Language Group - Week of February 6, 2017

Woodland Animals

Today in Language Group, we talked about forest animals.  We read the book “Don’t Wake Up the Bear” by Marjorie Dennis Murray.  This book is about a big, soft, warm Bear who is asleep in his cave during the winter.  Different animals walked by the cave and saw the Bear asleep.  Each animal had a body part that was cold and thought the Bear looked warm (“My ears are so…cold,” thought the hare.  “I wish I could snuggle up with the big, soft, warm Bear.”  And since her ears were so cold, and the Bear was fast asleep, she did.)  The animals that snuggled with the Bear include: a hare with cold ears, a badger with a cold nose, a fox with cold legs, a squirrel with cold toes, and a mouse with a cold tail.  The mouse was curled up in the Bear’s ear and had the sniffles.  The other animals kept telling her to quiet down and “Don’t wake up the Bear!”  The mouse sneezed right in the Bear’s ear and woke him up.  The Bear was very hungry.  He saw all the animals, growled and all the animals ran away.  The Bear yawned and walked off through the snow to look for some food.

For our activity we played a game called “Don’t wake the Bear!”  One child was the Bear and curled up pretending to be asleep.  The other children crawled around the Bear, while we said:

Slowly.  Slowly. Quietly.  Quietly.

We are creeping. See if he/she is awake.

To the cave, If he/she doesn’t answer,

Where Bear is sleeping. Give the Bear a shake.

One child shook the Bear to wake him/her up.  When the Bear woke up, he/she growled and chased the other children.  Whoever was caught was the Bear next.

This activity worked on:

1. attending
2. turn-taking
3. vocabulary related to animals and body parts
4. labeling/naming various animals and body parts
5. adjectives – slowly and quietly
6. pronoun use – he/she
7. following directions

Activities you can do at home include:

1. The same activity we did with family members.  Identify if the Bear is a boy or girl (he/she) and has a location for the cave.
2. Go for an animal walk and identify all the animals you see.
3. Model the correct pronoun use emphasizing the appropriate pronoun.  If your child uses a name, repeat what they have said using the appropriate pronoun (i.e.: John wants blocks.  He wants blocks.).
4. Sing “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes”
5. Play a game of giving directions using adjectives (i.e.: run fast, walk slowly, hop quickly, clap softly).
6. Try this poem ! - “Five Little Bears”

Five little bears were dancing on the floor.

One fell down and that left four.

Four little bears climbed up a tree.

One found a bee hive and that left three.

Three little bears were wondering what to do.

One chased a bunny rabbit and that left two.

Two little bears were looking for some fun.

One took a swim and that left one.

One little bear sitting all alone.

He looked around and then ran home.

Miss Diane & Miss Linda