Bear That Heard Crying Literature Unit Study

This short Literature Unit Study is free for you to use and enjoy. We enjoyed the book so much. Our children really did too. And because we had so much fun with this book, we thought we'd share just a few ideas with you.
As with any unit - there will be ideas you won't want to use or those you want to shorten. Please feel free to use what you like. And prayerfully these few ideas will help you become creative and come up with a few of your own, too! This study is geared for ages approximately 4 to 10.

BOOK OVERVIEW
This book is a true story about Sarah Whitcher who at the age of three wandered
from home and was lost for three days. The author is a distant relative of Sarah
Whitcher which always makes a book a little more personal and special.

HISTORY
     For a child who is interested, find out what else happened around 1783.
     Find out what the home of Sarah may have looked like. Discuss how this type of
home is either similar or different from yours (i.e. how it is heated, no electricity,
phones etc).   It may be fun to find pictures in a history book to look at of the time
period. Notice the dress styles, the type of transportation they used, how they lived,
ate and spent their leisure time.

GEOGRAPHY
Have your child draw/trace a map of New Hampshire. Find where Warren, New Hampshire is
and label it on your map. Depending on age of your child they may like to draw and
color the NH State Flag, the State Bird and Flower. An older child may enjoy
drawing in the mountains of their map and labeling the State Capital and other large
cities and rivers or lakes.

Click here for a Blank Map of NH: http://geography.about.com/library/blank/blxusnh.htm

Click here for a Detailed Map of NH:
http://geography.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.m%2Dw.com/cgi%2Dbin/nytmaps.pl%3Fnew%5Fhampshire

MATH
   Figure out how long ago Sarah Whitcher lived.
   How many days was Sarah lost? How many hours?
   In the story they baked a bushel of beans. How much is a bushel in quarts? In pounds?

SCIENCE/NATURE
In the story it talked about the different wildlife that Sarah encountered wandering in the wilderness (i.e. trout, squirrels, jays, trees, flowers etc) talk about these and find pictures of
some to look at.

Sarah ate some wild berries in the woods. Find pictures and talk about wild strawberries, blackberries and other wild edible plants. Take a walk in the woods and find a few foods that
could be eaten if necessary.

Black Bears - A Black Bear came and kept Sarah warm. Find a book on Black Bears to look at and learn more about them. Find out where they live and how they live.

Animal Tracks - Learn to identify some animal tracks. Get a good Field Guide or visit the website below to find tracks to many animals. It also has info on different animals (even Black Bears):
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/7076/

Go into your own woods and find some tracks of animals. If your child shows interest make a plaster cast of a track or two. At this website you'll find info on making such a plaster cast:
http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Rapids/7076/plastertracks.html

It may be fun to make a short little booklet on your nature adventures - fill it with nature pictures, leaves, pictures or drawings of animals tracks and wild edible plants.

LANGUAGE ARTS
Have your child retell the story to you. Write it out while your child tells it. Then Rewrite it in large print in a booklet form for your child to "read" back to you. Some children are too young for this activity so just rewrite the story and put in their nature booklet.
Some children may want to take their narration and make a "Book" out of it.
You can get information on how to make a real hardback type book with your child
from the book "Creating Books with Children". Excellent idea if your child is interested.

Talk about how the author is a distant relative of Sarah Whitcher. And how this
may have
given her inspiration to write the story like she/they did. Read the "Author's Note"
from the beginning of the book together.

     Discuss some of the descriptive words from the story like:
     "the wind moaned"
     "crying animal"
        ~discuss how descriptive words add life to a story and make it so much more interesting.

Read the book "Sarah Whitcher's Story" if your child shows interest for more information.

BIBLE & CHARACTER BUILDING
Sarah disobeyed. Discuss disobedience and how important it is to follow instructions even when we don't want to or understand.

Find some Bible Stories of people who were far from home and how God took care
of them. The Story of Elijah is just a story on how God took care of Elijah feeding him through Ravens.

Another story is Joseph being sold into Egypt. While neither Joseph nor Elijah disobeyed God they still felt the loneliness of being separated and alone in an
unfamiliar place and God did take care of them - like He did Sarah.

It's important to understand that God always tries to help us even when we don't
listen to Him. But by not listening to Him - we put ourselves in harms way and it
doesn't always turn out
pleasant. For a Bible Story of someone who disobeyed God - try reading the story of Jonah.

Or you can listen to the Bible Stories on Audio Tape

Find a Prayer of Thanksgiving in Psalms to read. Think about how happy the
family was to be reunited again. Think of how happy Jesus will be when we (His family) will
be in heaven with Him someday soon when He returns.

Character Building Books

ARTS & CRAFTS

Make an Animal Track Rug - this website gives all the information. The details
show how to do it on vynil, but you can do it on a rug too.
Footprint Rug Craft: http://www.craftsforkids.com/projects/footprintrug.htm

Paint and/or draw a picture of a Black Bear in the woods on a large white sheet of
art paper.

IN THE KITCHEN
Make some of the foods Sarah may have enjoyed when she finally was returned
home.
Make things like:
Hasty Pudding (a corn pudding)
Baked Beans
Stew
Corn Bread with Honey

Make a dessert with berries - for instance Strawberry Shortcake.

Written by: Joan LaCelle
Copyright of LaCelle Family Ministries 9199 Howd Road, Camden, NY 13316
Permission is granted to use this Literature Unit is granted to any family or school. Thanks for
supporting our Ministry with your prayers and purchases!

Email us: info [AT] lacellefamily [DOT] com

For More Animal Track Fun:
Short unit on Animal Tracks: http://www.gi.k12.ne.us/SDGI/Engleman/Animal_Tracks.html

LaCelle Family Ministries

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