Big Bear Hug

      BIG BEAR HUG

Oldland, N. (2009). Big bear hug. Toronto: Kids Can Press.

ISBN # 978-1-55453-464-7

This bear is unlike many, he loves to hug.  He hugs all he sees; even to the animals that bears have been known to eat.  The thing he loves to hug the most is tree.  One day, the huggable bear doesn’t feel like hugging anymore when he sees the man chopping down one of the tallest, oldest and the most magnificent trees in the forest....

I chose this book for three to five-year olds for several reasons.  To begin with, children love it.  The weeks we read it, we had many, many big bear hugs and laughs!  The story line is adorable and is mutually loved by both boys and girls.  Hug is a way to express love and care, and it promotes and projects a friendly environment as well.  I also like it honours the fact that bears eat other animals and explains this bear is different.  The story also helps leading to some bigger topics I would like to explore with children about nature and conservation.

The illustration is likely digitally created, using solid colours and lines.  It is presented in one dimension.  The simplicity of the drawing tells the story as it.  Young children are able to tell and create the story by reading from the picture.

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Provocation:

I would like to have a longer period for provocation before reading the book to children.  I would like to take this chance touching subjects about nature and conservation.  Due to the materials and plans I have for provocations and extensions, I would select summer months for the activities. 

The provocation spreads through two weeks.  I will focus the first week on the animals and the second week on the trees from the story.  At the beginning of the first week, I would post real images of bears, rabbits, moose, birds, skunks, snakes, and beavers on the wall around the classroom and put the related non-fiction children’s books under the images.  As children looking at the images, I will ask children if they know what the animals are and what they know about the animals.  The second week, I will change the images to firs, cedars, birches, apple trees, pear trees, and peaches trees.  Besides books and images, I’ll also put out the stuffed animals around for children to discover and play with it. 

I will read “Big Bear Hug” in the third week.

Four Ways to Present:

1) Felt Board with Felt Characters

• What I need:
• Felt Board, made from 18’×24’ corrugated plastic (available at Home Depot) covered with felt on one side or both sides using spray glue or contact.
• Felt Charactors: 1 Bear, 1 Rabbit (roundest), 1 Moose (bigger than the bear), 1 Bird, 1 Skunk, 1 Snake, 1 Beaver, and 1 Man.  Plus, 1 Big and 1 Small trees, 1 of each Apple, Pear, and Peach trees, and 1 Axe. **when making felt charactors, cut double the pieces to sew together.  Leave a small gap in the bottom for putting the sticks in and turn them to the stick puppets.  As it is puffier and heavier, sew a small piece of coarse side Velcro in the back, the charactors will stay on felt board better.
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• Other felt shapes: a few trees, some white cloud and blue sky for background.

2) Puppet Theatre

• What I need:
• Theatre Stand, made from three-side presentation board (available at Staple).  Cut a square or a rectangle big enough as a screen on the upper side of the board.  Paint the rest of the presentation board or glue with fabric (I prefer felt, so I can put name for our different production using felt letters below the screen and/or children’s name on the side panels if it is children participation, or making it as a story TV, see below).  On top of the screen, hang a rope and use a piece of fabric (I prefer velvet), big enough to cover the screen, to make as the curtain.  Put a hole at the top corner of the two side panels of the presentation board and hand a rope to connect the two sides.  The rope is for hanging the backdrop of the story using two laundry clippers.
• For this story, draw a picture, a little bigger then the screen, of a simple forest with a few trees and white cloud with blue sky.  Clip it on the clips as the background.
• Use the felt charactors made from felt story and put sticks in as the puppets.
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3) Story TV

• What I need:
• The Theatre Stand made from puppet theatre; take the curtain, rope, and backdrop off.
• If the stand is covered by felt, cut out a black felt frame to frame the screen and put some circles made from white felt or other materials as the pretended channel, volume, and on/off bottoms.
• Using banner paper roll (available at Michael’s) and draw the story on it.  This story takes about 10 scenes.  Measure and make grid of 10 pictures slightly larger than the height and width of the screen.  Cut the paper after measuring and leave about 5 inches at each end for attaching to the rolls.  Then, either, I will enlarge and make colour copy of the pages from the book to glue on the paper, or I will draw the background on the paper and use cut-out from calendars for the animals and trees to glue on the paper.  The 10 scenes are: 1) title with the bear, 2) bear hugging the roundest rabbit, the biggest moose, the smallest bird, the most skunk, and the most scary snake, 4) bear hugging big tree, and small tree, 5) bear hugging apple tree, pear tree, and peach tree, 6) bear hugging beaver and a man with axe, 7) bear and man looking up to a big tree, 8) man chopping the tree and bear growling, 9) bear; and man running away, and 10) bear hugging a big tree with axe mark. 
• Use two long rolls, preferably the empty wrapping paper rolls.  Glue each ends of the paper on the rolls.  Once it is dry, roll it up from the end side of the story to the beginning.

• To tell the story:
• Place the TV board in the front and a children size chair behind it.  I sit on the chair while my two hands controlling the top of the two rolls and the bottom of the rolls planted on my thighs.  As I am telling the story, I roll the rolls and rotate the 10 scenes.
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4) Telling the Story from First Person Point of View with Stuffed Animals/Hand Puppets

• What I need
• Either the stick puppets made from puppet theatre or with stuffed animals (bear, rabbit, moose, skunk, snake, bird, man, tree…)

• To tell the story:
• Arrange and hide the stuffed animals nicely, so it is easy to find them when it is their turn to be shown while not giving too much away.
• Use the bear as the first person narrator to tell his story about who he is, what he likes, and acts on his encounters, please see the following script:
• “I am a big black bear.  Unlike other bears who like to hunt and eat other animals, I am filled with love and happiness; I hug every living thing I see.  All day, I roam through the forest (pretended running) and hug, the roundest rabbit, the big moose, the tiny bird (showing each animal and hugged by the bear)…  I don’t care if the skunk is smelly or the snake is scary; I hug them all.  The thing I love to hug the most are TREES, big tree, small tree, apple tree, peach tree, and pear tree… (Bear hugs the skunk, snake, and different trees)

(Bear hugging beaver and a tree, a man walking in)  Who is this man with an axe?  Let me follow him, bye-bye beaver, hug you later!  (Both man and bear look up)  What is he looking?  One of the oldest and the most magnificent tree in the forest, wow, he must love trees as much as me... (Chop, chop, man chopping the tree)  I am shocked; what are you doing?  I am so angry; I am going to eat you…. (Sighed)…I can’t; I can’t eat you…  I know!  (Bear gives the man a hug and the man run away) Bye-bye! (Bear hugs the tree) No worry, you’re safe now.” 

Possible Extensions:

1)    Nature Talk/Drawing

Fortunately, most of the animals in the story are natural habitat in BC.  Some of the children may have seen bears, skunks, rabbits, moose, beavers, and maybe snakes.  I will let children talk about and share their encounters in the large group.  We may wonder together why bears visit our backyard, why skunks are smelly, why snakes are scary, and are they all so scary, and etc.  We may go back to the children’s non-fiction books I displayed during provocation and look for some answers to our questions.  Then, we can take out papers and draw our wonders and connections.  At the end, we can share and talk about our drawings with the group. 

2) Natural Walk/Drawing and Fruit Tasting

Like the animals, most of the trees in the story are natural habitat in BC.  Some of the children may have firs, cedars, birches, apple trees, pears trees, or peach tress in the backyard or garden, or have seen them on the streets or been to farms where apples, pears, and peaches grow.  This is a two-part activity. 

In the first part, children can share their encounters with the trees, and we can wonder together if leaves are all different among those trees, if the trees are all very tell and can live very long, if they are always green and have fruit…  We may take out the children’s non-fiction books to find out the answers to some of our questions. 

In the second part, I will divide the large group to two smaller groups.  In one group, we will have a natural walk outside using our naturalist tools, like hand lens, binoculars, pencils, drawing pads, and transparent zip bags.  I will explain how to use the tools, and we will practice using them.  Before we go, I will remind children about how the bear loves trees and that trees are living things, we shouldn’t pull or break the leaves or branches off the trees when we are outside.  However, we can take or draw pictures, or they can collect fallen leaves or corns from ground and put in their zip bags.  The walk will take about 45 minutes to an hour with 4-5 children, and we’ll look at the leaves of the trees; mostly, we may come across firs and cedars, occasionally arbutus and apple trees.  We can also compare and feel the texture of the trunks.  I will jog down observations and questions from children that we will talk about or find out the answers later.  Along the way children can draw their wonders and connections on the drawing pads; we’ll also find a place to sit, continue more drawing and have some snacks.  At the same time, the other group will stay indoor and look at the different fruits mentioned in the story.  First, the facilitator will put apples (from different varieties, like granny smith and gala), pears (Anjou and Bosc pears), and peaches (yellow and white peaches) in separate cloth-bags.  Without seeing it, let children put their hands in the cloth-bag, feel, smell, and guess what’s inside.  Then, the facilitator will reveal one bag at a time showing the different apples, or pears, or peaches and pass them around for children to touch, feel, smell, and look at.  We will talk about the different colors, shapes, and smells of the fruits.   The facilitator will explain to children that they will be the panel of fruit evaluators.  Children will be each given a sheet which has drawing of the fruits; children are asked to use markers or crayons to colour the fruit, and below it, is where they will put the emotion stickers to show how they evaluate the taste of the fruit.  Happy face means they like it; two happy faces mean they like it very much.  On the other hand, unhappy face means they don’t like it, and two unhappy faces mean they don’t want to try it again.  We’ll wash one fruit at a time, cut it, and taste them, and evaluate.  At the end, when the outdoor group is back, we’ll give children time to share their earlier experiences, observations and evaluations with each others, and let them know we’ll switch the indoor and outdoor group tomorrow.  Later on, with the leaves we collect, we will do different things with it.  We can do drying, painting, or printing with leaves.

3)    Conservation:

Introduce book, “What Does It Means To Be Green?” from Little Pickle Press.  I will use the story to share with children about what we can do in the classroom or at home to conserve the energy and reduce cutting of trees.  We’ll learn papers, i.e. drawing papers, paper towels, paper plates and cups, and etc, we use are made from trees, and how we can respect the resources we have by reducing, reusing, and recycling.  As so, we can still have trees to look at, t