Free Printable Brown Bear, Brown Bear Lesson Plans, Crafts, Worksheets

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" Thus begins a charming, eponymous children's literature classic by author Bill Martin. Via illustrator Eric Carle's pictures, preschoolers learn about colors, animals. patterns, math and also friendship. Here are free printable games, coloring pages, crafts, worksheets and learning activities from the children's literature classic, along with the companion Martin/Carle book "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" Use these activities to celebrate Children's Book Week 2015--May 4-10.

DLTK-Teach has free printable activities from Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? There are pictures of book characters: brown bear, red bird, yellow duck, blue horse, green frog, purple cat, white dog, black sheep, goldfish, mother (teacher), and children (students). Print in color and use for worksheets, reading booklets and lessons. Or, extend learning activities by printing in black and white and using as coloring pages. Have kids cut out animals to practice eye-hand coordination. Children learn color, pattern, rhyme, fine motor skills, spelling and writing in multisensory ways. Teachers and homeschoolers, use animals templates as felt board patterns. Trace image on appropriate felt color. Add each animal to board as you read the story. There are printable activities for Brown Bear in Spanish, too.

DLTK-Teach also has free printables from "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do You Hear?" Polar Bear, Polar Bear was written 25 years after Martin and Carle's Brown Bear came out in 1967. I remember how tickled our eldest was to find that her beloved Brown Bear had a friend. Images from this story include zoo animals: polar bear, lion, hippopotamus, flamingo, zebra, boa constrictor, elephant, leopard, peacock, walrus, zookeeper and children.

1+1+1=1 is a homeschool blog with mom-created a free printable Brown Bear, Brown Bear activitiespacket which includes reading and math games: matching, graphing, spelling, writing, 3-part cards, 1-10 counting puzzle, tracing and color by word.

This blog has other free printable kindergarten learning games and preschool activity packages. Themes include: ballerinas, princess, rainbow, ocean, pond life, love, Christmas, winter, spring, bugs, cats, baby animals, birds, construction trucks and machines, monsters, farm and more. There are printable reading packs on children's literature favorites: Mickey Mouse, Handy Manny, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Noah's Ark, Veggie Tales, Word World, Nemo, Hermie, Tarzan, Word World, Doc McStuffins, Dora the Explorer, Octonauts, Little Einsteins, Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom, Five Little Monkeys, Dinosaur Train and Thomas the Train.

We homeschooled our four children from 1992-2005. Home education was pretty new and computer resources nil. Our kids now 28,26, 24 and 18, loved the Martin-Carle books in preschool. Our twin grandsons love these books thanks to their mama (she who loved Brown Bear so as a tot). The boys already have Brown Bear, Brown Bear and Polar Bear, Polar Bear on their bookshelves! It's good to pass these classics on to another generation!

Free Earth Day Worksheets, Environmental Science Lesson Plans

There are many reasons to celebrate April. April bids farewell to winter and ushers in spring. Easter and Earth Month are celebrated in April. April 22 is the official Earth Day. Here are environmental science worksheets and lesson plans to explore this "green" month of April.

Maine.gov has a free printable earth science activities. There lessons on different environmental features. Teach them as parts of the body.

Rocks (igneous, metamorphic, sedimentary). Rocks are the bones of our planet.

Minerals (quartz, silica sand, crystals, MOS Hardness Scale, cleavage, color, mineral identification). Minerals are earth's tendons.

Water (ground water, aquifers, watershed, water cycle, precipitation, percolation, wetlands, acid rain, bodies of water, oceanography, polar ice caps). Water is our earth's lifeblood.

Soil (structure, layers, decomposition, fossils, fossil fuels, composting). Soil is the muscular system.

Geophysics (geology, plate tectonics, magnets, earthquakes, volcanoes, the Ring of Fire, thermodynamics, geysers). Geophysics is the endocrine system. Given the recent earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan, these lessons are even more vital and significant.

Ecology (land use, deforestation, slash and burn farming, fallow periods, water testing, soil evaluation). Think of ecology like health. Caring for the earth is like caring for our bodies. What we put into or do to our bodies heal and sustains or hurts and destroys. Likewise, what we do to our earth either helps or harms it. Environmental groups are like the earth's physicians.

This booklet provides hands-on activities, games, simulations, map reading exercises, field trips, treasure and scavenger hunts, experiments and extensions for social studies, reading and math. It gives interactive practice applications for Point-Slope formula (y=mx+b). That's helpful for S.T.E.M. (science, technology, engineering, math) connections. In keeping with earth month, don't waste paper printing. Use recycled paper or scraps from your recycling bin. Print with biodegradable ink.

For more printable science lessons, visit my blogs Free Printable Lesson Plans and Free Lesson Plans 4U and Science Experiments and Chemistry Lessons.

Printable Jewish Holocaust Memorial Worksheets, Yom HaShoah Lessons

Remember, remember the 17th day of Shevat. This day, which is January 27 on western calendar is one of days of yom hashoah or "days of remembrance." It isn't a holiday, but it is a holy day and commemorates International Holocaust Remembrance Day, said International Business Times on Jan. 27. Jews observe Yom Hashoah, Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day, on the 27th of Nissan (April to May in the Western calendar). January 27 is the day the world remembers (or should) when it stood by while millions died--Pole, Slav, Catholic, Russian, red, disabled, dissident, gypsy, gay, and many, many Jewish--in the World War II Nazi genocide. The theme for International Holocaust Memorial Day 2016 is "Don't Stand By" and it comes from a confession of Pastor Martin Niemoller.

"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me."

"Don't Stand By" if you see injustice, persecution, bullying or marginalization. Speak out, whether you identify with those you are speaking out for or not. Don't stand by because an injury to one is an injury to all, says the union slogan. On Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day and all year long, fight against acts of anti-semitism, anti-life, anti-humanity. Don't stand by and let a great injury be repeated. Talk about it and educate yourself. Holocaust Memorial Day Trust has a free activity pack for educators and individuals, to remember.

Don't stand by--share the love. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum offers ways to share stories online and in person. Oral tradition is a time-honored way of preserving memories. Don't stand by and let the flame die. On Yom Hashoah, let the the voices of the dead speak. Most everything that remained of those horrible days are gone. Many holocaust survivors have passed on. But memory is enduring voice, if it's not shushed. Let Holocaust Remembrance Day be a song that keeps on playing your head, long after the music has died. Look at the Holocaust Remembrance Day poster from 2012. It shows, in shadow, the loved ones lost. It's evocative and eerie. It makes you wonder who these shadows were. Don't stand by and let them be forgotten.

Don't stand by--watch movies and read books for Jewish Holocaust Memorial Day. "Sarah's Key" is a translation of "Elle S'appellait Sarah" by Tatiana de Rosenay. It tells of a little girl taken in the Jewish Vel' D'hiv roundup in France and the journalist who uncovers her story. Read or watch "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas"--that will put a face on Holocaust for you. Or how about "The Book Thief?" Children can watch this one and empathize. Don't stand by--teach your children that untold numbers of other children perished in the Nazi holocaust and stories like this are their voice. For a non-fiction Yom Hashoah read, try "Night" by Elie Weisel. But be prepared to be haunted for the rest of your life. Read Viktor Frankel's "Man's Search for Meaning"for a Holocaust Remembrance Day you'll never forget.

You can't bring back the deceased, but you can give them their voice. You can ask, "who are you? what were you like?" Because if no one talks about them, they are truly buried. When we speak for them, it's like they never died. Don't stand by this Jewish Yom HaShoah.