Bears and Buddies

Today we had a visit from Janet from the North Shore Black Bear Society.  She taught us all about what bears eat and how we can protect ourselves from bears and how we can keep bears safe from humans.

She explained to us that baby bears, when they are first born, weigh only one pound and are about the size of an apple.

They like to eat dandelions….

some insects….

the bulbs at the base of skunk cabbage….

berries (and they use their flexible lips to take the berries off the branches)….

and fish (they especially love the brain and the eggs).  Bears will often leave the rest of the fish on the forest floor, which feeds other animals and insects and, as the fish decays, feeds the trees in the forest.

Here is a healthy picnic for a bear.

Then Janet told us about the ways that humans attract bears (which is not good for bears or for humans!).  Leaving garbage outside attracts bears to places where people and cars are.

This caused some giggles….diapers in the garbage attract bears too.

Bird seed in bird feeders attracts bears to people's homes and yards.

Food scraps in our green bins attract bears.

Then we sang a song and learned what to do if we encounter a bear in the forest.  Ask your child if he/she can tell you what to do if he/she meets a bear.

This afternoon, we got together with our buddy class (Mrs. Mitchell's Grade 3s) and worked together on a springtime blossom project.  Mrs. Haxton (the teacher candidate working with Mrs. Mitchell) and Miss Maria taught the lesson.  Then we separated into two groups, one stayed here and the other group went to Mrs. Mitchell's room.  Once again, I was only able to take photos of the kids that stayed here in our classroom…..

We love spending time with our buddies!

Tomorrow, we have km Club at 9:00am (rain or shine).