Once Upon a Time there were Three Bears.
(Ok, Four if you count the Kodiak but it fits the tale better to combine the Kodiak with the Brown or Grizzly Bears.)
The three best known bears are all found in Alaska. Polar Bears, of course, live near the north pole. Grizzly or Brown Bears live further south along river and streams and Black Bears live in the Forests.
You can use the Fairy Tale bears and the real Alaskan bears to teach a Unit Study that will get your children mixing up the porridge of math and science with the Bear Hugs of reading and writing. Snuggle into the Bear's Den and find out all about the bears...
The Three Bears Table of Contents
- The Three Bears Unit Study
- Alaska's Three Bears
- Black Bears
- Brown Bears
- Polar Bears
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears
- The Grizzly Bear Literacy Bag
- Literacy Bags about Bears
- Three Bears' Slap Jack
- The Three Bears Games
- The Bears are Playing Chess
- Bears on Wheels
- The Bear Went Over the Mountain
- Polar Bears are clashing with our need for oil
- The Three Bears are in the Four Wheeler's Online Unit Study Directory
- Bear Sightings...
- About the Author of this Lens
The Three Bears Unit Study
Studying The Three Bears
Buy at AllPosters.com
Most children have their own Teddy Bears. I invite the children to bring them in for Morning Meeting. Each child gets to introduce their bear and explain how they picked it's name. We then use the bears in various activities throughout the day such as putting them in order from smallest to biggest, sorting by colors, or writing them letters.
Children often don't know as much about the real bears but are eager to learn. We draw life sized silhouettes of each kind of bear and measure them. We compare and contrast the habitats that the bears live in. We write new versions of The Three Bear's story to reflect the three different kinds of bears for example Goldilocks becomes an Eskimo and the Three Polar Bears live in an Igloo. Their porridge is made from fish soup and they sleep on seals skins.
Alaska's Three Bears
The Three Bears of Alaska
I like to write the questions on separate sheets of three ring notebook paper. As we find answers we write them on other sheets and add them behind the answers. Towards the end of the unit we learn how to rearrange and edit our book and then publish it. Once published we add a stuffed bear and a couple of games and we now can use it as a Literacy Bag to take home and share with parents.
Alaska's Three Bears (Last Wilderness Adventure)
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 07/11/2009) 
Black Bears
Black Bears live over most of North America and are becoming more and more used to humans. They now raid bird feeders and sightings of bears are becoming quite common.
If you encounter a bear you should make lots of noise and not run. Pepper spray can be effective if you are confronted with an aggressive bear.
Generally bears are not interested in harming humans and are of no threat.
- Black Bear - Defenders of Wildlife
- A fact sheet about black bears. Black bears are endangered in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi.
Every Autumn Comes the Bear
Notice all the other animals the bear encounters along the way. This would be a good story to make into a flannel board center. Copies of each of the animals could be cut out and glued onto felt. Children could retell the story as they attach the animals.
The animals could be labeled or separate words could be used to match with the animals. In this case I would write the words on the backs of the animals for self checking.
Every Autumn Comes the Bear
Amazon Price: $5.99 (as of 07/11/2009)
Brown Bears
- Brown Bear: Wildlife Notebook Series - Alaska Department of Fish and Game
- Brown bear species description for the Alaska Fish and Game Wildlife Notebook Series.
The Craigheads study the Grizzlies
John and Frank Craighead were the first to use radio collars to track large mammals, a technique that opened new windows into grizzlies' habits. For the first time, their dens could be found, and the Craigheads burrowed right in with them.
They found that most grizzlies do not occupy natural cavities in the ground, but instead excavate their dens into the ground surface
Track of the Grizzly
Over a period of thirteen years, beginning in 1959, Frank Craighead, his brother John, and their colleagues lived in the backcountry close to their subjects. Combining firsthand knowledge of the bears and their habitat with radio-tracking and other scientific techniques, they tracked hundreds of grizzlies to discover their social organization and seasonal movements, their breeding and feeding habits, and their life spans.
This fascinating, seminal book provides an intimate and detailed portrait of the greatest carnivore in our hemisphere, a lesson in wildlife mismanagement, and a close-up look at the life and work of wildlife biologists in the field.
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see?
Pretend that you are a Grizzly Bear looking out of your den. What do you see? Use the format of Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see to write your own story of what a Grizzly Bear in Alaska might see when looking out of it's den.
Father Bear's Surprise
Baby Bear is bored waiting for spring so Father Bear brings home a train set.
This is a beginning reader book which 1st Graders should be able to read by the end of the year.
It would work well as an introduction to hibernation.
PM Green Set 2 Fiction - Father Bear's Surprise (X6): Green Level (Progress with Meaning)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
Polar Bears
- Polar Bears International - Polar Bear Conservation Through Research and Education
- Tons of educational polar bear information and research, gorgeous polar bear photos, and a huge polar bear FAQ file from an organization dedicated to saving polar bears.
- Black oil, white bears and the color of money
- As the global warming debate rages, Harry Fuller and Heather Clancy chronicle alternative energy start-ups, green data center projects and other high-tech and political developments shaping the green technology movement.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear What do you hear?
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? (Brown Bear and Friends)
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 07/11/2009)
Alaska has Three Bears
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
The Three Bears
We love to read lots of versions of The Three Bears. One day we made porridge and graphed those who liked it and which kind of berries they liked it with.
1. Make paper bowls and write names on the bowls.2. Make and eat oatmeal with blueberries, strawberries or blackberries.
3. Children paste either cutout pictures of blueberries, strawberries or blackberries on their paper oatmeal.
4. Children attach their paper bowls to the graph under the correct berry heading.
The Three Bears Reading Nook
If you have already made an igloo from doing the Lemming Arctic Study unit it is easy to turn it into a Bear's Den by covering it with a brown blanket. Look for more ideas in the River Otter/a> and Woodchuck Units.
Having a good assortment of stuffed bears is ideal for any classroom. The children love to have Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear in the reading nook to snuggle with and read stories to.
The Three Bears Sensory Table
Fill the rice table with snow, or, failing that, shaved ice. Add a pool of water and some ice cubes for icebergs. Add plastic animals such as polar bears and leopard seals for a fun biology game.
Three Bowls of Porridge
Who's Been Eating My Porridge?
Though I have always made The Three Bears' porridge using oatmeal, Maple Syrup, cinnamon and milk, this cookbook makes it out of potatoes, milk and an onions.
The Three Chairs
Who's been sitting in my chair?
Each Bear has his or her own unique chair. These chairs are great for sitting in, reading, or reenacting the story of The Three Bears.
Have the children look for pictures of chairs in catalogs or on-line and use them to make Venn graphs, sorting activities or to illustrate Adjectives.
The Three Beds
Who's been sleeping in my bed?
These dog beds come in small, medium and large and would be perfect for reenacting the story of The Three Bears.
The wooden carved bear beds would be great for when you are ready to go all out and turn your home into a Bear's Cottage.
Poems and Songs about Bears
Singing about The Three Bears
Songs and poems are ideal for teaching reading. Copy them onto poster board large enough for all the children to see. Use pointers to help the children follow along.
The bears go in,
They sleep a lot,
The bears come out
And they give a shout!
Yeah Bears!
Hurray it's spring!
No time for sleep.
The bears wake up.
Their sleep was deep.
Yeah Bears!
The bears come out.
One, two, three.
They look around
And climb a tree.
Yeah Bears!
by Evelyn Saenz
- Bears from CanTeach: Songs & Poems
- The Black Bear
In the summer, fall, and spring
the black bear sports and has his fling,
but Winter sends him straight indoors and there he
snores... and snores... and snores.
The Three Alaskan Bears on Youtube
Alaska's Three Bears 2
The Three Bears Literacy Bags
I put everything in a Bear Tote and use these cute shower curtain hooks to hang them on a clothing rack in my room.
The Grizzly Bear Literacy Bag
Literacy Bags about Bears
- BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR literacy bag/activities
- Inside the large hand-painted canvas bag you will
find nine original activities and teddy bear counter manipulatives. Activities are laminated, cut out and ready to send home. Just add your copy of the book. by
Bears on CafePress
Polar Bear - Tote Bag
Price: 18.19
Goldilocks & The 3 Bears Tote Bag
Price: 17.99
Grizzly Bear Tote Bag
Price: 16.99
Aspen Bear Tote Bag
Price: 14.99
Three Bears' Slap Jack
Write vocabulary words on flashcards.
Children sort the words into piles.
Variation: Pick one of the words to be Jack and play Slap Jack.
FLASH CARDS BLANK 2X3
Amazon Price: $10.59 (as of 07/11/2009)
The Three Bears Games
Learn Color Recognition
Mix and Match Teddy is for children 2+ and has 12 cards to mix and match.
When Papa Bear sees him, he gives him some directions on how to switch the colors in his outfit. Follow the directions and find the correct outfit before your opponents in this fast-paced visual perception game!
The Bears are Playing Chess
Brown Bears against the Black Bears
The bears line up on each side of the chess board. Who will dominate this section of the river and eat the most salmon while getting ready for the long winter?
Bears Chessmen, King 3 1/4" - Chess Chessmen
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
The Three Bears Puzzles
The Three Bears go Berry Picking
Papa Bear had 2 berries in his pail and Baby Bear came along and dropped 2 more in. How many blueberries does Papa Bear have now?
The children record what they have learned in a Math journal. This aids them in writing for a purpose.
Getting Ready for Winter Game
1. Make a game board with berry bushes for the bears to pick berries.
2. Program a die with a wooden block with the names of various berries on each side. One side will say winter.
blueberry (blue)
raspberry (fuchsia)
strawberry (red)
blackberry (black)
grape (purple)
winter (white)
3. Use unifix cubes as berries.
4. Make cards with felt bears with 4 squares each of the types of berries the bear will eat.
5. Make a 4 piece puzzle from a winter scene. Make a board with the same scene in summer.
Children roll the die and pick the type of berry on the die and put it on the bear in the correct square. If they roll winter one piece of winter goes on the summer scene.
If someone fills up their bear they may help the other fill up their bears.
The children win if the bears are all full before winter comes.
Berry Tasting
Graph your Favorite Berries
Bring in as many varieties of berries as possible. Have the children taste the berries. Write the name of their favorite berry on a berry card and attach it to the graph.
It is also a lot of fun to have some real berries stashed away to share at the end of the lesson. Many children have never even seen a real berries.
![Blueberries for Sal [UNABRIDGED] (Audio CD)](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21-V-0cfZyL._SL75_.jpg)
Three Bears Math
Skip Counting by 3's
Skip count, skip countCount by 3's.
Skip count, skip count
Count by 3's.
Skip count, skip count
Count by 3's.
We can count to thirty!
3, 6, 9, 12
15, 18, 21,
24, 27, 30
We can count to 30!
To help the children understand Skip Counting by 3's have them
1. Divide 30 Counting Bears into groups of threes, count them individually and then by threes again.
2. Get out a laminated Hundreds board and circle every third number. Notice that these are the numbers in skip counting by 3's.
3. Divide 30 bears into groups of 3's and line them up on the Hundreds Board. Notice how the third bear in each group lands on a number that you circled.
Berry Patch Game
Four different cooperative tile games by Family Pastimes. Players form as many good Berry Patches as they can, with the help of the friendly Bullfrogs.
The basic mathematical skills of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing all get a workout.
Six tiles have only Berries on them. Six have only Bugs. Eight have both Berries and Bugs. The Bug shown is a Slug, one of the few insects that damage Strawberries. Each of the 12 Bullfrogs can eat one bug.
In THE GOOD BERRY PATCH GAME, players form as many Good Berry Patches as they can that have more Berries than Bugs.
In THE BUG-FREE BERRY PATCH GAME, each Bug will eat a Berry and only saved Berries count... with a Bonus for each totally Bug-Free Patch formed.
There are also two MIND-READER BERRY PATCH GAMES, in which each tile is played silently with players trying to guess what tile the others are going to play.
Cooperative Introduction to Math Concepts, Berries Bugs and Bullfrogs
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
Bears on Wheels
Though often read to very young children this book is great for beginning readers and for those children who grew up with the Berenstains it makes a great introduction to ratios.
One bear on one wheel is a 1:1 ratio.
One bear on two wheels is a 1:2 ratio.
Two bears on one wheel is a 2:1 ratio.
Children who know this book quite well will begin to realize that it is the same as recipes that call for 3cups of Bisquick Mix to 1 cup of milk to make biscuits.
Bears on Wheels (Bright & Early Books)
As the gradually increasing number of bears on wheels adds up through all kinds of combinations and permutations, beginning readers are offered a unique counting book, courtesy of the Berenstains.
Amazon Price: $8.23 (as of 07/11/2009)
Climbing and Tumbling Bears
A piling game as strong as bears for two to four players. Roll the die and place the matching color bear on top of the pile. This is a perfect travel game since it stores neatly in a tin container and fits comfortably in a pocket. Can be easily attached to a backpack as well.
These little bears are made of wood. Having several sets makes it possible to use them for counting, sorting, and for making patterns.
Pocket Gummy Bear Mini Travel Game
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
The Bear Went Over the Mountain
A Position Word Center
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
The bear went over the mountain,
To see what he could see.
And all that he could see,
And all that he could see,
Was the other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain
Was all that he could see.
After learning this song we work on position words. Make a stack of position words on index cards.
Use a bear stamp and marker to show the position of the bear in relation to a mountain.
Children read the word. Use a plastic bear and a playdough mountain to demonstrate the meaning of the word. They turn over the card for self checking.
The Three Bears on eBay
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Polar Bears are clashing with our need for oil
To best help the polar bears we need to...
Fetching blurbs now... please stand by...switch to solar energy.
Tipi says:
I love anything solar and use it mostly for lighting. Would like to go green all the way if possible.
Posted January 02, 2009
Margo_Arrowsmith says:
Solar, it is already here, doesn't make anything new.
Posted September 07, 2008
mulberry says:
I doubt ethanol is the solution. It is just another limited resource. Solar, wind, hydrogen fuel cells etc are better answers I think.
Posted May 28, 2008
KimGiancaterino says:
The answer is complicated, but I don't see how drilling in the Arctic Refuge will help alleviate the current problem. Our overdependence on fossil fuels needs to be addressed.
Posted May 21, 2008
...switch to ethonol.
Fly to Bear Country!
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Friends of the Bears
If you have a lens that is related to bears please add it here. The more backlinks you have the more chance that people will find you and the happier the bears will be.
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When the winds start to howl and the snow begins t more...2 points
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The Three Bears are in the Four Wheeler's Online Unit Study Directory
Thank you to the Four Wheelers for including the The Three Bears in their Online Unit Study Directory.
- Internet Directory of Unit Studies
- The Four Wheelers Internet Directory of Unit Studies contains a list, roughly arranged by subject, of links to unit studies that are published on the Internet.
Look Who's Twittering about Alaska's Bears
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- Rikou26
- @littledictator @LStacey hehe! save the polar bears, eat lots of Baked Alaska! :D
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- Crevek
- I watched a show about bears, "Does the Shortfaced bear still exist in Alaska?" They ignored subspecies of the Brown bear. SCIENCE!
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- AllieCupcake
- @J_SCRILLA_DMV I just wanted to make sure.is he alive? wrestling bears in alaska? in the rainforest of costa rica? im prone to overreaction
-
- kynzilla
- Awesome ulcer in my mouth the size of Alaska. No polar bears livin' on it, though.
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- starmuffer
- http://twitpic.com/9t173 - two littlw polor bears chillin in the hot heat at the alaska zoo got tired of playin in the water..nap time.
Bear Sightings...
Tell us about your experiences with bears.
Tipi wrote...
I learned some things about bears here, thanks. Another nicely illustrated lens too. Are you a teacher by any chance? Well, yes you are! 5*'s
I took your tip and added some Biscuit books. :) A nice touch!
Posted January 02, 2009
aquariann wrote...
What a wonderful, 5 star lens! Thank you for lensrolling my Three is a Magic Number lens. I've just added this (and your The Three Billy Goats Gruff one) as featured lenses. :D
Posted October 28, 2008
Margo_Arrowsmith wrote...
The only thing better than your prose is the wonderful pictures. Oh yes, and the help for bears.
5*
Posted September 07, 2008
plecostomus wrote...
Nice lens. I like the "Three Bears Theater" idea especially. I can't say I've ever met bears outside the zoo, but my father did while on a photography trip in the Adirondacks.
Posted May 28, 2008
Barkely wrote...
Thanks for adding this wonderful lens to the Fun For Kids Group.
Posted May 25, 2008
Frankster wrote...
Fun lens with lots of great bear facts that everyone can learn from. Love it! 5 stars. And, welcome to /www.squidoo.com/groups/saveourbears">Save Our Bears (SOB) group. Bear hugs, Frankie
Posted May 19, 2008
bjbook wrote...
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I'm sure I will enjoy the virtual maple syrup.
5 STARS for your lens!
It is a favorite!
Posted May 18, 2008
Follow EvelynSaenz on Twitter
- evelynsaenz
- aka evelynsaenz
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- @Teddi14 I find that I learn something from nearly every lens I read.
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- Hi All, Vt is great! Hope to get back to twittering again when I have more access to the Internet.
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- @kathleentehrani Thank you for referring to my Frog Unit Study in your article about summer. http://www.squidoo.com/frogunitstudy
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog
Fetching RSS feed... please stand byAbout the Author of this Lens
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog.I have three huge stuffed bears to cuddle up with when reading.
Find out about what else I have been up to when I'm not cuddled up with the Three Bears:
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Evelyn Saenz: Lensography of a Teacher
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My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The unit studies I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning should be integrated and no skills should be taught in isolation. I believe that each topic s...
This lens is a proud member of the Save The Bears Group
