sunday, March 4, 2012

Bear Week - Activities to go with 8 books

I had initially planned on doing a 2nd week of Dr. Seuss books, but decided to alter my plan a little while I was pulling out all of our Easter books.  

We have books all over our house.  Just about every room has either a bookcase or book basket, and most of them have 2 or more.  I do keep our books organized by type, but not theme.  I've never really wanted to do that and enjoy going through all of our hundreds of books when searching for something.  

I began my search for our Easter books and quickly realized that we have dozens of books with a bear theme.  I immediately started pulling a few of them out and decided to do a bear theme this week, instead of another week of Dr. Seuss.  

Just like last week, we will read each book and then do the tray.  I expect we will do most of them every day.  Here are the activities and books I decided to use for the week:

Button Sorting with Corduroy
Sort the buttons by color.
Corduroy is missing a button, so I thought button sorting was the PERFECT activity for this book!
~color sorting & recognition~

Identifying Habitats with Grizzwold
Take an animal out of the metal bin and place it in the correct habitat bowl.
I kept this simple, rather than including specific land habitats, due to Super Tot's age.  This could easily be adapted for an older child, as well.
In this book, Grizzwold's forest home is being cut down, so he must try to find a new home that is suitable for him.
~science, classifying~

 Identifying Animals
Identify each animal you see through the window.
I have 20 animal cards in the envelope.  The window allows Super Tot to only see a small portion of each animal.  He is to try to identify the animals using only the small section he can see.  Once he guesses one, we will pull it out and check it before moving on to the next one.
In the book, each animal's mother loves him "with all her _______" (flippers, teeth, etc.).  I thought it would be fun to identify animals only being able to see one part.
~science, logic & critical thinking~

Sorting Bears by Size
Place each bear photo on the correct square based on the size of the bear.  There are 4 of each size.  
**These photographs were taken by my father, an award winning nature photographer.  Check out some of his work at Tranquil Photo.**
In The Biggest Bear, a young boy's "pet" bear grows way too big for him to keep.
~size discrimination~

Count the Bears
Count the bears in each row and place the correct number disk in the box.
Bears, Bears, Everywhere is a simple, but cute counting book.
~counting, number recognition~

Transferring Bears with Sal
Transfer the bears, one at a time, to the second bowl using the tongs.
Just like in the book, we are actually going to use blueberries for this activity at least a few of the days, but I couldn't leave them out!  We will also count them.
~transferring, fine motor, counting~

Happy / Sad Sorting with Albert the Bear
Place each photo into the correct bowl based on the emotion pictured.
In the book Albert the Bear, Albert has a sad looking face.  The other toys all try to cheer him up, and he can't seem to convince them that he is happy already.
~social skills~

Hide & Seek with Little Bear
Super Tot and I will take turns hiding one of the two bears and letting the other one seek.  He can also use the bears to reenact the story.
In Good Night, Little Bear we see the fun bedtime routine of Little Bear's family.  Little Bear sits atop his father's shoulders while his daddy looks all over the house searching for him, only to find that Little Bear is on his shoulders.
~role playing~

For lots more inspiration, be sure to check these sites:


15 comments:

  1. These are so cute! I'm going to pin them to our collaborative pinterest board, Learning With Literature, if that' okay with you. If you have other things like this that you've blogged about and would like to join us to pin on this board, let me know and I can add you as a pinner. http://pinterest.com/creeksidelearn/learning-with-literature/

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  2. I really love how you coordinate each tray with a book and then an overall theme. So many creative ideas, but I especially love the animals in the envelope!

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  3. I love your trays too. What a wonderful way to learn.

    Thank you for linking to Read.Explore.Learn.

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  4. Wow, these are such a great idea!!! I found your blog from "Playing House" blog and I'm glad I did!

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  5. those are wonderful ideas! I love using a book with an activity. Thank you!

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  6. Thanks for the wonderful ideas! Will have to incorporate trays with my daughter; we do B4FIAR/ FIAR, so I am pinning these for inspiration!!

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  7. You have such great ideas. Thanks for sharing...I've passed you a blog award! :)

    Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten

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  8. Thanks for linking up to Homeschooling on the Cheap! I'm featuring you on my Facebook page. Are you on Facebook? If so, stop on over! https://www.facebook.com/3BoysandaDog Kelli

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  9. These are terrific ideas and would make a very fun playdate. We'd love for you to share on our LOVE BOOKS link up. http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/p/love-books.html

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  10. Very cute! I love the Corduroy button sorting....as soon as my youngest gets past the "let me try to eat this" phase, we will do it!

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  11. Love, love, love your activities! They're so creative and inviting! Thanks so much for linking up with Montessori Monday. I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page and pinned it to my Literature-Based Activities Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/literature-based-activities/

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  12. So many wonderful ideas! Love them! Sharing this on fb now!:) Thanks for sharing.

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  13. Aw, my boys love Corduroy - cute activities!

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  14. Thank you for linking up to Homeschooling on the Cheap! last week. Your post was the #4 most clicked link! Congrats! Thanks for sharing with us. The new linky is live if you want to stop in and link up something else!

    Thanks, Kelli
    http://3boysandadog.com/deals/2012/homeschooling-on-the-cheap-03152012/

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