Polar Bears in Snow

This was such a fun painting project.  I ordered the largest size construction paper (24 x 36) in pale blue.   This gave it the "wow" factor.  I love large paintings!  We drew the bears on the paper before painting.  I gave the children crayons.

Step One:  I had the children draw a half moon shape for the head of the bear. I told them to make it a big half circle.  We practiced with our finger "pencil" first on the paper.

Step Two: Next, we drew the ears of the bear - half circles or ovals.

Step Three:  Finally, we drew two dot eyes, an upside down triangle nose with a J shape coming down from the nose.  Then a backwards J to make the other side.

Paint the bear white first.  Let dry.

Paint the eyes and nose.  Let dry. 

 Paint the storm with a q-tip.  Done! 

TIP:  I taught the children to "dip, tap, paint."  Dip the brush into the paint, tap it against the side of the paint pot, and paint.  Otherwise - you will have drips all over your paintings! 

I created a little song that I will share later this week!

Fictional Bears vs. Real Bears

One of the strong impulses of the Common Core Standards is the use of non-fiction reading.  When I work with the fairy tales like the Three Bears - I think it is a wonderful opportunity to compare real bears vs. the three bears.  We research bears by reading non-fiction books from the school library.  This integrates science into the curriculum in such a powerful way.

We make two habitats:  Real bears and The Three Bear's home out of paper bags


These sweet paper bag houses are from www.charlottesfancy.com.

Each child will make a Three Bear's house. To make the paper bag houses:

• Fill the lunch bags with newspaper. 
• Fold down the top.
• Pick a scrapbook or construction paper for roof.
• Fold over top and staple.
• Cut out windows, doors and other details from various papers.
• Use markers and crayons to add features.

How to make paper bag bear habitats:

• Method One: Teacher Prepared
• Method Two: Child made

We discuss the life cycle of the brown bear and important facts.  Again, to translate what we discuss and create - I provide a graph to document the children's understandings of fictional and real bears:


Click on graph to download both papers.



Another way of looking at the differences between real and fictional bears is with a sentence graph:


Click to download graph.
 
I like to put this on the smart board and fill it out with the class.  I use these graphs all year long. ( I eventually have the children writing sentences from them in the second semester. )   I read each sentence out loud after we are done filling it out.  ""Bears can hunt.  Bears can climb." etc.

Here is an example of one filled out:



I will fill the same graph out with the three bears to compare the differences.



Here is another little poster I made to help discuss the differences between real bears and their lives and the Three Bears fairy tale.

Winter Dens for Bears

Make a hibernating bear den is one of the most beloved activities in the kindergarten.  See this post from last year:  Bear Dens.    This year I changed it up a bit and had the child glue the brown bag upside down on the paper plate.  I teach the children to use "tabbing" which is simply cutting slits to make a folded tab to glue down.  We use glue sticks.

 Each child cut their own opening in the bag.   This year I was given a huge bag of pine cones.  So we added trees!  I had a parent volunteer hot glue the pine cones on to the plate for us - the children chose their "trees" and told her where to glue it.

 The children added "snow" to the trees and the den.  (make snow by filling a dixie cup with shaving cream, add one good squeeze of white paint and one squeeze of glue.  Mix with a popsicle stick.)

 A dixie cup of snow paint goes a long ways.

 Do you see the bear inside the den?  Each child drew their own bear (or bears).

 This bear is not yet in his den. . .

Busy making bears!

Notice the food sources?  This student added a pond with fresh fish and berries. . . just in case her bear was awaken from his deep hibernation! 

Hibernating Bear Dens

Art is such a powerful way for children to own information.  In science when we learn about an animal I try to find a way for the children to recreate that animal's "habitat."  

I read and talked about some of the facts about the hibernating bears.  The children love creating these habitats.   It is a powerful way for children to talk about what they have learned.  They can also "play" with the habitats and re-enact what that animal does!

To make the paper sack den cut off 2 1/2 to 3 inches of the brown bag.

Cut a hole at the bottom of the bag.  This is the entry into the den.

Fold the top over and glue (or tape).

This is the most important step!  Press the top down to flatten the top.  Then put your fingers inside the den and push the sides out a bit.  This gives it that den feeling!

I let the children use their own drawing to make the bears, cubs, fish, or whatever else they decide to include.

One student's bear.

The last step is to paint with snow!  To make snow paint - squirt shaving cream into a cup.  Squeeze a good dollop of glue into the cup, a small dollop of white paint and stir. 

Apply snow where desired!