Language Arts K-2

Rhyming words: As students listen to the CD, ask them to pick out the rhyming words. For K and 1st grades, do the activity as a whole group lesson, writing the words on the board.

Discuss how some rhyming words are spelled differently, and how some have the same spelling, but different beginning consonants.

Pick out two rhyming words that have the same endings. Show how these are word chunks or word families. Ex: hot-not

Brainstorm with the students for other words that end with –ot: cot, dot, jot, rot, tot, etc.

Create a word family guide on chart paper. Invite the students to practice reading this list, reinforcing beginning letter sounds, and word chunk phonemic awareness.

Vocabulary: Discuss the definitions of words: stroll, investigate, divine, villain, respect.

Spelling: Discuss the spelling of the word, friend. Discuss how there is a silent "I" in the word. By learning how to sing the song, the children will actually learn to spell the word!

Language Arts 3rd

Rhyming words: As students listen to the CD, ask them to pick out the rhyming words. Discuss the rhyming words that have different spellings. Ex: crime-rhyme

Discuss how different spellings are based upon different word origins, as English is a combination of Germanic, Old English, Greek, and Latin languages. Have students look up the words in the dictionary to determine what the word origin is.

Meter: Discuss how some phrases have similar syllabic meter, allowing for the phrasing of rhyme. Discuss different kinds of meter: iambic pentameter, showing how rhyme and rhythm are connected.

Invite the students to create their own rhymes about favorite things.
Students can illustrate their rhymes and a class book can be created.

Discuss how this play is a re-telling of another fairy tale, but with a twist. Invite the students to create and write about a different ending for another fairy tale.

Vocabulary: Have the students look up the definitions of words: stroll, investigate, divine, villain, respect.

Math K-3rd

When creating the props, such as, the comfy chairs, explain how to use a ruler or yardstick. As different children create the various props in small groups, insist that they measure everything.

Discuss small, medium, and large differences in circles as you create the bear head masks. Discuss ordinal numbers of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd and how they are used in the story.

Rhythm: Explain how rhythm is a mathematical concept. Practice clapping to the beat of each song. Explain that rhythm is just like fractions: some beats are longer, some beats are shorter, but they are all fractions (parts) of one musical phrase.