Bear & Duck are Friends: Foundation English and HPE 

Authors/illustrators: Sue deGennaro

Publisher: Little Hare

Unit writer: Sophie Honeybourne

 Download and print this unit: AC Version |  NSW Version |  VIC Version

Synopsis: Bear and Duck are the very best of friends, but they feel very differently about taking risks. When Duck invites Bear to join his dance class Bear is at first enthusiastic…then nervous…then sad that dancing is just too hard. Just when Bear is about to give up, Duck steps in to help him in the way that only a good friend can.

Themes: Friendship, identity, personal strengths, resilience, learning, risk-taking

Capabilities: Personal and social

Cross-curriculum links: Health and PE 

Why PETAA chose this book for a curriculum unit: Bear & Duck are Friends is a simple yet beautifully written picture book which could be used to support students to develop early literacy concepts and explore their emotional reactions to situations that might worry or overwhelm them. Through Bear and Duck’s verbal and visual interactions, students can begin to explore how authors and illustrators build characters in narratives through image, narration and dialogue. The simple plotline supports students to identify the problem and resolution in a story, which enables them to begin to create their own narrative plots. 

Students can also explore their own personal responses to the text and reflect on situations where they have felt worried or anxious, suggesting strategies that can be used to name, explore and overcome these feelings.

English concepts: Narrative, Character

Overarching questions:

1. What is a character and how do authors develop characters in a narrative?
2. How do authors use characters to explore a problem in a narrative?
3. How can stories help us to understand our own feelings and overcome challenges?

Rich assessment task: Students create a visual/oral or written narrative about a character who ‘stepped outside their comfort zone’ to do something that scared them. They will develop two simple characters, orientate their reader, introduce and develop a problem and resolve the problem in the end.

Learning intention: A character is a fictional person that is created by an author to help tell a story 

Exploration

Ask students to think about a cartoon, movie or picture book they have seen/read recently that told a story. Using Think-Pair-Share, ask students to discuss what their story was about and who was the main person in the story.

Key questions:
• What happened in your story?
• Who was in your story? Who was the most important person? (explain that we can call the people in a story the characters).
• What was the character’s problem in your story?
• How did they fix the problem?

Evidence of Learning

Students:
• interact with others to discuss narrative features of a simple story
• identify and describe characters in a narrative text
• create a short visual and/or written text to sequence events in a narrative
• use images to retell a narrative

Learning intention: Authors can use pictures and words to develop characters

Exploration

Before reading the full text, show students the first two pages with the words blanked out on the screen, or covered up by post-it notes. Students should describe what they see in the images. After discussion, reveal the text and read it aloud. 

Key questions:
• What can you see in the illustration? 
• Who are the characters and what do you think their names are? How can we guess their names from the picture?
• Where are these characters? (explain that ‘where’ in a story describes the setting).
• Look at the characters’ eyes in each picture. Where is each character looking? What are the expressions on their faces? What does this tell us about what they think about each other?
• What are the characters doing together? What do these actions tell us about the characters?
• What do these characters think and feel about each other?
• (After revealing the words) What does the first sentence tell us?
• What does it mean to be ‘the best of friends’? How is this different to being just friends?

Response

Students should create an illustration that shows ‘the best of friends’. They should develop two characters, a setting and decide on their character’s actions in their picture. They can either copy the sentence ‘The best of friends’ or write their own sentence (optional extension: ___ and ___ are the best of friends because ___ ).

Guiding questions:
• Who are your two characters going to be in your image? 
• What are they called and what do they look like?
• Where are your characters going to be? (setting)
• What are your characters going to be doing? 
• What do these characters think and feel about each other?
• How are you going to show what they think and feel about each other in your picture (HINT: think about where they are looking and how you can show they are friends by what they are doing).

Evidence of learning

Students:
• interpret illustrations to infer characters’ relationships
• create a visual and/or written text to represent a friendship between two characters

Learning intention: Describing words can be used to tell us about a character’s personality and feelings

Exploration

Read Where is the Green Sheep by Mem Fox. Identify some of the different words used to the describe the sheep. Identify which two sheep are named after their personalities (scared sheep and brave sheep). [If you don’t have access to the book you can use this video of Mem Fox reading the book aloud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4yQQGn0I-A&t=24s]

Play a game of emotions ‘Simon Says’ as a warm-up (e.g. Simon says look … happy; confused; worried etc), then place students in small groups to develop freeze-frames that communicate key emotions such as happy, sad, scared, nervous, overjoyed etc. Jointly build a word bank of emotional describing words (adjectives) on the board as the game is played. Look at the words ‘enthusiastic’ and ‘cautious’ on pages 3 and 4 of Bear and Duck are friends and describe what they tell us about the two characters. Add these words to the word bank. Then repeat with ‘inspired’ and ‘tired’ on pages 5 and 6.

Key questions:
• What does the word enthusiastic mean? What does this tell us about the character of Duck?
• What do you think the word cautious means? What does it mean if you are cautious? What might you think or feel when doing a new thing if you are cautious?

Response

Students draw an ‘emotion’ sheep and write a sentence to describe the type of sheep it is (e.g. This is a silly sheep; this is a happy sheep; this is a confused sheep).

Guiding questions:
• What is your sheep’s personality (e.g. happy, brave, silly, proud, confused)?
• What expression will you draw on the sheep’s face to show this personality?
• What will the sheep be doing to show your chosen personality?
• Where is your word in the word bank to help you write it?

Evidence of learning

Students:

• use facial features and body language to dramatically represent a human emotion
• contribute to the joint creation of an adjective word bank
• create an image that communicates information about a character’s personality
• write or dictate a short sentence that includes an adjective to describe a character

Learning intention: Character describing words can be used to learn phonemes, graphemes, and morphology

Exploration

Recap the list of emotional describing words developed in the last activity. Continue reading Bear and Duck are friends and recording suitable adjectives (e.g. delighted, terrified, magnificent). 

Review the list and see if there are any common phonemes students can hear (e.g. the long i sound features in tired, inspired, delighted and terrified). Map all phonemes in the chosen words (this word mapping tool might help) and identify one common phoneme (e.g. long ‘i’). Generate further words that use the same identified phonemes (they don’t have to be adjectives). Depending on students’ age and background knowledge, the emotion adjectives could also be used for a morphology study of ‘-ed’ words. Support students to learn the base form of the verb (e.g. tire, inspire, terrify) then discuss how it is turned into an adjective by adding ‘-d’ or ‘-ed’.

Key questions:
• Which letter makes the long i vowel sound in tired? 
• Can you see any other words in our list that have the same long i sound?
• Can you think of other words that have the long i sound in the middle of the word?
• Can you see that many of the words in our list end with (‘-ed’)?
• Can you think of other words that end in ‘-ed’?
• How can we find the base word that the ‘-ed’ ending is added to? Which spelling rules apply here?

Response

Students could either use playdough, pipe cleaners, or draw and cut out texta on paper, to make the focus grapheme linked to the phoneme (e.g. they would make the ‘i’ linked to the long ‘i’ phoneme). Place the playdough grapheme/letter on a whiteboard and then write words around it (e.g. the ‘i’ in tired would be in playdough and the other letters would be written in whiteboard marker).

• What letter makes the long ‘i’ sound?
• How can we make this letter using playdough or pipe cleaners?
• Look at the list of emotion describing words we have written on the board. Which ones also have the long ‘i’ sound in them? Can you make one of these words using your special ‘i’ on your whiteboard?

Evidence of learning

Students:
• accurately pronounce vowel phonemes 
• identify the corresponding graphemes to long vowel phonemes

Learning intention: Characters can be used to introduce a problem in narratives

Exploration

Re-read pages 7-10 and ask students to identify the problem that has been introduced to the story (Duck is going to take Bear along to a dance class, but Bear is afraid). Re-read pages 11-15 and ask students to identify how the problem gets worse for Bear (he can’t keep up with the others and keeps falling over).

Key questions:
• Why do you think that Bear started off delighted but was then terrified?
• What does Bear tell Duck that he is worried about?
• How does Duck make Bear feel better?
• How does Bear’s problem get worse when he is at the dance class?
• Why does Bear really stand out at the dance class (HINT: who do ALL the other characters look like?).
• What are all other ducks doing in the illustrations on page 13-14, and what is Bear doing? What information does this tell the reader?

Response

Students begin creating their own story about two friends (this will contribute towards the rich assessment task). Students should name and draw their two characters and write emotion describing words (adjectives) around them, then write a draft sentence to introduce them. 

Next, students think about a problem that one of their characters will face. The problem must relate to one character being scared or worried about doing something (e.g. swimming in the deep end of the pool, going outside in the dark etc). Students should write (or dictate) at least one sentence about their chosen problem.

• Who are your two characters? Are they people or animals? What are their names?
• What do your two characters look like? How can you make them interesting for your reader (e.g. Bear and Duck are quite different animals and personalities).
• How could you introduce your two characters in a sentence (e.g. Billy and Jada are best friends).
• What are your two characters like? What are their personalities? What emotion describing words could you use for each character?
• What problem could one character face? How could you draw this problem?
• How could you introduce this problem in a sentence (e.g. Billy loves surfing but Jada is scared of the waves)?

Evidence of learning

Students:

• use illustrations to make inferences about a character
• identify the problem in a narrative
• create simple characters
• develop a problem in a narrative plot
• create sentences to tell a simple story

Learning intention: Authors can use the relationship between characters to help solve problems in a narrative

Exploration

Re-read pages 16-18 and ask students to identify how Duck helps Bear to solve his problem. Record the steps that Duck takes to help Bear (e.g. close his eyes, move with the music, relax, dance enthusiastically). Reflect why this was a successful way to solve the problem.

Key questions:
• Why do you think Bear listened to Duck and closed his eyes?
• Why did having his eyes closed help Bear?
• What did Bear realise after a while?
• How do you think Bear felt once he realised he could dance in his own way?
• How do we know what Bear was thinking and feeling from the illustrations?

Response

Students continue creating their own story about two friends. They should have already created characters and identified a problem. In pairs, prompt students to come up with lots of different ways that one friend could help the other friend solve their problem. Students then draw the solution to the problem and write at least one accompanying sentence.

Guiding questions:
• Can you come up with at least 5 different ways that one of your characters can help the other to solve the problem you have identified?
• Which is the most interesting solution to your problem? How could you draw this solution as an illustration in your own story?
• What sentence could you write to describe how one character has helped another to solve their problem?

Evidence of learning

Students:
• use illustrations to make inferences about a character
• identify the resolution in a narrative
• develop a resolution in a narrative
• create sentences to tell a simple story

Learning intention: Stories can be used to help people explore their own feelings in real life

Exploration

Point out that Bear was scared of going to a dance class. Take a class poll to see who would be scared to do the same thing and who would not. Ask the class to suggest some activities that they might be worried about or feel scared about. Play a game of ‘Would you Rather’ to compare some of the suggested worrying or scary activities (e.g. Would you rather give a speech to the whole school or swim in the deep end of the big swimming pool?). Discuss the fact that everyone is different, and some people can be frightened of something that others are not.

Recap how Duck helped Bear to overcome his fears and what happened when he had to do another new thing (going to swimming class). Use the final three pages of the story (the swimming lesson) to explain the concept of a coda (an epilogue that provides a conclusion to the narrative, and that often helps communicate a moral message).

Key questions:
• What can we learn about other people’s feelings when we play a game like ‘Would you Rather?’
• Choose one activity from the list the class created. What emotions would you feel if you had to do this activity?
• What did Bear learn about himself after the dance class?
• Why do you think Bear felt different when Duck asked him to go to a swimming class? 
• What do you think the coda (or moral message) is in this story?

Response

Students should finish creating their own story about two friends. In this section, they need to develop a simple coda about what their character learned. Prompt students to create a picture that shows what the character learned and write at least one matching sentence.

Guiding questions:
• What did your character learn about themselves when they solved their problem?
• How can they take what they have learned about themselves and apply it to a different activity that might scare them? 
• What might they think, do or say to help them feel better when doing this new activity?
• What sentence could you write to describe what your character has learned about themselves?

Evidence of learning

Students:
• describe similarities and differences between themselves and others
• identify the coda in a narrative
• develop a coda in a narrative
• create illustrations and sentences to finish a simple story

Learning intention: Being out of your personal ‘comfort zone’ is challenging but can lead to personal growth

Exploration

Recap some of the activities that students might have found worrying or scary. Explain that being out of your ‘comfort zone’ means that you are doing new or unknown things that might make you feel scared or worried. Students think-pair-share one real life activity that made them feel out of their comfort zone, and then what they did in that situation to help control their worries or fears. Identify what they learned about themselves after completing the activity.

Guiding questions:
• What have you done that made you feel like you were out of your comfort zone?
• What was happening in your body to tell you that you felt uncomfortable (e.g. heart beating fast, tummy feeling squirmy, legs or whole body starts shaking)?
• What was your mind telling you about the activity (e.g. this is really scary, I don’t want to do this, everyone will think I’m silly if I don’t do this, etc)?
• How did you feel after you had finished the activity?
• What could you tell yourself in your mind next time you have to do something that worries or scares you?

Response

Students create a ‘How to step out of your comfort zone’ poster to encourage other people to try new things that might worry or scare them.

Guiding questions:
• What are you going to be doing in your poster?
• Draw a speech bubble. What words could you use to encourage yourself to step outside of your comfort zone?
• Draw a thought bubble. What positive thoughts could you tell yourself so that you give this new activity a go?
• Write a sentence to describe how you feel AFTER you step outside your comfort zone.

Evidence of learning

Students:
• express and describe emotions 
• explore how to use self-talk to create a positive message

Supporting resources

·       Websites

• Find out about some different drama games that can be used to explore concepts in texts using the Drama Resource website https://dramaresource.com/ 
• The Resilience, Rights and Respectful Relationships learning materials for Foundation offer lesson ideas for supporting student wellbeing and building personal strengths https://arc.educationapps.vic.gov.au/learning/resource/49994 
• Create a character for a story using an AI generator. Prompt students to tell you all about their character then type in the features and generate the image. This one from Canva can create some great images: https://www.canva.com/ai-character-generator/ 

Classroom templates (referenced in unit above)

1.        Think-pair-share 

Related texts and corresponding curriculum units

• Lionel and Me by Corinne Fenton and Tracie Grimwood. Lionel and Me explores emotions familiar to early readers as they navigate their relationships with siblings and peers. Written from the point of view of Maverick, a much-loved golden retriever, we see how Maverick’s feelings are affected by the arrival of an additional pet: a dachshund puppy, Lionel. Children are invited to look closely at the pictures, noting the characters’ facial expressions, body language and actions, whilst making connections to their own feelings of jealously, friendship and sibling rivalry. Visual art and drama, together with literacy, provide a great vehicle for students to develop their personal and social capabilities and delve into the content of the Health and Physical Education Learning Area.
• Blue Flower by Sonya Hartnett and Gabriel Evans. The themes of difference and self-appreciation in this text act as a great discussion starter for young learners as they seek to find their ‘place’ in the new world of school. In addition, it prompts thinking about the unique talents that we all possess and the ways that we all contribute to the wonderful world that we live in. The text provides authentic opportunities to make connections between the characters in the text and learners’ own lives and to support the building of personal and social capability. In addition, opportunities for enhancing vocabulary and exploring simple text structure are provided, as well as support for developing visual literacy and critical thinking skills.
• Bev and Kev by Katrina Germein and Mandy Foot. Bev and Kev features detailed illustrations which, together with dialogue and familiar text, provide opportunities for students to recognise the thoughts and emotions of the animal characters. As Bev seeks out a place where she feels she belongs, students can examine character interactions through the lens of ‘what make a good friend?’ and ‘is it ok to be different?’. During these discussions, students can relate their own experiences to the text, strengthening their visual literacy skills and personal and social capabilities.
• What to say when you don't know what to say by Davina Bell and Hilary Jean Tapper. This is an ideal text to use with preschool aged children as it uses examples of familiar childhood experiences to describe and explore common emotions. The book can be used as a springboard for discussions and role play of ways that children can show empathy and understanding for others, as well as understanding their own emotional responses to a variety of experiences. Opportunities for early literacy development are provided through the images and the text itself. Visual literacy skills are explored through an analysis of the way that body language is illustrated in the images to show emotion. Teacher-led ‘talk about the text’ supports the development of oral language skills and understanding of sentence structure as well as the opportunity to make authentic real-world connections.