Catch the Bear!

I found an amazing website of read-alouds with stem activities.  The website: Teachers Are Terrific: Stem and Science . A lot of my lesson this month are from them.  They are very creative and so cute! 

We first read: Big Smelly Bear by Britta Teckentrup. It is about a smelly bear that wakes up with an itch. He finds another bear that tries to get him to bathe.  Not only does this align with a STEM project but you can talk a little about hygiene with them.  

This book has a STEM activity that goes with it.  The challenge is to build a cage for the bear.  If you have the bear counters use them! It will make it more "real".  Your students can use any kind of craft supplies: popsicle sticks, construction paper, tape, glue, scissor, pipe cleaners, etc.  

My students struggled with listening to each other on making a bear cage.  This time around students ended up splitting up and making their own being that I had so many popsicle sticks for them to use. Clearly the "group plan" discussion from a week ago did resonate with them.  We will need to try again. 

This is a great example of how life is in a first-grade world. Students aren't going to just "get it" the first time.  Don't give up, keep giving them the tools and hopefully they will figure it out. Stay tuned!

Have fun!