Once the book has been introduced and re-read a few times, suggest to the children that they might like to change the role-play area to fit with this story world. Talk together with them to share ideas about how this might be done, for example, what do you think the bear’s den would be like? Perform the rhyme whilst clapping hands (it is a clapping-rhyme) and point to different children to be the robber! Rehearse on Thursday and Friday – send home for w/end. Grab the free emergent reader printable shared above. It’s a thank you gift when you become a free member of the Growing Book by Book community. Suggest the children test out how good each of the mud samples is for making mud pies. Before they begin, use shared writing to list the characteristics of a good mud pie. Ask the children to test each bowl of mud in turn to create their own pies, then use a range of materials to decorate and embellish the pies. Children love large-scale dramatic play. It offers them an immediate route into another world and an opportunity to try out what it might be like to be somebody, or something, completely different. It provides a way for them to view the world through somebody else’s eyes and to explore how this other person or thing might feel.

Patterns and repetition : repetitive chants and rhymes Patterns and repetition : repetitive chants and rhymes

This award winning favorite is an entertaining adventure and a literary classic. It combines fun and adventure with suspense and surprise. It mixes alliteration and repetition to make for a story kids will love to revisit as they make predictions, recall the story events and repeat the phrases, “We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it!” Reread LRFF with children joining in. Rehearse the repeated phrases, so they start memorising these – invent and add actions to help children remember exactly how it goes. With the children’s help, collect together different sorts of soil from different places, using plastic washing-up bowls to collect each sample. Gradually begin to add water to each sample, using a container such as a yoghurt pot to measure out the amount of water used. Talk with the children about what they see happening as they mix the mud: Build language skills through this art experience by Learning With Play at Home.—> Language and Art Idea

Act out the whole of Bear Hunt with only occasional references to the book. Children should now know most of it by heart. Read Funnybones , encouraging children to join in with the repetitive phrase. Compare with We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. Which story do you prefer? Why? Buggy and Buddy share a handmade map idea perfect for working on spatial recognition and directionality.—-> Map Activity Introduce to children at the beginning of the week, send a copy home to share with parents, rehearse and chant throughout the week, waiting to go to lunch, for fun! Develop performance and add actions. I love this pre-writing activity on big chart paper from Teach Investigate Play.—-> Pre-writing Idea

Rosen condemns ‘loathsome and antisemitic Michael Rosen condemns ‘loathsome and antisemitic

Plan in chunks of time to observe the children’s play in the role-play area, and allow yourself regular opportunities to get involved in the play itself. This will not only show the children how much you value their play, but will also enable you to model and encourage particular language structures and to demonstrate ways in which language can be used. Let’s investigate! Get ready to go large with these bear-sized activities and investigations! Jane Bunting offers creative ideas to get the most from We’re Going on a Bear Hunt… As they approach the dark, gloomy cave and slowly tiptoe through, suspense builds and they discover the bear! This story begs to be sequenced and retold. And, physically acting it out is so smart. This idea from Rainy Day Mum encourages the use of language to describe your retelling.—> Act it Out Idea The book doesn’t date. For more than thirty years readers have been enjoying and learning from this book, and will continue to do so well into the future.This story is suitable for children from aged 2 to about 6 years old. It can be simply read, or it can be read and discussed. Pictures can be heavily relied upon for younger children, while the language used can be made to increase the engagement for older children around 5 or 6 years. There are a myriad of learning opportunities here. Teachers and parents can use this story to inspire and to prompt discussions and lessons on environments, on language, and it can be used for drama and dramatic representations. You can take a look HERE at some online suggestions for learning experiences based on Bear Hunt. Read LRFF with children performing the repeated phrases with expression using the actions agreed last time. Set the repetitive refrain to music using wind instruments and soft percussion (EAD).