Spring is Here - A Bear and Mole Story
Written and Illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
ISBN: 978-0-8234-2431-3
This charming story opens with Mole's morning wake up to the wonderful smells of spring. With spring around the corner, I thought it would be a charming way to reinforce mi-re-do with my third grade students as they are working on B-A-G on soprano recorder.
The first experience with the story is to simply include movement as the story includes words like "squish, tap, and swish." As I read the story the first time, the children were in scattered formation and simply allowed to create movements for each of the words as they are spoken in the story. By the way, each word is said 3 times in the text.
I created a poem for the students to move while hearing the story the second time that included movement. I include this activity each time bear replies, "Snore."
"Spring is here, I must tell bear.
Students create a large circle and walk 4 steps CCW.
He's still sleeping in his lair.
He'll miss spring if he stays there.
Students stop for a 8-beat body percussion - pat twice-clap twice-neighbor clap twice-clap twice
I must tell bear."
Students rejoin hands and walk 4 steps CW.
The melody is pretty simple - but I wrote it so that it would reinforce mi-re-do and be easy for them to play on recorder. Play the first line on B, the second on A, the third on G. The final line is played B-A-A-G (rhythm is ta ti-ti ta Z).
The third time I read the story, I play the first three lines of the melody on soprano recorder, inviting students to play the last line. Then divide the students into 3 groups - asking each group to play one line of the melody. Then all play the last line. Eventually, they can all play the entire melody, or invite 3 students to play solos (one plays each line) - while the remaining students play the last line as an ensemble.
