Bland, N.
(2012). The very
hungry bear. Australia:
Scholastic.
ISBN #
978-1-4431-1906-1
The author Nick
Bland has a variety of
personalities for this very
famous bear. In this
story, Bear
starts off extremely
grumpy because
of how hungry
he is. With no signs of any fish all morning, he suddenly felt a huge
tug on his
fishing rod, but what he had discovered he caught was no fish at all, it was
a polar bear!
The Polar Bear offers him the entire pile of fish he had caught if Bear
can help him
find a place to stay because his iceberg was melting. Bear and Polar
Bear set off
into the woods and began searching. Through their journey they come
across some
helpful animals, but their homes just weren’t right! As they continue
their search
they came across a mean ol’ crock that ends up eating almost all of
Bears fish! As
the day turns to night they eventually make it up the big hill of snow,
where they
build him a home. Bear leaves Polar Bear his last fish as a house
warming gift;
as Bear goes back to his cave he stops on the way for a fish.
I would use
this story for three to five year olds because I believe that there is a very
important
underlining message telling children not to be greedy and to always help
out others. I
also chose this book because of the rhythm it has as you are reading it,
I feel it gives
children a more enjoyable way of listening to what is being read. The
pictures
throughout the book are very colorful and eye catching which is what drew
me in
originally. Nick Bland used acrylic paint to create the illustrations. In my
point
of view they
evoke curiosity and wonder, as well as hopefulness.
As a
provocation for this book I thought of bringing in a fishing rod and setting it
somewhere in
the class where the children will notice it. The children may wonder
why it’s there
or what it is for. A few hours later I will add a fish to the end of the
hook, and then
after lunch I will take the fish off and add a Polar Bear! As I begin reading I
will stop and wonder with the children what Bear could have caught.
Hopefully they
would have connections with the polar bear on the end of the fishing
rod that I
placed prior to reading the story.
Presenting
the book:
1. Clothes
line story on a hula-hoop
Because my
story is a ‘circle story’ (begins and ends at the same place) I will
cut out each
character on paper and them laminate them (Bear fishing, Polar
Bear, fish, a
cave, a mole, crocodile eating fish, a tree nest, a snowy hill, a
igloo). I will
attach the characters as I tell the story. Instead of using a string I
will use a
hula-hoop so that the story can end the same place it started.
2. Recording
To present my
story in an interesting, fun way I will record myself and use
other people
for different voices for the characters. I will also try and find a
website where I
can find different sound effects that fit into the story. After I
would download
this recording on a memory stick or burn it on a blank CD
and present it
to the class.
3. Felt
Story
Presenting this
story as a felt story I will need to print out the most important
characters and
objects, which in my point of view would be the bear, polar
bear, fishing
rod, fish, crocodile, tree nest (to show one example of a place he
tried staying
in, which I think children would get the most humor out of), the
snowy hill, an
igloo, and bear fishing again. Because my book is new there
are no felt
stories made for sale. I will cut out the characters and objects and
nicely paste
them onto pieces of felt so that they will stick to the felt board I
made. I will
keep a little ‘cheat sheet’ behind my board so I don’t forget the
words to the
story.
4. Puppet
The way of
presenting my book with my puppet will probably be the most
difficult. I
will try giving the puppet a different voice and get him to engage in
conversation
with the children and myself. I will then try using him as a
different voice
for one of the characters as I read the story (possibly the polar
bear).
Wonders
& Chunking:
• I
would stop and wonder with the children what they think bear had
caught at the
beginning of the book, I would cover the title page with a
piece of paper
so it doesn’t give away any obvious hints! I think that
this would be a
very good place to stop and wonder because so many
different
possibilities could arise. This would also be a good place to
stop and wonder
to see if the children had noticed the provocation I
had put out
earlier.
• I
would also stop and wonder with the children at the end of the book,
saying
something such as “I wonder why the bear stopped on the way
back home for
the fish” “Do you have any wonders?” This would be
interesting to
see if the children know it’s because the bear didn’t get
to eat and gave
away his last fish to his new friend.
• For
my particular book, I don’t feel like it would be a good book to
chunk. Because
the book rhymes I feel like they would get more from
the book if I
where to read it straight through. If I stopped to come back
to it later I
feel like they may forget the rhythm and flow the book
intentionally
gives. I also do not feel like there are any major parts I
could end to
add more suspense.
Extensions:
1. I would ask
the children to draw different habitats they think the polar bear would
have lived if
they where to have written the ending of the book; it would give them a
chance to have
their own ending to the storybook. I would get them to decorate their
drawings anyway
they would like to make the picture come alive. Then, I would get
them to each
explain and share in circle time what they drew and why they think that
is where the
polar bear should live.
2. I could
introduce the other books Nick Bland has written about this bear, The Very
Itchy Bear, and
The Very Cranky Bear. It could give the children a sense of relation
and familiarity
as I read. This could also spark children’s wonders about the bear
once they start
seeing him in different scenarios and situations.
3. I would
start teaching children songs about sharing and helping out others so that
they are
familiar that it very important. I would probably use “The Sharing Song” as
one of the
first songs to introduce.
Here is a link
to the song I was thinking about using:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ-Fc361t8k
If this link
doesn’t work, go to www.youtube.com and search in The Sharing Song
Lyrics. It is the video
with the two mice.
No comments:
Post a Comment