We're Having a "Bear"-y Good Time in Pre-K!

We began our "Camping and Bears" unit this week. Most of our units this year will last a week, but there are so many learning opportunities and fun things to do with this unit that I have kept it as an extended unit this year. We transformed our dramatic play area into a sort of state park, with both a lodge and a camping area.

We counted and sorted colored counting bears. A few of us even made patterns, too!

We graphed Gummy Bears in small groups. I found my graph over at Itty-Bitty Bookworms on their Free Printables page.

This was so cute. As I walked around to make sure there were (legible) names on each paper, I came across this little pair of smiley faces. I try to remember to ask children about their work rather than assume. I would have guessed  (but thankfully didn't) that this was the student attempting to "write" his name. As I looked over at it, my friend said, "Mrs. Ayn, I wrote the directions so kids would know what to do!"

One of our large group literacy activities was this "Erase-a-Rhyme" from Mrs. Meacham's Classroom: Erase-A-Rhyme page. I believe the Bear Rhyme was authored by Jessica, but there are several authors and rhymes available.

Our teddy bears played in centers with us,

And we even brought our teddy bears as "Special Guests" to our circle time activities this week.

In addition to reading a variety of Goldilocks versions, we've retold the story in a variety of fashions.
On the flannelboard,

With props and toy figures,

And as actors with our bears!

Some of our "bear"-y favorite reads have included several different versions of the Goldilocks tale, bear stories by favorite authors and a few stories about camping. Here's what some of what we're reading during story time and in our library center.

          

       

   

~~Sorry! The widget is not working properly.I'll try to come back or include them in one of the future bear-y special posts. ~~

Look for a post coming soon about our Great Bear Hunt and later about the wonderful activities we've got planned for next week ~ we'll be camping out in our pj's, going on a nature walk, making s'mores and having a picnic lunch. Let the fun and learning continue!