Dell Yearling, 1958

Summary: The Browns discover a small bear on the platform of a railway station in London, England. "Paddington" has emigrated from darkest Peru and obviously needs to be cared for. The Browns find that a bear in the family leads to many amusing and sometimes troublesome situations! A children's classic.

Level: Grades 2-6

Themes: humor

Activities:

a. Estimate the distance from Lima, Peru to London, England. [Use and atlas or globe.]

1b. How long would it take to travel from Peru to England [Use an almanac]:

• by sailboat through the Panama Canal?
• by ocean liner?
• by airplane (Boeing 747 or DC 10 or Concorde)?

- Which method of transportation would you choose if you were a stowaway to a distant land? Explain. Where would you go? Write about your adventure. Make it humorous.

2. When Paddington arrived from Peru, his fur was "brown in colour, a rather dirty brown". [Page 9] Then he had a bath and it became " really quite light in colour...standing out like a new brush, except that it was soft and silky". [Pages 34, 35.] Design a chart or a database to list the bears of the world, together with the color of their fur and where they live, and other information you think is important. Using library books, encyclopedias, Children's Magazine Index for relevant magazines, and an information file or vertical file, fill in your chart. Complete a bibliography of the references you used, and file it in the information file with your chart.

3. Paddington has an adventure on the London Underground. Using maps of London in the library map collection or a book about London, choose one of the subway lines which go through Paddington Station:

• Bakerloo Line ++++++++
• Circle Line °°°°°°
• District Line VVVVVVVVVVV
• City Line (Hammersmith & City) --------

- Draw a large, simple map marking the stops. Find out about some places above ground near the stations that a tourist might visit.

- Design brief pamphlets containing interesting information about the different tourist attractions and/or make small models of the attractions and put them along the subway line in the appropriate places.

4. On the shopping expedition to get a new outfit for Paddington, Mrs. Brown looks for a plastic raincoat or mackintosh for Paddington. [The British sometimes use different words for things.] Find someone in your community who has lived in England. Ask them to help you make a list of British words and a list of American words which mean the same thing.

- Make two packs of word cards, so that your fellow students can play a game of matching pairs. Design a rule card.

5. At a painting competition, Paddington unexpectedly wins a prize. Compare this story with Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman and Ida Makes a Movie by Kay Chorao. Make a chart based on the 3 stories:

• Who did the work?
• What was the work?
• Where was the work displayed?
• What was the prize?

- Discuss your chart with your teacher or your librarian.

- If there was a contest for YOU to enter next month, what would you exhibit? Write and illustrate a story about your imaginary competition. Remember to sketch the prize.

6. Mr. Gruber and Paddington discuss coins....Peruvian centavos and gold sovereigns. [Pages 69-71] To learn the value of money from Peru, look in the business section of your local city paper. Find the column on "Foreign Exchange". Ask an adult to explain the values to you. By using an almanac, can you discover the name of the currency used in Peru today? What is it?

- Learn the price of gold on today's market by looking for the column on "Precious Metals". A troy ounce of gold is worth how many dollars this month?

- Discover how you can start a coin collection. Read about the hobby, talk to a collector, or visit a local coin dealer. [Look in the yellow pages of the phone book.] Write a how-to for other students to use.

7. When the Brown Family visited the theater, Paddington went backstage to meet the star of the show. Choose an event in a chapter of a Paddington Bear book and plan to act it out. Make Paddington the star. Use puppets or real people. Plan the scenes. List and obtain the props. Design the scenery if needed. Use a word processor to write the dialog, and print out copies for the members of the cast. Make arrangements to use a stage or puppet theatre, whatever your production needs. Practice, and then perform for an audience, perhaps your class, grade, or kindergarten. Record your performance on video, and circulate the tape from the school library media center.

8. Paddington met two photographers at the beach. You can take his picture, too. Obtain a stuffed Paddington Bear and a camera and film.

- Read a book on tips for good picture taking, such as Taking Pictures by Nina Leen. For further suggestions, read Simple Pictures are Best by Nancy Willard. Also, look at black and white photographs in books by Ylla and by Dare Wright.

- Plan a series of photographs of Paddington Bear to tell a story. Use a storyboard for planning. When the pictures are taken and developed, arrange them in a logical sequence and type a caption for each picture on the word processor. Place in a photo album and circulate from the school library.

9. 0ne of Paddington's birthday presents was a conjuring outfit. Find some magic trick books in the library. Choose two or three tricks to practice and put on a magic show with your friends. Consult Give a Magic Show by Burton Marks for additional help. Paddington had trouble with his tricks. Write out what you will do if your tricks don't work at the show. If your performance is good enough, arrange to have it added to the Paddington videotape. [7]

10. Locate some recordings of Paddington, such as those by Caedmon which are read by the author, Michael Bond. Choose one of the 12 stories and match it with the same chapter in a Paddington book. Listen and compare.

Do the spoken words match the written words? Explain.
Do you like the reader's style? Why?
Do you prefer to hear the story read to you or do you prefer to read it yourself? Explain.

11. View one of Paddington's adventures on videotape or filmstrip. Compare this adventure with the written one.

- Now watch this film section several times WITHOUT the sound. Develop a separate script for this segment. Record it separately on a tape recorder or read it concurrently with the film section you chose. Have your listeners write a review of your work. Take the best suggestions from these reviews and change your script and/or your performance for the better.

Resource samples have been included within the text above.

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Prepared by V. Kathleen Gooding, Houlton Elementary School

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