Don't Feed the Neigh-BEAR-hood!

As mentioned in an earlier post in January, my class is planning a community service learning project. They have chosen to advocate for Florida Black Bears.

 

Early in the bear project planning stages, the students decided they wanted to make garbage can stickers to remind people not to feed bears. I researched cost of producing stickers. In order to do that I had to play around with some sticker ideas on the internet. In the mean time a parent informed me she has a machine that makes vinyl stickers. She took a PDF I had made and produced a sticker prototype. Here she is demonstrating putting the sticker on our classroom garbage can. The first thing the children realized was that the sticker was the same color as our large classroom garbage can, so we quickly grabbed a different colored trashcan for the demonstration. Hmmm! something we need to keep in mind for final sticker production. I should mention, the children will design the final garbage can sticker. Which we will be calling a, "garbage can tattoo." During the sticker demonstration, one of my students said, "Look, Ms. Gossett the trashcan has a tattoo!"

 

 

While our class brainstormed bear slogans, this student jotted this slogan in his science  notebook:

Don't Feed the Neigh-BEAR-hood!

The class loved it! So this will be our bear slogan.

 

Here the students are adding their brainstorming ideas to the class "Beary Good Ideas" bear chart.

 

 

 

This student's parent helped us get a large map of our community, so we can plot bear sightings.

This student thought the class Bear Campaign needed a mission statement.

Here's what the students came up with:

We the Neigh-BEAR-hood Watch Kids will protect Florida Black Bears. We will inform others not to feed bears. We will teach people what to do if they see a bear.

 

Our Project Time Line

The students are making t-shirts to wear during events. Each student learned how to use a stencil.

So serious.

 

Here is a completed shirt.

Upcoming Events:

On March 6th a bear biologist is coming to our classroom to teach us about Florida Black Bears. Check this story out:
Biologist Shares Experience of Tracking a Black Bear- Explorer's Journal
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On March 7th we are taking a field trip to Hardee County Wildlife Refuge in Zolfo Springs.


The students' first event will be held on March 27th at Cracker Trail Elementary's Annual PTO Hoedown, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. Come on down to the Neigh-BEAR-hood Watch Kids booth to learn about Florida Black bears and decorate a cupcake to look like a bear.