Goldilocks and the Three Bears
While looking for bear ideas, I stumbled upon First-School’s page with all sorts of ideas for “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” Ian LOVES this story, so I decided to take a break from Before Five in a Row to do our own literature unit. We read the story from two different sources, both treasures from our used bookstore visits. It’s in the first volume of the Childcraft books, and we also love the version in this book. It’s older, but the illustrations have so many details, like Goldilocks losing her locket and one shoe, which almost create a story within the story that is never mentioned in the text. I realize I am rather traditional, but even I was surprised by how many versions of the story are out there (and how many I didn’t like). There are some key features I looked for in choosing a book:
- characters: the 3 bears = a dad, a mom, and a baby (I found a few “creative” versions that changed this.)
- sequencing/comparison: hot, cold, just right; big, small, just right; hard, soft, just right (It actually drove me crazy how many people messed with this!)
- Just my personal preference, but I prefer more classic looking illustrations as opposed to anything too cartoonish.
As I said before, I found some good ideas at First-School’s page on the story, but we actually didn’t end up getting to all the ones I’d prepared. No worries. I’m sure we’ll spend time on this story again in the future, and maybe we’ll get to them then. I printed out and laminated some pattern strips, sequencing cards (small, medium, or large–also a good sorting activity for Elijah making piles of beds, chairs, and bowls), and a 4-piece puzzle (which Ian really liked, to my surprise, since he’s never shown much interest in puzzles). On another site I found masks of Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear. The boys really like masks, though they were more interested in running around the house growling through them than retelling the story. (I never could get them to stand still long enough for a picture!)
To incorporate some nature study we took a morning walk like the bears and enjoyed a woodsy park near our house. I really want to start spending more time outdoors now that it’s cooling down. (I despise being outside when it’s too hot.) 
We don’t have terribly defined seasons here, but there are plenty of things to appreciate in the coming months, so I downloaded the Fall Nature Study from Five in a Row. (Not all of it will be appropriate for preschoolers, but we can get ideas from it year after year and I needed some inspiration.) One of my goals is to start a very basic “nature journal” with Ian. So on our walk we collected things for nature collages and had lots of fun assembling them once we got home. I just used clear contact paper. (My original intent was to make a “turkey” to help us decorate through Thanksgiving, but I couldn’t quite figure out how to do the body so it’s a little abstract.) Both boys really enjoyed playing with all the leaves, feathers, and flowers we found.
And finally, as a little something different, we watched the first six Salsa Spanish videos from Georgia Public Broadcasting. The first is the story of the three bears, and in the next five Goldilocks returns to make amends in various ways. They are pretty much completely in Spanish, but don’t let that turn you off if you don’t speak the language! They’ve actually been favorites of Ian’s since right around his third birthday. I speak VERY little Spanish myself, but I hope to include it in our homeschool curriculum. For now, that just means the occasional Salsa video. The vocabulary is simple and repetitive without being boring. Here’s a complete list of episodes (with links to the videos). (If you’re interested in doing the program, there are additional resources available for teachers of Kindergarten through 2nd grade.)
Although it’s an old classic, I had never heard of 
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