During the early 1980's, Carol Peters and I wrote, illustrated and sold several
reproducible teddy bear books in Highsmith, a national library catalog. We
discovered that we really didn't enjoy the retail business and had other
priorities in our lives. We've learned so much about publishing since
then, but teachers still ask for the materials.
Home Away From Home
Your classroom is your home
away from home and should be a pleasant place to spend your day. Here are
some suggestions for using a bear them at the beginning of the year to make
your classroom a "beary" special place!
B.I.P. Bulletin Board: Keep a
B.I.P. (Beary Important Person) bulletin board up all year, but start with
yourself. Regie Routman talks about the need for teachers to bond with their
students and this is one way to begin. You are very important to those
incoming students and this is an excellent way for you to share yourself
with them during the first week. It will also give them a better
understanding of what to do when it's their turn. Enlarge the B.I.P. bear
from the database below. I like to use an overhead transparency so that I
can make it quite large. There's no need for coloring if you use tan vellum:
just use a black permanent marker for the outline. Children may bring
anything from home that tells something about themselves and who they are
(i.e. photos, posters, memorabilia from vacations, and even their favorite
shirt!). Arrange a time on Monday to help the child of the week put their
bulletin board together. Besides being a real ego boost, it's a valuable
lesson in organizing and presenting materials. Children should be allowed
time to share the bulletin board they've created and all it holds. Their
classmates can each contribute to a "You Are Beary Special" book that can be
presented to the B.I.P. at the end of the week.
Bears, Bears and More Bears!
Use any of the bears from this page and/or Calendar Court to create a
bulletin board. Simply enlarge on brown package wrapping paper, outline in
black felt marker and use immediately. No lengthy coloring is necessary.
Suggested Bulletin Board
Captions:
A Honey of a Job!
Things to Bear in Mind
The Beary Best!
The Bear Facts About . . .
Hunting for Bears
On the Right Track
