Tops and Bottoms

Tops and Bottoms is a folktale about a smooth-talking hare and a very lazy bear. When the Hare Family is in dire straits, Hare hatches a plan to plant the fields of Bear, a wealthy landowner. Each season Hare offers Bear the option of Tops or Bottoms. When Bear takes Tops, Hare plants root vegetables while Bear sleeps; in the next season when Bear says bottoms, the Hare family plants lettuce and broccoli, again while Bear sleeps. Becoming more irate, the next season Bear asks for "Tops and Bottoms." The Hare family plants corn. Finally, Hare and Bear learn to live together but do not become business partners again. A good lesson about the importance of staying informed. The illustrations are made with actual vegetables.

Lesson one of two:

- Read the story "Tops and Bottoms" about a lazy bear and

a trickster hare. They live on a farm. The hare fools the

bear and takes all the good crops that he grows for himself.

- We will play a game answering comprehension

questions from the story.

- We will sort vegtebles by ones that grow on top of the dirt,

on the bottom of the dirt, and in the middle.

Lesson two of two:

- We will retell the story using past

tense verbs.

- We will discuss happy and silly choices

and describe Bear's silly choices.