Brother Bear

Thursday (27/05/2010)

a) Song: The Bear Went Over The Mountain
* We started with a simple song and after I did the explanantion, the kids contributed that the bear saw some big fish, saw some honey and Natalie said, it saw some crabs...:) That gave us some ideas to compose the second and third verse of the song.

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 what do you think he saw?
And what do you think he saw?

He saw lots of big fish,
He saw lots of big fish,
He saw lots of big fish,

What's all that he could see!
CHORUS

He saw lots of honey,
He saw lots of honey,
He saw lots of honey,

What's all that he could see!

b) The Anatomy.
* I sketched a huge brown bear on the board. They just observed attentively while I labelled the parts. This included: hair, fur, tail, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, leg, foot and claws. We read the words together for 3 times. Then, as we go parts by parts, I asked them lots of questions.

c) About Bears.
Teacher: Whose eyes are better? Humans or bears?
Whose nose is better? Dogs or bears?
Do they have arms? Do they have legs? Can they keep their claws?
Can they stand? Do they make any sounds?

Qian Joe: Humans' eyes are better.
- Actually, both humans and bears eyes are equivalent. However, bears' noses are 7 times betterthan a dog's.
Jing Kai: Look at this picture. It is standing.
- Thus, bears have 2 arms when they stand but when they don't, they have 4 legs. They have powerful arms and legs and could just kill their preys using their powerful arms.
- Their claws are about 6 cm long and I showed them the length. They cannot be kept under their skin or rather retractable.
Yun Wen: rabbits can keep their claws like my pet cat.
Foo Soon: Can they make sounds?
- Bears growl when they are fearful but roar when they are angry.
* They have fur which hunters kill them for. They also have hair which is longer than the fur. It is also to protect it from the weather.
Teacher: Do they shed their fur and hair?
- Yes, they do.That explains why bears' colour changes as the seasons come along. Especially in winter, their fur is very thick and dense. By summer, it becomes very short to adapt to the hot weather. Miracle!!
- They have 5 toes like humans.
Yan Shan: Teacher, do bears pass motion.
Devin, Qian Joe, Yun Xin: Of course, they do. Every living thing that eats and drinks need
to pass motion.
Yun Xin: Teacher, ho do they pass urine?
Teacher: We have to find out the answer together. I'm unsure too!

d) Cartoon Film: "Brother Bear".
* I introduced briefly to the kids. This story took part in America in a Red Indian huge family group. To them, every part of nature is important and if anyone upsets the nature, there will be consequences.
* Once upon a time, there lived 3 sibling brothers. The oldest, Sika, the second; Kai and the youngest; Kenai. Kenai. kenai was very active and couldn't get along with Kai. They always quarelled and teased each other while their oldest brother would remind them to love one another. However, Kenai was irresponsible at tying the fish basket and lured the a big hungry brown bear to eat them. Kenai took his spear to kill the bear. The two brothers tried stopping him but failed. During the hunting, the bear were running towards Kai and Kenai. To save them, Sika used the spear and speared through the ice mountain which he stood. The bear and himself fell to the river and Sika died. The villagers were mournful of this and Kenai wanted revenge.
* The kids were thrilled watching how the brown bear killed his brother. It had sharp teeth and was very fierce. WE would continue the film on Monday.