How do we care for Bears?

Narrative

In the Autumn of 2022, EYFS pupils from primary schools across the XP Trust studied a cross-curricular expedition looking to answer the guiding question, ‘How can we care for bears?’

Learning Schedule

Case study one focused on ‘why are teddy bears special to us?’ Children explored their own family history in owning teddy bears by discussing with their parents and grandparents about the bears or soft toys that they cared for when they were young. They developed their knowledge of old and new by looking at different teddy bears and soft toys and were able to make comparisons and connections between them. Children enjoyed retelling the stories about the bears and hearing real life examples from people who visited school and shared their bear stories. This case study gave opportunities for children to talk about their immediate family and community and further explore how their personal experiences may differ from their peers.

During case study two children focussed their learning on bears in stories particularly the stories of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ and ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.’ They developed their expressive art skills by creating a performance of the narratives. This included singing, acting, creating props and playing musical instruments. The performances were recorded for part of the celebration of learning and included in the QR code on the final product. This case study also included drawing information from maps and creating their own representations of the narrative. Children also explored the changing states of materials by making porridge and the different textures and compositions of natural and man made materials.

The final week of this case study looked at the story of Paddington Bear and prompted children to explore him as an historical figure in literature. This book linked the fiction and non fiction elements of the expedition and led into case study three which focussed on where do real life bears live around the world.

Case study three focused on the location of bears around the world. The children learned about the polar bears rescued by Yorkshire Wildlife Park and why it is important to care for living things and the conservation of their natural habitat. This evidenced the climate emergency seam of the expedition. Children were also prompted to recognise similarities and differences between life in this country and in other countries for both humans and living creatures.

Immersion

Children were hooked into this expedition by reading ‘The Everywhere Bear’ by Julia Donaldson. This story introduced the children to the idea of owning crew teddy bears and each taking it in turns to care for one of the bears at home. The children loved reporting back to their crew the experiences they had looking after the bear and the things they got up to together. In school the children took part in a variety of bear related craft activities and read many different stories about bears. On National Teddy Bear Day children were invited to bring their own bears into the classroom to share with other children.

Children were also immersed into the expedition by surprising the children with an unexpected visitor to their classroom. A bear came into their classroom and left a footprint trail for children to find. They were then able to watch a video of their teachers finding the bear in the classroom!

The Final Product

The final product saw the children baking biscuits in the shape of bears to sell in our settings.

The money raised from this product bought every child a teddy bear to take home which they personalised in school. Each bear came with a tag around its neck including a QR code to show the learning journey of the expedition. We also bought bears for a local charity - Changing Lives who distributed the bears to the families they support.

The celebration of learning involved the children and their families having a teddy bears picnic to showcase all of our learning from the expedition. The children performed ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ for their adults. Each child received their bear from the money raised during the picnic.