Over the last two weeks, our PK students have shown a great interest in the popular children’s story, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. What began with an oral storytelling at the park, progressed into multiple tellings and retellings of the children’s classic, re-enactments in the classroom as well as story sequencing with visuals. When the children continued to bring up the story when headed to Trio Park, we thought this was an excellent opportunity to create our own story, inspired by Rosen and Oxenbury’s classic.
Rosen and Oxenbury’s story juxtaposes what the characters see around them with the sounds and movements that are created as they travel through each new setting. Going through the long wavy grass evokes a swishy, swashy, swishy swashy sound, while the swirling whirling snowstorm howls hooo wooo, hooo wooo! The children became fond of the rich vocabulary, repetition and pattern of the story and enjoyed retelling their own version at our bear hunt table in the classroom (see video below).
Finally, it was time to create our own story. We prompted students on our daily walk to the park to observe some of the places and things that we pass along the way. We snapped photos along the way and began to discuss the sounds that were made. We later took children two at a time outside to document our path to the park. Students took their own photos and brainstormed what sounds could pair with our journey. Does Ms. Matsubara’s bike that we pass on our walk make the bell sound “bling, bling, bling, bling” or “ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling?” How would we describe that sound that we hear when we walk and jump on the sewer grate? We had to test it out!
As the story evolved we were unsure what event would parallel the climactic ending of Rosen and Oxenbury’s story in which the family stumbles upon a large bear. Arriving at the park was definitely the subject of our book, but we needed an exciting ending. One item that continued to come up in our discussions of things we hear and see on our way to the park was the train that regularly passes behind Trio Park. All play and activity seamlessly stop at the passing of each train as our kiddos jump up and down shouting, “Train! Train!” When one student brought in a video of the Metra train that runs along Trio Park, we were enthralled with the sounds of the train whistle and crossing gate. This became the perfect ending to our tale. And we wonder, if it’s the beginning of a new investigation...
View our story, We're Going to Trio Park here
View our story, We're Going to Trio Park here