Schools

Jack and the Magic Bean
Study Guide

Jack and the Magic Bean
Written by Linda A. Carson
Directed by Kim Selody
Produced by Presentation House Theatre

Introduction

This guide was created by Lois Adamson and Courtney Mason.

Hello educators! We hope that you will find this study guide to be a useful resource — both as you prepare for your visit to our theatre to see Jack and the Magic Bean, and after your class has experienced the production. In this guide you will find themes, curriculum connections and expectations, a glossary, a synopsis, a note from the director, an interview with the playwright, along with units of study including pre/post-show discussion questions and theme-based activities. If you wish to create your own lesson plan from the study guide copy, we have created a lesson plan template for your use. Should you have any questions or feedback, or have inquiries about the use of this guide (which is copyright protected), please feel free to contact Karen Gilodo, Associate Artistic Director, Education at kgilodo@youngpeoplestheatre.org.

Thematic Overview

In our world today, we try to be sensitive to one another and to our environment. We endeavour to make a difference in ensuring our planet’s long-term health and well-being for future generations. In order to affect positive change in our world, we need to work with our students and, together, cultivate responsibility, respect and critical thinking skills, so that we can make conscientious choices now and as we grow.

In Jack and the Magic Bean, Jack is faced with difficult decisions and must make sacrifices so that he and his father can survive. This new telling of Jack and the Magic Bean reveals that the strength and creativity necessary for inciting change can be found within each and every one of us and inspires students to discover their own power, in order to help one another and contribute to the world in which they live.

In this guide, you will find activities and exercises that, while giving students the chance to play, learn and create, explore themes of environmental and financial responsibility. The pre-show unit explores storytelling and movement, with a focus on environmental learning. The post-show unit provides students with the opportunity to reflect on the performance and to consider more deeply the themes of caring and responsibility as they pertain to money, how we discern value and the importance of financial literacy. It is our hope that, by integrating these exercises into your curriculum, both before and after the performance, and by adapting them to suit your students’ particular needs, this study guide will enhance their experience of Jack and the Magic Bean.

Curriculum Connections

  • Play Based Learning – Full Day Kindergarten Curriculum
  • Science: Environment Education
  • Drama
  • Language Arts

Seven Ancestral Teachings

  • Truth

Themes

  • Financial Responsibility
  • Environmental Responsibility
  • Determining Values
  • Concern for Others

Curriculum Expectations

By participating in the following activities, students will:

  • Use social skills in play and other contexts; interact cooperatively with others in classroom events and activities
  • Listen and respond to others for a variety of purposes
  • Use language to talk about their thinking, to reflect and to solve problems
  • Respond to a variety of drama and music experiences by applying the elements and conventions of dance, drama, music and visual art to communicate feelings and ideas
  • Develop and apply skills in financial literacy; identify ways in which financial responsibility connects to respecting and working with one another, as well as caring for the environment
  • Identify ways in which they can care for and respect the environment, including personal action that they themselves can take to minimize harm to the earth and help maintain a healthy environment for living things, including human beings
  • Describe changes or problems that could result from the loss of some kinds of living things that are part of everyday life
  • Investigate and compare the basic needs of humans and other living things, including the need for air, water, food, warmth and space
  • Describe how showing care and respect for all living things help to maintain a healthy environment
  • Describe the ways in which plants and animals depend on each other
  • Describe the different ways in which plants are grown for food

A Note from the Director, Kim Selody

Why retell an old fairy tale like Jack and the Giant Bean?
This is a good question. Fairy tales have survived for eons, because they are a useful tool to pass on knowledge from one generation to the next. We hear the story as a child and we then retell it as an adult. As our society and cultures change and evolve, our stories need to evolve as well. Linda A. Carson has brought a new perspective to an old story that makes it not only relevant to today’s world, but an imperative story for the next generation and possibly the one after that.

Often fairy tales contain simple ideas which become profound as they develop through the story. In order for these ideas to take root, they need to be experienced, as well as told. By using guided play experience in our production, we hope to have these ideas grow in the fertile minds of children.

Maybe when they are adults, they will tell their children this story. Or maybe, they will adapt it into something new, because this story will not be needed in this way any more. Maybe we will all understand how important a living soil is for our sustainability. That is a hopeful thought.

An Interview with Playwright Linda A. Carson

What prompted you to write this play?
There were a few things that prompted me to start working on this play. I took a soil science course at the University of Guelph a few years ago and was amazed to have my eyes opened to the millions and billions of life forms that were present in a teaspoon of rich dirt. So, I wanted to do something for young audiences that would remind us that the dirt was not simply dirt, but an important part of our life cycle. The second thing that I wanted to do was to take the audience on an outdoor adventure, because I used to have so much fun climbing trees, digging in the dirt and collecting bits and pieces from the woods. Finally, I love the notion of “story” and the importance of stories in our lives. The stories that I hear and read often help me figure out who I am and how I feel about something.

What is it about the original story of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk that inspired you?
When I was young, I loved the story of Jack and the Giant Beanstalk. In my imagination, I used to climb up the beanstalk right along with Jack. And, of course, there was always that Giant. I loved getting scared by the Giant, but also knowing I could escape safely down the beanstalk and out of the story. Since I wanted to tell a story about the dirt, it seemed strange to be drawn to a story that climbs up into the clouds, but then I began to wonder what was wrong with Jack’s farm. Why did he have to sell the family cow? Why couldn’t his family grow their own food? Suddenly, I was inspired to retell this age-old story with a focus on the soil in which the magic bean grows.

One of the themes in this play is that of responsibility, to one another and to the earth. Why is learning responsibility an important part of Jack’s journey?
It is difficult to feel responsible for things we can’t see, like the tiny bugs in our dirt that help our plants to grow. In this day and age of gadgets and gizmos, cars and airplanes, superstores and water parks, it is hard to remember that there is a vast natural world just outside our door that is intricately connected to us. I think Jack’s journey of responsibility in this play is simply to see the bigger picture of our natural world and, with him, we learn that there are many life forms that depend upon us, just as we depend upon them and we have to be careful to keep the balance.

What do you hope audiences will take away from the show?
I hope audiences take away the experience of having a great time in the theatre. I hope they have fun meeting the characters and becoming engaged with the story. And I hope they come away with questions. What really is in the dirt below our feet? Is there a whole other world down there? What exactly is in a teaspoon of dirt?

Why do you choose to work in theatre?
I like the way theatre uses the imaginations of the audience to tell its stories. When I watch a film, my imagination does not have to do much work, because all the visuals are laid out clearly before me, but when I read a book or go to the theatre, my brain has to work to figure out what is going on and then it magically takes me into the world I am witnessing. Without the audience, there would be no play, because their imaginations are the final ingredients to make it all work.

I also like working in the theatre, because I get to work with so many amazing artists. The designers, the music composer, the director, the dramaturg, the artistic director, and the actors all bring their brilliant ideas and inspirations into the process of creation. I am never alone in my work. It is truly a collaborative process.

SYNOPSIS

This new spin on the much-loved story finds Jack, a farmer’s son, surrounded by land that just won’t grow anything. “The dirt’s dead,” says his father, who sells off everything they own, little by little, to buy food so they can eat. When Jack finally has to sell his toys for food, he trades them instead for magic beans, which takes him on an amazing journey of excitement and peril. Jack climbs the giant stalk from which the magic beans grow and reaches a green and fertile land in the sky. There, Jack discovers the source of the trouble with his farmland and learns how to make it fertile again.

Commissioned by YPT and developed with help from children at Casa Loma Early Learning Centre, Market Lane Public School and the Parent’s Resource Centre, this production uses audience participation and a magical surrounding environment.

GLOSSARY

Afford: to have enough money

Biodiversity: a variety of animal and plant species in a particular environment

Budget: to plan the spending of money according to what one can afford

Character: a person or animal in a novel, play, etc. played by a performer; a role

Earn: to obtain money in return for work

Narrate: to tell a story

Need: a requirement or necessity

Organic: matter comprised of or derived from plants or animals; also used to describe plants or food produced without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides

Price: the amount of money or goods for which something is bought or sold

Priceless: something so valued that it cannot be sold for any amount of money

Sacrifice: to give up something that is valued for the sake of something more important

Survive: to remain alive

Tableau: a silent, motionless group of people arranged to represent a dramatic scene; a frozen picture

Trade: to exchange products or goods

Value: the worth or importance of something; the amount of money attributed to something

Want: a desire or wish

Pre-Show Discussion Questions – All Grades

  1. What does it mean to need something?
  2. What does it mean to want something?
  3. How do we decide how to use our money?
  4. How do we know what we can afford to buy?
  5. How do we know how long money will last?
  6. What happens when someone loses their job?
  7. What is value?
  8. What does priceless mean to you?
  9. Can you think of something in your life that is priceless?
  10. Where does food come from?
  11. What does it mean to recycle?
  12. What does it mean to compost?
  13. What do plants need to grow and survive?

Pre-Show Activities

Activity 1.1: Story Exploration Through Movement

Objective:

Through this activity, students will have the opportunity to work cooperatively to listen and respond to the story and to communicate feelings, ideas and stories by applying elements of dance and drama.

Materials:

• A traditional version of the Jack and the Giant Beanstalk story (You may have a version you like to use, but several different ones can also be found here: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0328jack.html)
• Music (Preferably Instrumental)
• Portable Audio System

Directions:

  1. As a class, read one of the versions of Jack and the Beanstalk.
  2. After reading the story, put on some music and have students move freely throughout the room.
  3. As the students become more comfortable moving to the music, ask them to interpret the movement of various objects and characters explored in the story:
    1. Jack
    2. Jack, when he discovers he must sell his cow
    3. The Cow
    4. The Bean Seller, when trying to convince Jack to trade his cow for the beans
    5. Jack’s Father, when he learns that Jack has traded their cow for the beans
    6. A Beanstalk, as it grows
    7. The Giant
    8. The Giant, when he finds Jack
    9. Jack, when he is discovered by the Giant
    10. The Magic Harp
    11. The Hen that lays the Golden Eggs

    Teacher Prompt: As they move, encourage students to think about elements like fast vs. slow, short vs. tall, small vs. big, movement vs. stillness, light vs. heavy, etc.

Activity 1.2: Story Exploration Through Tableaux

Directions:

  1. As a class, discuss the play and decide upon three definitive moments that designate “The Beginning”, “The Middle” and “The End” of the story.
  2. Divide the class into small groups of approximately 4 or 5 students.
  3. Building upon the first portion of this activity, have students continue to explore storytelling through physicality and movement, have each group devise one tableau for each of these three moments.
  4. Teacher Prompt: Remind students to consider the elements of movement they explored in the previous exercise, particularly how physicality can help to communicate character.
  5. Have each group present their tableaux to the rest of the class and, following each presentation, work with your students to identify the characters in each group’s set of tableaux.

Debriefing Questions:
In this activity, we practiced storytelling without any narration.

  • Was it difficult to communicate with the audience without using words?
  • What can we communicate with our bodies that we cannot communicate with words?
  • What worked well for each group?
  • What other ways of storytelling might we use?

More resources for leading student debates in your classroom: edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/socstud/frame_found_sr2/tns/tn-13.pdf
teachhub.com/classroom-activities-how-hold-classroom-debate

Activity 2: What Does a Plant Need?

Objective:

Through this activity, students will work together to apply the elements of dance and drama in order to communicate a story. They will investigate the needs of living things, as well as learn and describe the ways in which plants are grown.

Materials:

• “Sun Particles” Text (Appendix A)
• Chart Paper or a Blackboard
• Markers or Chalk

Directions:

  1. Have students spread out throughout the room.
  2. Read the “Sun Particles” passage (Appendix A) aloud and, as you read, have students, incorporating the movement skills they practiced in the previous exercise, physically express what is happening in this story.
  3. Then, divide the class into 4 groups and assign each group one of the following elements of plant growth: Seed, Sun, Soil and Rain.
  4. Have students brainstorm how their assigned element is affected by the other three (For example, if you are the Seed group, you would think about your relationship with the Sun, the Soil and the Rain.)
  5. Next, have students brainstorm how other environmental factors (such as wind, frost, drought, floods, pollution, garbage, etc.) might affect the growth of plants.
  6. Have each group share, through movement and tableaux, their findings with the rest of the class.
  7. Discuss together how each of these elements work together and are, in turn, affected by other factors.

Activity 3: Understanding the Earth’s Land Use

*This activity has been adapted from Foodshare’s Eat-In Ontario Workshop Outlines for K-12: Rotten Apple Party: http://www.foodshare.net/download/EIO/Gr1-Rotten%20Apple%20Party.pdf

Objective:

Through this activity, students will learn and describe changes or problems that cause and are the result of decreased farmland and will identify ways in which the environment, particularly the ways in which human beings use the land, can be cared for and better respected.

Materials:

• a large apple
• a sharp knife

Directions:

  1. Have students sit or stand, so that they can all see the apple.
  2. Have them imagine that this apple is the Earth.
  3. Slice the apple into 4 even pieces.
  4. Take 3 of these pieces and ask students what they think they represent. (Answer: These represent the oceans of the world.)
  5. Take the remaining quarter and ask students what they think this piece represents. (Answer: This represents the total land area on earth.)
  6. Slice this “land” quarter in half and set one piece aside. Ask students what they think this piece represents. (Answer: This is land that human beings cannot use i.e. polar areas, swamps, deserts, very high or mountainous areas.)
  7. Take the other 1/8th piece and ask students what this represents. (Answer: This is land where people live.)
  8. Slice this piece into 4 sections, so that you have 4 1/32nd pieces of apple.
  9. Take 3 of these pieces and ask students what they represent. (Answer: These are places where food cannot grow, because it is too rocky, wet, cold, steep, or because the soil is poor. They also represent land that could be used to grow food, but are instead buried beneath cities, highways, suburbs, shopping malls and other human-made structures.)
  10. Take the remaining 1/32nd slice of apple and carefully peel it. Ask students what this small bit of peel represents. (Answer: It represents the surface of the earth where we grow our food.)

Debriefing Questions:

• Is the amount of land on which we can grow food increasing or decreasing? What might be some reasons for this change?
• What is biodiversity?
• What are pesticides? Is there anything wrong with using them? What are some alternatives to pesticides?
• What does it mean to grow something that is organic?

Activity 4: Let’s Recycle!

Objective:

Through this activity, students will work cooperatively to identify ways in which they can care for and respect the environment and will apply the elements and conventions of visual art in order to communicate their understanding.

Materials:

• Recycled Materials (that students will bring in from home)
• Other Art-Making Materials, As Needed

Directions:

  1. In the weeks prior to the performance, have students bring in materials from home that can be used again to create something new.
  2. As a class, explore the structure and appearance of a bean plant.
  3. Have students consider what an artistic rendition of a giant beanstalk might look like and brainstorm possible ways to represent it on a large scale.
  4. Have students work together to build a beanstalk using the materials they have accumulated.Teacher Prompt: Students may choose to incorporate and present the strategies they have learned for environmental responsibility as part of their artistic creation.

Debriefing Questions:

• In Canada, we have three waste reduction strategies: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
• What does it mean to reduce?
• What does it mean to reuse?
• What does it mean to recycle?
• Why do they appear in this order?

Pre-Show Culminating Activity: Bean Plants

Objective:

Through this activity, students will apply the elements and conventions of language and visual art in order to communicate what they have learned about bean plant growth.

Materials:

• Bean Plant Growth (Appendix B), cut out
• Recycled Materials (that students will bring in from home)
• Markers or Crayons
• Other Art-Making Materials, As Needed

Directions:

• Cut out the six steps for Bean Plant Growth
(Appendix B). Before sharing this with your students, make sure the steps are out of order.
• Then, as a class, talk about each step and discern the appropriate order together.
• Then, discuss the following:
1. What does a plant need to grow?
2. What is the job of the roots of a plant?
3. Why do flowers bloom on plants?
• Have students represent the growth of a bean plant by creating a work of art using recycled and other art-making materials.

Teacher Prompt: Have students bring their creations in with them when you come to the performance. We would love to put them on display here at YPT!

Post-Show Discussion Questions

Ask students:

  1. Why is Jack’s father’s farm failing?
  2. What did Jack have to sacrifice in order to earn money to feed his family?
  3. What do you have that would be the hardest to sacrifice?
  4. How did Jack’s life change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story?
  5. What do humans do that can hurt the environment?
  6. What can we do at school to help the environment?

Post-Show Activities

Post-Show Activity 1: Reflection

Objective:

Through this activity, students will practice active listening skills and will use written and oral language to respond to and reflect on their theatrical experience.

Materials:

• Reflection Template (Appendix C)
• Writing Utensils

Directions

  1. Have students reflect on their experience of the play by filling in the template.
  2. Have students share their reflections as a whole class.
    Teacher Prompt: This activity may also be done exclusively as a whole class discussion.

Post-Show Activity 2: Body Biography

Objective:

Through this activity, students will interact cooperatively with others in order to communicate their feelings, ideas and understandings about the theatrical performance, particularly the aspect of characterization. Students will use language, as well as the elements and conventions of drama and visual art in order to respond.

Materials:

• Chart Paper
• Markers or Crayons

Directions:

  • Divide the class into groups of 4. Working in these groups, have students make an outline for each of the following characters:
    1. Jack
    2. The Gardener
    3. The Giant
    4. Jack’s Dad
    5. Squirm

Teacher Prompt: A fun way to create these templates is to have a student lie down on the chart paper and have another student trace the outline of their body.

  • Using the following instructions, have students fill in the bodies of their characters:
    1. Mind: Write/draw things this character wants to do in the future; their dreams.
    2. Heart: Write/draw what or who this character loves.
    3. Left Leg: Write/draw an activity that this character loves to do.
    4. Right Leg: Write/draw a place you want to go.
    5. Left Arm: Write a word that this character would use to describe him or herself.
    6. Right Arm: Write a word that other people would use to describe this character.

Extension:

Have students create their own personal body biographies like the ones they made for each character. Working in pairs, have students trace one another and come up with their own ideas about words and images to describe themselves.

Post-Show Activity 3: Money, Money, Money

Objective:

Through this activity, students will work together and use the elements and conventions of drama and music in order to listen to, interpret and dramatize a poem.

Materials:

• “Money, Money, Money” Poem (Appendix D)
• Chart Paper
• Markers or Crayons

Directions:

  1. Divide students into 6 groups.
  2. Have each group learn and present one stanza of the poem, “Money, Money, Money” (Appendix D).
  3. Their presentation should include movement, tableaux and narration.
  4. Have each group present their stanza.
  5. Sequentially, the class can then perform the poem in its entirety.
  6. Next, working in the same groups, assign each a different type of currency: Penny, Nickel, Dime, Quarter, Dollar, Toonie).
  7. In their groups, have students brainstorm every-thing they know about their assigned coin.
  8. Then, have them devise a poem that communicates their knowledge of their particular coin and create a presentation around it that, again, includes movement, tableaux and narration.

Extension:

Have the class portray math problems using their amounts. For example, the teacher can call out “1 dollar minus 1 quarter” or “3 dollars minus 16 cents” and students will portray the equation physically and then, as a class, figure out and represent the answer.

Post-Show Culminating Activity: Prioritizing and Discerning Value

Activity 1.1: Needs Vs. Wants

Objective:

Through this activity, students will work cooperatively to reflect on their understanding of their own needs and priorities, in order to discern the basic needs of all human beings. Students will communicate what they have learned using language and by applying the elements and conventions of visual art.

Materials:

• Needs and Wants (Appendix E), Cut Out (with enough copies so that every pair of students can share one list)
• Blank Paper
• Markers or Crayons

Directions:

  1. Organize students into pairs.
  2. Have each pair of students organize their words into one of two categories: “Needs” or “Wants”.
  3. Then, work through this process together as a whole class.

Debriefing Questions:

  • Were there any words that some students placed in the “Wants” category that others placed in the “Needs” category? If so, why might this be?
  • Were there any words that everyone agreed to be something we need?
    If so, why might this be?

Culminating Activity 1.2: Pricelessness

Jack: Priceless?
Gardener: Yes, priceless. Worth more than all the money in the whole universe!

Directions:

  • Have each student draw a picture of their favourite thing in the whole world, something they would never sell in a million years.
  • Have students explain their priceless possession. Encourage students to think about the following in their explanation:
    – When did they acquire it?
    – Was it a gift?
    – Is it something they can share with others?
    Building upon what you discussed in the previous activity, is your priceless possession a “need” or a “want”?

Sources

Ashliman, D. L. (Ed.) (2010). Jack and the Beanstalk: Eight versions of an English fairy tale. Retrieved from http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0328jack.html

Goudie, M. Teaching Money in the Classroom. “Money Poems.” Retrieved from http://www.marcias-lesson-links.com/money.html

Darroch-Meekis, L. (2011). How to Do a Coin Rubbing on Paper. Retrieved from http://www.ehow.com/how_4481075_do-coin-rubbing-paper.html#ixzz1Y20Z683F

Environment Canada. (2006). Waste. Retrieved from http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/community/classroom/93/waste-e.pdf

Evergreen Brickworks. (2011). Kids & Families. Retrieved from http://ebw.evergreen.ca/whats-on/kids-families/

Fitzgerald, H., Howell, T., Pontisso, R. (Eds.) (2006). Paperback Oxford Canadian dictionary (2nd ed.). Toronto: Oxford University Press Canada.

Foodshare. (3 September 2010). Eat-In Ontario Workshop Outlines for K-12: Rotten Apple Party. Retrieved from http://www.foodshare.net/download/EIO/Gr1-R Rotten%20Apple%20Party.pdf

Kawas, T. (2010). Money Activities and Strategies. Retrieved from http://www.mathwire.com/money/money.html

Ministry of Education. (2004). The Ontario Curriculum: Social Studies, Grades 1 to 6; Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/sstudies18curr.pdf

Ministry of Education and Training. (2009). The Ontario Curriculum: The Arts, Grades 1 to 8. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/arts18b09curr.pdf

Ministry of Education. (2011). The Ontario Curriculum: Environmental Education, Scope and Sequence of Expectations, Grades 1 to 8 and Kindergarten Programs. Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/elementary/environ18curr.pdf

Ontario EcoSchools: Celebrating EcoSchools. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.ontarioecoschools.org/curriculum_resources/downloads/Celeb_EcoSch_Lesson_3_Gr_1,2,3,7.pdf

Wonder Woman: Red Wiggler Merchant. (2011). Amazing and Weird Worm Facts. Retrieved from https://wonderworman.com/all-about-red-wiggler-worms/

Resources

Ecospark
http://ecospark.ca/
This organization works with communities and schools to equip them with the knowledge and tools to analyze, understand and monitor their environment and to take action in order to affect positive change. Ecospark offers workshops, including practical sessions for both teachers and students about energy conservation.

GreenHeart Education
http://www.greenhearted.org/index.html
This website provides a variety of information and resources about how to integrate environmental education and practices into your classroom. This organization includes a large section on the benefit of school gardens, with step-by-step instructions on how to start one in your own community.

Green Thumbs Growing Kids
https://greenthumbsto.org/
Through school community gardening programs and workshops, this organization teaches urban youth how to grow and prepare food in an environmentally sustainable manner. This website also provides a variety of lesson plans and resources for teachers.

Ontario EcoSchools
https://ecoschools.ca/
EcoSchools is a program for school communities to develop environmental awareness and practices. This website provides teachers with information on how to undertake this initiative with their students as well as additional environmental education curriculum resources and ideas.

Toronto Botanical Garden
http://www.torontobotanicalgarden.ca/children/teach-inggarden.html
The TBG offers workshops and programming for children and young people to discover nature and how plants grow in outdoor garden spaces.

Appendices

Appendix A: “Sun Particles”

Curl into a ball and imagine that you are a tiny seed buried in the rich soil. The energy from the sun is stored inside your skin and nourishes you as you begin to slowly grow. Soon, you burst open and your roots grow downward, sucking in particles of sunlight, energy, and water that have waited hundreds of years for you. Your grasses grow tall as they use the sun’s energy to make food out of water and air.

A bug crawls through your grassy top, nibbling on the green blades. Now the bug has absorbed the particles of sunlight, so you have become the bug. You crawl high on a blade of grass. A sudden burst of wind shakes the grass and you lose your grip and splash! You have fallen into a stream. Under the water, a fish notices the rippling surface and snap! A big fish has eaten you.

Now, because the fish has eaten the bug, the fish has absorbed the particles of sunlight and you have become the fish. You swim quickly along the shore, gliding through the water. The water runs along your smooth, shiny scales.

Wading along the water’s edge is a bear. He slaps his huge paw into the water and scoops you out. You land on the ground, gasping for air. Then, gulp! The bear has swallowed you whole. Now you have become the bear. You slowly meander through the forest. Your thick fur coat keeps you warm from the wind. Still hungry, you search for food.

Quietly creeping through the woods is a hunter. The hunter follows you, silently sets an arrow in their bow and lets it fly. You are hit by the arrow. The hunter has killed you. The hunter uses the bear meat to make a stew. The stew smells rich and salty. Steam rises from the pot. Now, eating the stew, you become the hunter. The particles of sunlight from the tiny seed are a part of you.

Where will they go from here?

Adapted from
http://www.ontarioecoschools.org/curriculum_resources/downloads/Celeb_EcoSch_Lesson_3_Gr_1,2,3,7.pdf (p. 23)

Appendix B: Bean Plant Growth

Download.

Appendix C: Reflection Template

Download.

Appendix D: Money, Money, Money

5 pennies make a nickel
2 nickels make a dime
2 dimes and a nickel
make a quarter every time.

4 quarters make a dollar
and that is quite a lot.
One dollar in my pocket
is exactly what I’ve got.

Penny, penny,
Easily spent
Copper brown
and worth one cent.

Nickel, nickel,
Thick and fat,
You’re worth five cents.
I know that.

Dime, dime,
Little and thin,
I remember,
You’re worth ten.

Quarter, quarter
Big and bold,
You’re worth twenty-five
I’m told!

Retrieved from http://www.marcias-lesson-links.com/money.html

Appendix E: Needs or Wants?

Download.