Looking for a 10+ year old book about a stuffed bear in a classroom cave
August 22, 2013 12:15 PM Subscribe
Years ago I picked up a book at random that I thought had "Creative Education" or "Classroom" in the title, but every search I've done comes up empty. It's written by a teacher that used a stuffed bear that lived in a cave in the corner of an elementary classroom. I also recall a chapter on a 'Mr. Pen'. I'd like to find it again.
The stories stayed with me because it was very entertaining, and a style of what I call "stealth teaching". The cave was set up in a corner of the classroom, and when the children asked what was there, the teacher simply said, "Bear lives there". The kids grew more curious and with each passing week, the children got to be very enthused about teaching Bear how to read, how to write, how to behave, etc. It got to the point that kids who wouldn't talk about their day at school would natter on about Bear, so parents learned to ask, "What did Bear do today?"
There was a shorter chapter that dealt with "Mr. Pen", but I don't remember much about it except on point where the children realized that if he ran out of ink, "Mr. Pen" would die.
I should also note that this took place in the UK, and I'm in the US. I know we've got it here in stacks, but even cruising whole sections, I haven't come across it. Thanks, Hivemind!
The stories stayed with me because it was very entertaining, and a style of what I call "stealth teaching". The cave was set up in a corner of the classroom, and when the children asked what was there, the teacher simply said, "Bear lives there". The kids grew more curious and with each passing week, the children got to be very enthused about teaching Bear how to read, how to write, how to behave, etc. It got to the point that kids who wouldn't talk about their day at school would natter on about Bear, so parents learned to ask, "What did Bear do today?"
There was a shorter chapter that dealt with "Mr. Pen", but I don't remember much about it except on point where the children realized that if he ran out of ink, "Mr. Pen" would die.
I should also note that this took place in the UK, and I'm in the US. I know we've got it here in stacks, but even cruising whole sections, I haven't come across it. Thanks, Hivemind!
Response by poster: Exactly it! "Fantasy" was the word I was missing. Thanks!
posted by lysdexic at 5:35 AM on August 26, 2013
posted by lysdexic at 5:35 AM on August 26, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dlugoczaj at 12:22 PM on August 22, 2013 [4 favorites]