“The Bear Village” (words of the kindergarten students)

Purpose Children are working on a year long project on Bears. During snack each day, the children watch the “bear cam” at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. and on the North American Bear website. Each child has a Beanie Baby bear that sits on his or her desk each day. The children learned about what each type of bear eats during STEM activities and had the opportunity to touch a real fish.

Planning Teacher Resource Kit on Bears Picture Books and Non- Fiction books about Bears Children’s ideas on types of bears. The children described each type of bear.

Day One First, the children each created their own pet bear using a variety of different materials. Second, each child named his/her pet bear and made a nametag. Third, the bears made friends with other bears in the classroom.

Day Two As a class, the children discussed as a class the different types of habitats for their bears. Each child received a piece of graph paper to draw out a plan of the habitat he or she would make for their pet bear. “It is a map for my bear’s house.”-J

Day Three The children began to construct a habitat for their pet bears. “I need to make a door for my bears house!”-G “I have a pet polar bear, so I will need lots of blue paper to make snow!”-H “Miss McGhee, this project is like art and science too. It’s the best project I have ever done!”-H

Day Four The children added the essential ideas their bears needed to live. “My bear will eat fish because trees can not grow in the snow.”-A My polar bear will eat fish, but M’s sloth bear will eat nuts because it lives in the forest.”-H (both children sit at the same table)

“The Surprise Birthday Party” Me: “Oh, I am glad H’s bear is visiting your bear’s home A.” A: “Shh Miss McGhee, H is decorating for a surprise birthday party for his bear.” H: “Miss McGhee, don’t tell him.” A: “Come back in a few minutes for the party. I have to make the cake still.” A to class: “Everyone, come over H’s bear’s house in a couple minutes for the birthday party….bring your bears!” Class to H’s bear: “SURPRIIIISSEEEE!!!!!!!”

Every morning, during the week after we created our bear village, the children asked, “Are we going to the bear village today? I need to add something to my bear house.” “Will we be able to take our bears and bear habitats home with us Miss McGhee?”

Reflection/Interpretation “All of these children were engaged not simply in individual acts of self-expression, but in kinds of communal acts. They were learning from their teachers about symbols and their use, but they were also using those symbols to take action in childhood worlds. Their composing illustrates “the prehistory of writing” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 105)- the way in which young children’s use of the complex written symbol system builds on their experiences with other symbolic tools. This view of children experienced makers of symbolic worlds provides a powerful lens for understanding young children’s early entry to literacy” (Genishi and Dyson, 2009, pgs ).

Reflection/Interpretation “But drawing develops within a repertoire of representational and expressive media. In using symbolic media, children grapple with qualities like closure and boundaries, inside and out, linearity and rotation, movement and speed, rhythm and tempo; in the process they learn both about these qualities and about the semiotic possibilities of varied media” (Genishi and Dyson, 2009, pg. 83). “Children’s drawing is couched within and shaped by their interaction with paper and markers, with other forms of symbolic expression and, also with appreciative, curious, or collaborating others” (Genishi and Dyson, 2009, pg. 83).

Reflection/Interpretation “Through play, children can be responsible for their own learning and the can use language not just to know but to show they know something. Talk is the root of literacy” (Kempton, 2007, pg. 47). “ The kinds of talk that children engage in as they play foster risk-taking, support and demonstrate comprehension, and strengthen community” (Pinnell and Fountas, 2011, pg. 74).

Conclusion Children learned- types of bears, habitats for bears, teamwork and communication when building the bear village and organizing the surprise birthday party Successful: creating their pet bears and a home for their bear, building the bear village, planning the surprise birthday party Changes: provide more time for the children, more materials to build scenery around the bear village outside of their habitats, provide more resources on bears My Strengths: organizing a successful project, children were engaged throughout the whole process Challenges: providing each child individual time for help Goals: to implement similar projects into my future classroom based on the children’s interests and ideas.