The Three Bears @ The Virtual Vine

The Three Bears - Paul Galdone

Goldilocks and The Three Bears - Jan Brett

The Three Snow Bears - Jan Brett

Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Marcia Leonard

Goldilocks and The Three Bears - James Marshall

Somebody and the Three Blairs - Marilyn Tolhurst

Goldilocks and The Three Bears - J.A. Dyer

Counting: Provide 10 bowls and 55 plastic spoons. Have each bowl numbered in the bottom with a number from 1-10. Students count out the correct number of spoons into each bowl.

Counting Practice: Print in gray scale for copying for your class.

Counting practice printable

Do a class book rewriting the story ending of The Three Bears or change Goldilocks to a boy.

Beginning Sounds Practice: Print the picture and letter cards below on cardstock and have students match the correct beginning sound to the picture.

Beginning Sounds cards

Pick the Beginning Sounds Practice: Print these picture cards on cardstock and laminate. Then you have several options of how to use them. You can hole punch the circles under each number and have the students choose the correct beginning sound for each picture by inserting their pencil or a golf tee into the correct hole. If you choose this method, you'll need to mark the back of the card with the correct answer before laminating. You can do that be circling the correct hole or putting a star sticker above it. You could even use a bee sticker to coordinate with the bear theme.

I'm going to use the cards by having the students place a clothes pin on the circle of the correct beginning sound. This will save my cards from being "stabbed", help them with their pincer grip, and allow me to check their answers.

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Pick The Beginning Sound cards

Following Directions: Use the picture from Cherry Carl's site with the Gallery of Pictures of Goldilocks sleeping and have students listen and follow directions to complete the coloring page. I created this activity because one of my Ks in particular seems to be lacking in this skill.

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Following Directions printable

Drama: Turn your Drama Station or House Center into the 3 Bears' House! You'll need 3 chairs, 3 bowls, 3 spoons, and for the beds 3 different colors of fabric to lay on the floor. Your students will love using these props to act out the story! To extend the activity into writing, the students will complete the sentence frame "While we were home Goldilocks came into our classroom and made a mess of our ..." and the children draw the picture and finish the sentence.

Retelling: Create a peek through board of the 3 bears and Goldilocks using posterboard. Do this by cutting out a circle where the faces would be. The students look through the board and use it to retell the story as if they're the character. Too cute! :)

The drama and retelling activity above were shared by Kelly Cooke, a kindergarten teacher in Cape Cod, MA. Thanks Kelly for sharing your precious ideas. :)

The Power of Three: Use Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and The Three Billy Goats Gruff to learn about the number 3. After reading several times, compare and contrast the 3 books.

Porridge Graph: Have students predict whether or not they will like porridge. Then have them make and eat porridge and graph whether or not they actually liked it using bears with their names on them to create a pictograph. Did they have to revise their prediction? Discuss results of the graph.

*Porridge is like oatmeal. So we used instant apples and cinnamon oatmeal. The kids loved it and no one had to revise their predictions. We talked about measurement and they got to help measure out the water and add it to the bowl and then get a turn at stirring. While it was cooking, we read a previously unread version of The 3 Bears called What's Missing? They had to find what was missing from each page.

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Sequencing: Use pictures from the story and have students sequence them. I always model with them before having them do them on their own and it's always after we've read the story many, many times. These pictures came from a reproducible book that I have for sequencing fairy tales. I think it's by Frank Schaffer, so that tells you how old it is. :)

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3 Bears Song: I made this song chart using artwork from Cherry Carl's site. I only had to find a pot picture, which I did before I had it laminated for the "big brown pot." The little brown bears around the border are Ellison cut-outs. The children love singing the song. It's to the tune of 3 Blind Mice.