Bb is for Bears

I know what you're thinking...didn't you already do Bb is for Bears?  Yes, but those were fictional bears.  Today we talked about real bears.  We learned all sorts of interesting things about bears.  And by we, I really do mean we.  I even learned some things that I didn't know before!  Maybe by the time this whole homeschool adventure is over, I will be smart enough to go on "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?"!

The first question we answered was, what do bears eat?  Since we have been reading "Blueberries for Sal," the obvious answer was berries.  We talked about how bears also eat meat, leaves, fish, rodents, and insects.  I had checked out several books about bears from the library and we looked through all the pictures to see how many things we could see bears eating.  We found everything but insects.  In one of the pictures, it showed a bear preying on a young gazelle.  Evan got excited and thought it was Bambi.  In the next picture, it showed the bear dragging the dead gazelle off through the water.  Evan sort of gasped when he saw it.  I asked him what he thought about it.  He sat there quietly for a moment and then whispered, "Uh-oh" and then he slowly turned the page.  I reminded him that bears eat meat.  He didn't mind any of the other pictures of the bears eating 'meat', just the one of 'Bambi'.  After we had talked about everything that bears eat, Evan painted some cards that will go in his Lapbook.

What do bears eat?

The next question we answered was, where do bears live.  I showed him a map of the world and we both drew a line where the equator is.  We talked about how bears live above the equator.  I had several little bears cut out that he glued above the equator and then colored brown.

Bears live north of the equator.

We also talked about different kinds of homes that bears live in.  When I first asked him where bears live, he told me they live in houses.  Of course he would think that, he loves Goldilocks and the Three Bears!  What other conclusion would a a 3 year old come to after reading that book!  After our discussion and finding pictures of 'real bears' in books, he learned that some bears dens are in caves, brush piles, shelters that they build with twigs or from digging into a hillside.  There is a 'Bear Homes' reveal wheel in his lapbook and he colored the pictures of different bear homes.

"Bears live in houses."

The next question we answered was, what is hibernation?  We went back through our story, and talked about how the bears were eating lots of blueberries to grow big and fat for the long, cold winter.  We talked about how the stored body fat gives the bear energy during the winter and that the bears go to their 'houses' to sleep.  We talked about how amazing God is to create such wonderfully unique animals.  We also reviewed the fact that Adam named the bear and Evan quoted Genesis 2:19 for me.  We talked about some other animals and what they do during the winter.  We talked about how frogs, chipmunks, and skunks hibernate just like the bears.  Squirrels, foxes, beavers, and rabbits are adapters.  And geese, butterflies, caribou, and dolphins are migrators.  We made a little book of all these animals to go in his lapbook and Evan painted little pictures of all of them.

What do other animals do during the winter?

Evan must still be thinking about blue from yesterday, because he painted half of the animals blue!

The next question we answered was, what kinds of bears are there?  We talked about 7 different species of bears and found pictures of them all in books.  We talked about Brown Bears, American Black Bears, Asiatic Black Bears, Polar Bears, Sun Bears, Sloth Bears, and Spectacled Bears.  We made a little book of bears to go in his lapbook and Evan glued pictures of them onto the pages.  I asked him what kind of bear what his favorite.  He ran into the play room and came back with all the teddy bears that he could find!  I guess he has several favorites!  He wanted to sit them all in his chair and he had a little talk with all of the them.  Then he wanted to sit in the chair and hold all of them while I read "Blueberries for Sal" to them.

These are my favorite bears!

All my little Teddy Bears!

I realize that Evan isn't going to retain all of this material, but it will be really nice to have it all in his "Blueberries for Sal" lapbook.  It will be something that he will continue to learn from for many years to come.  Plus, he always amazes me at the information that he remembers.  You never know what he will be able to recall later.  His little mind is a sponge and I just hope that in years to come, he will remember all these moments we've shared together and realize that eveything we do for him and Alan is because we love them so much and want the very best for them!