A New Path to Follow: Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? {BFAIR}

Sunday, August 17, 2014

This is our second time going through Before Five in a Row and Britton is soaking it up this time through. The first time he did it he was only two, so this is much more fun for the both of us now that he is a little older. We started our school year off with a fun book, Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom

Jesse Bear is about a little bear going through his daily activities and discussing what he would wear in the morning, noon, and night. Reading through this book once, you may not think you can pull much from it, but after taking a closer look it is full of great topics to cover with your kids.

Math

On one of the pages the carpet is covered with shapes. We read a book on shapes and then did a fun shape sorting activity with food. I let the older boys join in the fun with this one too. We also read a book on patterns. Britton practiced making patterns with our pattern blocks. Then, he painted stripes on 3 sheets of paper to make a pattern bear.

Nutrition

We spent time looking at the healthy lunch that Jesse eats and talking about good and bad food. We read a book about why it is important to eat healthy food. We also watched The Berenstain Bears "Too Much Junk Food". Then, I asked Britton to draw his own healthy lunch. His drew an apple, banana, carrot and glass of water.

Weather

We noticed it must be spring or summer in the book based on how Jesse Bear is dressed. We read a book about the seasons and spent some time talking about what you should wear in winter. My 4 year old has never seen or felt snow due to moving to Thailand when he was a baby. He doesn't quite understand why you would need so many layers to stay warm. We don't have 4 seasons here, only two. Hot and Rainy. Britton made his own Jesse Bear and dressed him up in summer and rainy clothing.

Healthy Hygiene

We noticed that Jesse Bear washes his hands when he comes inside after playing in the dirt. We also noticed that he takes a bath before bed. We discussed how to keep our bodies and teeth clean. Britton washed his cars during sensory play. We read a book on why it is important to brush your teeth. We did a fun activity where Britton painted a "tooth" with coke and watched the tooth turn brown. Then, he took a tooth brush and cleaned the tooth with "toothpaste" . He is now very concerned about keeping his teeth nice and clean. He doesn't want brown teeth!

Snacks

For a fun snack, we made Jesse Bear cupcakes.

We also made Jesse Bear bathtub cookies. Instead of brownies, I had a little bit of cookie dough in the freezer, so we used that. We also used gummy bears instead of teddy grahams.