Welcome to this “written” training that is being made available through the Family Child Care Association of Maine.
In this training, I have done my best to explain why and how I approach the use of books in my curriculum. Some books are used as individual books, but at other times it’s great to have a series of quality books that can be used within a unit or even spread throughout the year in different units. What I am going to share is gathered from my personal experiences working with children over 40 years, as an elementary classroom teacher and a family child care provider. The beauty of working with children, rather than having one “right” way, there are multiple ways to provide learning opportunities. I hope that what I share allows you to broaden your reflection on how you might include books in your work with children.
In this training I’ll be sharing how I use what I think of as Karma Wilson’s “Bear Series” books.
Karma Wilson’s “Bear Series” includes: “Bear Counts”, “Bear Sees Colors”, “Bear Snores On”, “Bear Wants More”, “Bear Feels Sick”, “Bear Feels Scared”, “Bear’s New Friend”, “Bear’s Loose Tooth”, “Bear Can’t Sleep”, “Bear Says Thanks” and “Bear Stays Up for Christmas”. I will not be providing activities for all these books as I do not use all of them within my program. However, many of the shared activities are adaptable for any of the book in the bear series. You will find ideas for the various book on FCCAM’s Book Discussion Board: Karma Wilson: Bear Series.
“Bear Snores On” was the first book by Karma Wilson I was exposed to and shared with children. It is still a favorite and is used annually as part of my Winter Unit for our lessons on Hibernation/Migration/Adaptation. While I include bears as a hibernating animal, I do want to note that a bear’s winter sleep is “light sleep”, which means they are not considered “true hibernators”. This is part of the discussion I note with children within my H/M/A unit.
This training is broken out into sections aligning with the MELDS that I hope will make it easier to follow, pull material from and return to in support of both your professional development and your future work with children. You may return to this introduction page to explore each section in the order you wish. Or you can continue through the sections by using the direct link found at the end of the section you are currently on.
Approaches to Learning & Social and Emotional Develop
Reading Standards for Literature
Physical Development and Health
Anyone viewing this training is expected to be respectful of confidentiality. All content provided in this training is considered to be under Copyright and is not to be shared outside the training.
FCCAM Training 