Meet the Black Bear Amuse Their Minds Publishing
2 Table of Contents Page Introduction 3 Lesson One: Meet the Black Bear 4 Lesson Two: Measure the Black Bear 7 Lesson Three: Chart the Black Bear 8 Lesson Four: Map the Black Bear 9 Lesson Five: Paint the Black Bear 10 Lesson Six: Feed the Black Bear 12 Lesson Seven: Match the Black Bear 13 Lesson Eight: Copy the Black Bear 14 Finish the Black Bear Book 16 Annotated bibliography 21
3 Introduction Welcome to the Meet the Animal series from Amuse Their Minds Publishing. This educational product was created with you and your children in mind. As a parent, you want professional, high quality materials that will engage your children and meet their learning needs. Your children want fun materials on the topics that interest them. The Meet the Animal series brings you and your children exactly what you ve been looking for! Professionally developed materials created by educators Content delivered in story format, so each animal speaks directly to your children! Affordable units that make it easy for you to meet your children s interests Printable pages with a goal of eliminating paper waste and reducing your printing costs! Lapbook templates that encourage individual creativity Age appropriate materials that you can use with more than one child in your family Well-organized material that encourages your children to continue to develop their reading, writing, drawing, painting, and measuring skills! How to Use this ebook: 1. We recommend using a twin pocket folder that comes with 3 metal prongs for inserting papers on the inside. 2. Print pages 4-16. 3. Three-hole punch the papers and insert them into the folder. Now each of your children has his or her own animal workbook to complete! 4. After your children have completed the 8 lessons, they can use the lapbook directions and cutouts on pages 16-20 to complete their animal books! We recommend printing pages 17-20 on cardstock. Examples of the book are shown on page 16. Are you ready to jump in and get started? Gather your supplies and let s begin!
4 Lesson One: Meet the Black Bear Materials needed: Drawing materials Hi! Thanks for stopping by. I m a black bear. You must be here because you like black bears. I can t say that I blame you. After all, look at the picture of me. Aren t I adorable? Black bears have short claws that allow us to climb trees. We like to climb! Let s pretend you are out walking in the forest one day and you spot a bear and you think, I wonder if that is a black bear? How will you know if it s me? Well, you ll know a black bear when you see one because of our beautiful black fur. But we re not all black. We have a little brown fur around our snouts. Some of my cousins have more light brown fur and some are even cinnamon colored. Over to the right is a close up shot of my Uncle Louie: Did you know that black bears are found only in North America? We are the smallest of the three bears found in North America.
5 Black bears are adaptable to many different areas. Adaptable means that we can survive in different weather and climate conditions. You can find us in at least 40 states in the United States, although our cousins in Louisiana and Florida are severely threatened because there are not many of them left. Would you like to see more pictures of me? Take a look at the photo album below: Now what do I do? My first day of swimming lessons! Look how tall my mom is!
6 So, how do I spend my days? Well, when I was a cub, I stayed with my mom for the first 2 years. We played as she taught me how to hunt and stay safe in the wild. After about 2 years, it was time for me to leave mom and go out on my own. Many black bears hibernate during the winter. That means we crawl into our dens in the fall and we sleep or remain pretty still throughout the winter months. Then in the spring, we come out of our dens. Black bears that live in warm climates don t hibernate. However, in cold and snowy places, food is harder to find in the winter. So black bears in colder climates hibernate and wait until spring to find food. Now, I usually live alone. Sometimes, I will live with a group of black bears if there is a lot of food in the area. But if we really have to search hard for food, we don t like to live too close to each other. I m not a very picky eater. I m an omnivore, which means I eat meat and vegetation. I like plants, bugs, fruit, nuts, fish, small animals, and of course, honey. I love honey! I ll even eat the bees that are in the honeycomb!
7 The average lifespan for a black bear like me is about 30 years. Since there are not very many black bears left in some parts of the United States, our cousins in Louisiana and Florida are protected by governments so that we do not become extinct. In other areas, people still hunt us for our meat and fur. Now that you ve read my story and learned a bit about me, it s time for you to have some fun. What I want you to do is draw a picture of me! Take a close look at me and look for shapes, lines and colors. What shape are my eyes? My ears? My body? What color am I? When you re done drawing a picture of me, move on to Lesson 2. See you later! Materials needed: Tape measure Lesson Two: Measure the Black Bear Scotch tape Scale Welcome back! I like the picture you drew. It looks just like me! In the last lesson, you learned about my life. In this lesson, you re going to learn about how big I am. And you re going to learn about how big you are, too! With the help of an adult, follow the directions below: 1. Gather a measuring tape and some scotch tape. 2. Select a wall in your home to place the measurements on. 3. Use the measurements below. Mark the height on the wall using tape (that can easily be removed without damaging the surface!) 4. Then hop on a scale and see how much you weigh compared to a black bear. How many members of your family need to get on the scale to weigh as much as one black bear? 5. Compare your size to that of a black bear! Black Bear Average height: Average weight: 2-3 feet at the shoulders when standing on all four feet 4-7 feet when standing on back legs 200-600 pounds You Your height Your weight
8 Lesson Three: Chart the Black Bear Materials needed: Writing materials Welcome to Lesson Three. In this lesson, you re going to learn about how long an average black bear lives. I am 2 years old. How old are you? Look at the chart below. A black bear s average lifespan is 30 years. Can you place that on the chart where it belongs? Go for it! 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Hamster Dog Black Bear True or False? Circle the correct answer: Human Years Black bears live longer than humans. True False Black bears live longer than hamsters. True False Dogs live longer than black bears. True False