by special invitation

‘Dear Mum and Dad,’ the letter began.  ‘Please help me remember to bring a teddy bear to school tomorrow…..’

After the introductions, where we met Charlie and Ribbon and Jessie amongst others, we got down to work.  Our first job, to trace all the way around our furry friends (without tickling)…..

and then to add the finishing touches…..

such as distinguishing marks…..

ribbons……

as well as a touch of colour.

    

Then, using a Very Important Bear (here by special invitation) as our reference point, we got to sort our furry friends, into those that were taller than the Very Important Bear and those that were shorter than the Very Important Bear .

Once the sorting had been done, Melchior noticed something.  “8 animals are shorter than the Very Important Bear,” he told us.

Meanwhile, Alexis was doing some counting too.  “ There are more taller than shorter,” he observed.

“ My toy,” said Tim, “is taller than the Very Important Bear .”

“Luna’s bear is taller than Mélina’s bird,” added Bianca.

“My little owl is shorter than the Very Important Bear .”  This from Yanis.

That’s all very well.  But quite how tall or short is the Very Important Bear?  How could we find out?

Well, Ella had an idea.  “We could use that stick thing,” she said.

Stick thing?  Ah – the metre stick.  Yes, that could work.  Can you show us how?

Yanis worried about the way the tracing is being lined up.  He helps her move it a bit.

That looks more like it.  But what does it tell us?

Silence.

Not to worry.  I am sure there is something else we could use.

Bianca has an idea.  “We could use cubes,” she tells us. 

Shows us.

And so it turns out that the Very Important Bear is 14 cubes tall.

Thank you Bianca.  That’s a good height for a Very Important Bear .

Do you think you could find out how many cubes tall your furry friend is?  Can you build a tower that is the same height as your bear?  Lion?  Dog?

Mind you count carefully now.  

Especially if your lion is as tall as 34 cubes!

Ribbon is 12 cubes tall.  That makes him shorter than the Very Important Bear, doesn’t it.

So is Hiromi’s bear.  Can you count how tall she is?

    

Bianca’s bear on the other hand, is taller than the Very Important Bear.  How many cubes tall is he?

Even though all bears (and other furry friends) must surely by now be safely tucked up in bed, you can still see their portraits in the classroom – along with a record of how tall (or short!) they are.  Why not come along and find out who is the tallest – and who the shortest?  And who comes in between.