1-2-3 Come Do Some Activities For "Polar Bear What Do You Hear?"  

Bill Martin's ”Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?” is one of my Y5s all-time favorite stories.

With that in mind, I just finished designing some quick, easy and fun activities children can transition to after you read the tale.  I'm featuring 3 on the blog today.

First up is a story wheel craftivity, which is an interesting and simple way to assess comprehension and practice the sequencing and retelling a story standards.

There are full color patterns to use for centers, plus a black and white pattern so your students can make their own.

When everyone is done with their story wheel, have children pick a partner, and take turns retelling the story.

We sometimes do this with our older "reading buddies".

As a comprehension-assessment tool, and for fine motor practice, another option is to make the “Polar Bear Pie Puzzles”, which have BW & color templates.

In order to practice a variety of standards, there are 5 different puzzle-base options.

Simply choose which is most appropriate for your kiddos.

There's also a writing prompt worksheet, where students write what happened in the story, which will further check comprehension and reinforce chronological writing.  

Next up is the "Polar Bear What Do You Hear?" SOUND packet.

Because the characters in the story hear different sounds, the tale is perfect for explaining onomatopoeia & reinforcing the 5 senses.

Since most of my students have never heard the sound of these animals, I’ve included links to real animals roaring, hissing, snorting etc. (One for each animal in the story!)  
My kiddos absolutely LOVE this activity, and are truly amazed how animals “speak”.

The packet also includes:

* 3 writing prompt worksheets.
If your students are like mine, even your most reluctant writers will enjoy contributing their page to 3 class-made books.

1. “Animals Animals What Would You Like To Hear?”
( Fill-in-the-blanks & illustrate worksheet page).

2. “Chit Chat With The Animals”
( If a _______ (animal) could talk what are some things they might say?” Color-me worksheet pages featuring a variety of animals for children to choose from). 

Younger students can dictate or write one simple sentence, encourage older students to do a bit of research on their animal and write sentences that incorporate that information. "The zookeeper measured me today and I weigh 5 tons and an 11 feet tall."

3. “Children Children What Do You Like To Hear?”
(When it comes to awesome sounds, here’s a list of my top ten favorites: color-me worksheet pages).  Includes girl & boy options.

Completed work makes a wonderful bulletin board.

I've included 3 posters to use for the center of your displays.
Later, add the covers to make class-made books, which are great for parent-teacher conferences.  There's also . . .

* A set of puzzle cards where students match the animal section to the sound section. Fun for Daily 5 word work, or a vocabulary-building activity.

* 2 graphing extensions.

* A set of pocket chart cards, which helps reinforce the onomatopoetic vocabulary in the story.

Make an extra set for an independent center activity, where students match the sound card to the animal/zookeeper card.

These can also be passed out prior to reading the story.
As you read “Polar Bear What Do You Hear?” the child holding that card brings it up and places it on your flannel or white board.

Afterwards, pass the animal cards out and see if children can arrange them in the correct sequence of the story. Grab that teachable moment to practice ordinal numbers.

* I’ve also included a mini-set of the cards for “Memory Match” & “I Have; Who Has?” games. Children can sort, sequence & alphabetize these smaller cards, as well as use them to make up sentences.

Toss them into a container and have children choose an animal card then make that noise, or choose a sound card and tell which animal made that noise.

Finally, the farm unit, is one of our preschoolers favorites, so I wrote “Farmer Farmer What Do You Hear?” as a fun, parody-like writing prompt, for them to transition to after we read “Polar Bear What Do You Hear?”  Instead of wild animals, this story features animals on the farm.

Even beginning writers will enjoy filling in the blanks, then illustrating their page for a sweet class-made book. PK kiddos can simply dictate their answers.

Completed projects also make an adorable bulletin board.  I’ve included a poster for the center of your display.

Later, collate the pages and add the cover to make the booklet, which is perfect for parent-teacher conferences.

Besides the class book, I’ve also included an emergent reader.
There are 3, BW options, making it suitable for PK kiddos as well as kindergarten and first grade, or to diversify within your classroom.

I've also included colorful teacher templates as well.

The featured FREEBIE today is a cute "5 Senses" anchor chart poster.  I hope you find it useful. 

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by.

I'm watching 2 of our 8 grandchildren today, so it's time to switch to my "Nana hat"; we're going to make Valentines. 

Wishing a day filled to the brim with blessings.

"Spring is when you feel like whistling even with a shoe full of slush." - Doug Larson

17 pages.

Students manipulate their barn sliders to show the shape + shape word that the teacher is asking for.  Glue a student's face over the farm girl/boy to make this extra special.  A quick, easy and fun way to whole-group assess.

A New Twist On "There Were 10 In The Bed":  Subtraction In Action!

Are you doing A Farm Theme or do you want to review simple subtraction with your students?

This cute little booklet will help out.

Simply make a teacher's edition to read, or run off a copy for all of your students to trace, solve and write the subtraction equations in their booklets.

The adorable ending switches to addition.

After reading the story, chose 10 students to lie on the floor and chant the "There were 10 in the bed" verse. The child on the end "moo-ves" over and leaves the barn 'til only the calf is left.  Play until all of your students have had a turn.

Your students will really enjoy "seeing" subtraction in action.

Click on the link to view/download There Were 10 In The Barn

Thanks for stopping today.  I hope you can moo-ve on over tomorrow too, for more ideas and tips.

Feel free to PIN anything you think might help or be of interest to others.

Do you have a farm-related idea, or one that helps your kiddos learn subtraction or addition that you'd like to share? 

I'd enjoy hearing from you. diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to leave a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.  Thanks in advance for your time.

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