The Bear Can Read

I recently, finally, signed up for The Bear Can Read for Bear, a toolkit to support reading at home. I have watched them on social media for quite a while now and have kept debating whether or not it was the right way forward for us just yet, but when they had an offer on last month, I took advantage and signed up, with the intention of seeing how it went and then deciding from there.

Having followed them for some time, I had a good idea of what they were about, and the final touch was that they are bear themed, making it perfect for us :)

I signed Bear up at the pre-reading stage as we are still working on letter recognition and phonics and we started at the Teddy Stage. 

The first package arrived speedily and I loved that it was addressed to Bear, and that the package is the beginning of the fun. He was so excited to get into it which was really lovely to see.

The package contained three books, one of which was non-fiction, and a tote bag which comes with the first order and is lovely, Bear has been quoting the "Reading is my Superpower" line from it every time we discuss reading a book. There was also the collection of literacy activites and a snack, which of course, he dug straight into while we explored the bits and bobs and decided what to do first.

Bear chose the non-fiction book during our first sit down with this, which was about the lifecycle of a butterfly. Bear had basic knowledge of this already as we have a book similar, but this one was written with the purpose of his learning. 

Inside the front cover was information for the grown-up about how to use the book, and the sounds which were included. There were only three sounds, making up two different words for Bear to read, both of which he did with some support as this was the first time we had attempted putting more than one sound together to read a word outloud. The text at the bottom of the pages was for me to read, and there was information on the life cycle and then bits to get Bear thinking.

Afterwards, we chose the worksheet that went with the lifecycles theme and Bear enjoyed practicing his cutting skills, and then ordering the discs using the knowledge from the book.

He virtually did this activity independently. I read the instructions to him, then he cut the discs out, worked out which order to put them in using the book as a reference point, and then glued them in with his magic dotty pen from Nannie.

The next time we sat down to do some work from this pack, Bear chose on of the picture books, Tisha and the Blossom by Wendy Meddour which we sat and read together. I encouraged Bear to really look at the illustrations to both back up what we were reading, and for him to see what else he noticed as he often picks things out that I don't even notice.

It is a lovely book about the beauty of slowing down and allowing yourself time to just be, instead of always having to 'hurry up' in our busy lives. Bear loved it and we have reread it a couple of times already.

We also chose another activity from the worksheet pack, and although colouring is not something Bear enjoys all that much, he loved copying mine. The instructions were to match up the butterflies and then colour them in to match. I coloured one in, and Bear used the same colours to do his butterfly the same.

We only did one set of butterflies, but I am hoping he will return to this to do the others another time.

When we completed the other worksheets, Bear wasn't interested in reading, but we did finish off everything else in the pack, including more sequencing, which also encouraged the use of the words, 'first', 'then', 'next', and 'finally', which he did perfectly.

We followed this by discussing when we used those words in real life, and he explained how I often used them when telling him what our day might include, and how he used them when deciding what to play.

We read the last book that was included more recently as a bedtime story. Into the Wild by Thomas Docherty is an absolutely stunning book about finding the wild wherever you are. It is magnificently illustrated and there is so much detail on every page that each time we have read it since, we have noticed something new. 

Overall, I can honestly say that with just this first box, I have no regrets about signing up for The Bear Can Read, and I am looking forward to seeing what the next package contains, and where it will lead Bear's learning.

If you'd like to discuss this further, please get in touch... but honestly, if you were considering it and have been on the fence - do it!

Mama Bear x