Another Celebrated Dancing Bear

For our second book in FIAR we chose to do Another Celebrated Dancing Bear by Gladys Scheffrrin-Falk.  A story about the friendship between two Brown Russian Bears named Boras and Max. 

Other books we added to the study. The Blessing Cup by Patricia Polacco was one of my favorites.

On Tuesday we read the book, then worked on geography. She learned where Russia is on the map and colored their flag. We talked about some things they are known for such as, tigers, bears, ballet, cotton, etc.  Then we spoke of occupations and she had to list a few. Hadley's list contained Doctor, Pilot, Jeweler, Ophthalmologist, Chef and Zookeeper. In relation to the theme of the story we spoke of hospitality and how to greet someone. We spoke of jealousy and what the tenth commandment says. She learned about Matrioshka Dolls (we watched a video of how they are made) and we made a version out of paper.

On Wednesday we went over vocabulary words such as, Czar, elegant, glum, samovar, magnificent, jealous, audience, marvelous, embraced, pyramid and comical. We then acted out some words from the book such as, applaud, bowed, beamed, drew near, giggled, chattering, mopped his brow(pictured below), kicking(dance step) and leaping. She practiced her writing skills and drew a picture of Russian architecture. When then made bear claw cookies. Later in the afternoon we made a paper circus, watched some of Tchaikovsky Nutcracker and Sergei Prokofiev's Peter And The Wolf.

We squeezed our FIAR into three days because Grandma Chichi was arriving Thursday. Once she arrived we read our book, discussed the illustrators etchings. Hadley tried an etching herself. We made a Faberge egg and had tea with Russian bread and strawberry jam. We finished up by discussing the samovar and watched an episode of The Magic School Bus, Wet All Over.

Hadley continues to implement what she has learned in her free play throughout the week. For example, last night we had a dinner guest.  Hadley was dressed as a Russian woman!

Our next adventure we will either be in Paris or the Coal Mines.