Polar Bear

Today we read " Three Snow Bears" by Jan Brett. It wasn't long tonight the book before several of the kids starting saying " this is like Goldilocks!" And.. it is. After reading the book at lunch we talked about the ways the books were different. Some of the answers we came up with are:

There was no chair and she tried on boots!

The bears are white, not brown. One child said their " jackets were different".

The Polar bears ate soup instead of porridge.

The beds were different.

Their names were different. Goldilocks and " Aloo-ki"

We told the kids the story of the magic polar bear. It is really a color/ science experiment. I will post at the end of the blog for the sake of people that dont want to read it.. :) () Hint... the bleach takes a little while to turn the water back clear... so you might want to change the ending and add... lets let him sit here a while and see what happens while you play. It took mine about 30 minutes to get clear again.

'After reading the book " Polar Bear Polar Bear What do you Hear " by Eric Carle we played a game. Randy had taped the kids voices and we played them back to see if we could pick out our friends voices. Some of the kids didnt even know their own voice.

Today in honor of MLK day we started a unit called " Als Pals" It isnt really a unit it is a class I am taking right now .

Al's Pals - An Effective Early Childhood Curriculum and Teaching Approach

Al's Pals: Kids Making Healthy Choices is a nationally recognized, resilience-based early childhood curriculum and teacher training program that develops social, emotional and behavioral skills in children 3 to 8 years old. The Al's Pals interactive lessons and teaching approaches help young children learn to:

• Express feelings appropriately
• Use kind words
• Care about others
• Use self-control
• Think flexibly
• Accept differences
• Make friends
• Solve problems peacefully
• Cope in positive ways
• Make safe and healthy choices
• Understand that tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs are not for children

Today I implemented the first activity which was these cute little stars you see. They say " I am a star!" We talked about how each of us is special and unique .We talked about how we all look different and that we should be nice and be friends with everyone regardless of color. ( If you would like to read more about the program: http://www.wingspanworks.com/educational_programs/about_als_pals.php )


There are 13 children here today. With school being out I was thinking many more of our friends would stay home. I am so glad they all came. I had lots of fun things planned today and I always hate to " do it all" when many children are gone. They miss out...

Here is the story of the magic polar bear if you would like to read it ( One of my ECE friends, Emily Roller sent this to me. )

Magic Polar Bear Scripted Story: Use a honey bottle that's shaped like a bear. Sit at a table and have the children sit on the floor in front of the table. Put the bear bottle (filled about an inch from the top with water) in front of a white board and put the "magic" (food coloring and bleach) behind the board. Even if the kids watch you put in the food coloring, it's still "magic" to them, because you make green by adding blue to yellow, etc. Begin the story, following the teacher directions.

Once upon a time there was a beautiful white polar bear who often visited on an island in the Artic. Now on this island, you find a little schoolhouse filled with many boys and girls and their teacher, Ms. Emily.

Some of those children were named Alyssa, Luke and Zachary, and they had beautiful golden hair. One day on the playground, they met Mr. Polar Bear. The children watched out the windows of the schoolhouse as the bear wished he had golden hair like Alyssa, Luke and Zachary. He shut his eyes tightly and wished very hard for golden hair.

Now will you just shut your eyes for a moment and help polar bear make his wish?

(Teacher puts 2 drops of yellow food coloring in bear bottle.)

Now you may open your eyes! AMAZING! A blonde polar bear---oh, my goodness! Do you know what the children shouted out the windows of the schoolhouse? Do you think he was supposed to be a BLONDE polar bear?

Teacher gets the children to slap, slap, clap, clap, and snap and say:

POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR

YOU ARE A SIGHT!

YOUR COLOR WAS RIGHT

WHEN YOU WERE WHITE!

Mr. Polar Bear stopped and thought about his new color! He thought the children would like his new golden color! He climbed on an iceberg and began to think about his problem.

Now, as Mr. Bear rested, he saw a new color. What did he see? As he raised his head and looked around, he saw more children on the playground. Michael wore a green hat, Asia wore a green sweater, Karla wore green pants, Cory had green boots. Guess what RayeSean had in his pocket? He had a GREEN lollipop! Polar Bear thought GREEN must be the most beautiful color in the world! Maybe he should be a green bear. He shut his eyes and began to wish he was green. Can you help Mr. Bear?

(Teacher puts 2 drops of blue in)

Now he was a GREEN polar bear!! But the Quentin and his friends said:

POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR

YOU ARE A SIGHT!

YOUR COLOR WAS RIGHT

WHEN YOU WERE WHITE!

Now this made Mr. Bear feel sad. Polar bear began to walk across the snow. As he topped a big snow drift, he met COUSIN BROWN BEAR. The two bears had a nice, long visit and before long, Polar Bear began to admire his SMART COUSIN. Polar Bear thinks maybe the children would like him if he were brown instead. Let's shut our eyes and wish with Polar Bear.

(Teacher adds 2 drops of red)

Now he was a BROWN polar bear!! But the Jocelyn and her friends said:

POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR

YOU ARE A SIGHT!

YOUR COLOR WAS RIGHT

WHEN YOU WERE WHITE!

Now what was Polar Bear going to do? He was all brown, and the children were right, Polar Bears are white, not blonde, green or brown. He ran away from the children and dove in the ice cold waters of the Bering Sea. Polar bears are the best swimmers of all bears. His thick, heavy fur was now BROWN and looked quite strange as the children watched him swim DEEP, DEEP, DEEP into the sea. Now, if you will just shut your eyes and think about Polar Bear swimming around under the cold, cold water, a tiny bit of Alaska magic might happen.

(Teacher bleaches the water, while their eyes are closed, and continues to talk about polar bear swimming while the bleach takes effect.)

Polar Bear swims up, up, up, up, to the surface and guess what!

Children chant:

POLAR BEAR, POLAR BEAR

Your color IS right!

WE LOVE YOU!

WE LOVE YOU!

YOU ARE WHITE!

Polar Bear decided NEVER to change his color again. After all, polar bears are supposed to be WHITE, RIGHT?