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My love for books and the wonderful experience that I have using them to integrate all the domains taught me that story books are an incredible source of knowledge and activities, and you can teach practically anything if you pay attention to what a book has to offer.
This time I have selected Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? storybook, by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, two of my favorite children’s book authors.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? was written after the well-known Brown Bear, Bear Brown, What Do You See? to help children identify wild animals and the noises they make, using rhyme, rhythm, and repetition.
The animals and people featured in this book in the order of appearance are a polar bear, a lion, a hippopotamus, a flamingo, a zebra, a boa constrictor, an elephant, a leopard, a peaco*ck, a walrus, a zoo keeper, and children.
I have created a FREE 34-page Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack with ten different activity sets to go along with this book, which you can download at the end of this post.
In the meantime, I would like to tell you what I have included and give you some ideas of activities you can do, to take advantage of this wonderful book.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Story
To introduce this story, start by showing them the pictures in the book without reading. Use the opportunity to ask questions and let them comment about what they see. Then read the story.
Use the pointers provided in the pack to mark the words as you read. That is an easy and very efficient way to show preschoolers that you read from left to right and top to bottom, and that words have meaning.
To get the pointers ready you just have to print them in white cardstock, laminate them, and glue them to a tongue depressor, for easier use.
Literacy
If a child cannot read, it will be impossible for him or her to learn important concepts such as Math and Science, and understand the world around him or her therefore it is important that a child start developing literacy skills at an early age, which includes awareness of books and prints, knowing the relationships between letters and sounds that make up words, vocabulary development, and understanding stories.
Reading Aloud and Emergent Comprehension
Before reading review the parts of the book: cover, title, author, illustrator, spine, and back. Then show the children the picture on the cover and ask them if they know what animal is in the picture. If the children are interested and start talking about it, use the opportunity to talk about polar bears. That way you can tie literacy and science.
During and after reading ask who, what, where, when, and why questions, such as:
- What type of animal is this?
- What sound the ___________ makes?
- What is the job of a zookeeper?
- Who are the main characters of the story?
Also, ask open-ended questions about their life experiences and the animals and people in the story. Open-ended questions are the ones that can have multiple answers.
Retelling the story
Print several copies of the flashcards included in the Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack using white cardstock. Cut them out and laminate them. Distribute the story props among the students and encourage them to retell the story using their props. When the activity is complete, place the props and the book in the Listening or Library Center, to invite the children to retell the story.
Oral Language and Vocabulary Development
Print the words provided in the Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack using white cardstock and laminate them to make them last longer, and use them multiple times. Add them to your word wall and writing center. Encourage your children to use each word in a short sentence, and talk about the animals and people appearing on each page. You can also use them to invite your preschoolers to compare the animals.
Letters and Sounds Knowledge
I’ve included three different activities to teach or review some letters and the sounds they make with your preschoolers. These are Letter Name and Sound, Letter Match, and ABC Maze.
Letter Name and Sound
After teaching or reviewing the letter Pp, see if your preschoolers can identify it by finding those letters among others and marking them with a dot-to-dot marker, on the page included in the Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack.
Letter Match
Print the letter match cards included in the Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack using white cardstock, cut them out on the dotted lines, and laminate them for durability, and multiple uses.
Place them on a small basket and ask your preschoolers to match the upper-case and lower-case letters. Invite them to say the name and sound of the letter they are matching.
ABC Maze
Have the children review the alphabet in order by using a dot-to-dot marker to mark each letter of the alphabet in the correct order, in the maze included in the Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack. Encourage them to say the names of the letters as they go. If you want to use this page multiple times, place it in a dry-erase pocket or laminate it.
Phonological Awareness and Phonics
Remind your students words are made up of individual letters. You can do several activities using your word wall cards. For example:
- Clap the syllables on each word.
- Say the beginning sound of each word.
- Spell some words.
- Say the name and sound of the first letter of each word.
- Find other words that start with the same beginning letter.
- Identify words that start with the same beginning sound.
Emergent Writing
Emergent writing means that children begin to understand that they can write to communicate a message, and their initial attempts to accomplish this. That is why giving them opportunities to practice to start developing this skill. This pack includes two different activities to accomplish this goal.
Matching Animal Pictures With Their Names
After teaching the children the name of each animal and showing them the word wall cards, use the pages included in the Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack, and invite them to trace a line between the name and the picture of each animal, using a crayon, marker, or pencil. If you want to use them multiple times, print them on white cardstock and laminate them, or place them inside a dry-erase pocket, and have children use a dry-erase marker to do the activity.
It’s okay if they see the words to do the activity if their developmental level doesn’t allow them to do it differently. The last thing we want is for them to feel frustrated. We want to expose them to print and start getting familiar with words.
Tracing Letters and Words
This literacy pack includes 12 tracing letters and word sheets, one for each of the animals and people that appear in the story. Print each page using white cardstock and laminate them or place them in dry-erase pocket to make them last longer, and use them multiple times. Invite the children to use a dry-erase marker to trace the letters and words. This activity is great for strengthening the children’s language, letter recognition, pre-writing, and fine motor skills.
To extend the activity you can use the word wall cards and invite the children to:
- Use a dry-erase marker to trace the letters and words.
- Copy the words with a pencil, crayon, or marker.
- Match each letter and word with magnetic, wooden, or foam letters.
- Copy the letters and words with playdough.
Bonus Activities
The Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? literacy pack includes two additional activities, which are:
- Color, cut out, and paste the polar bear. This activity will help them strengthen your preschooler’s fine motor skills.
- Polar Bear Mask, which they can use for dramatic play.
Other Polar Bear-related Books
You can always read and add more polar bear-related books to your library in other centers, to give children wide learning experiences and variety to choose from. These books could be an excellent source of knowledge. Below are some of my favorite books about polar bears. You can find these books at your local library, used book store, and on Amazon. The titles have my affiliate links, that will take you directly to the right Amazon page.
- All Things Polar Bears for Kids by Animal Reads. This colorful book, filled with captivating real-life photographs, combines fun with education to help young readers explore the world of polar bears.
- Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Jill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle. This book uses the important pre-reading concepts of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, to help children read by themselves.
- Are You a Polar Bear? by Andrew Gabriel. A polar bear cub wakes in his den to the snowy world outside after a long slumber. There’s no one around, not even his mom and he can’t remember what she looks like! The little cub journeys out to find her and along the way, he meets many arctic creatures that are not like him.
- National Geographic Readers: Polar Bears by Laura Marsh. This book will help children will learn about polar bears, using fascinating facts and beautiful images.
- If I Knew a Polar Bear by Karen Sutula. This is a beautifully illustrated 20-page book which is a fun poem about a polar bear and other arctic animals.
- Polar Bear Island by Lindsay Bonilla. This cute story of a bear that doesn’t want to share the island with penguins, delivers a gentle message of inclusivity.
- All About Polar Bears by EDventure Reading. This book teaches children about polar bears’ bodies, habitats, behaviors, and more through engaging text and beautiful full-color photography.
- Hush Little Polar Bear by Jeff Mack. Children follow the dream of a baby polar bear from the back of a whale to a land of tall grass, and happily right back to his bed.
- The Polar Bear’s Home by Lara Bergen. This storybook shows how global warming affects two baby polar bear cubs and their family, with tips for kids on what they can do to help slow down global warming.
Pin It For Later
If you are in a rush and don’t have time to read the post and download the printable but want to save it for later, pin it to one of your Pinterest boards.
Don’t forget to download your FREE Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? Literacy Pack. Just click the bottom below, and type your information, for an immediate download.
Be happy, safe, and creative. I wish you well.
Love,
P.D. Please let me know if you like any of these ideas worked for you, or if you would like to see something else as well. My goal is to help you in any way I can.
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