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Original poster

What's this bear thing they bring home?

30 replies

harrisey · 19/09/2007 15:31

Ds is home today with a bear with a rucksack - for being 'good at drawing and gaelic'.

No note or instruction from so far fab teacher (he's in Primary 1)

Its supposed to have 'adventures' with him, so he says. Its the Glassgow school's September weekend so we have the bear till Tuesday. I was planning very little other than playing outside and taking it easy. Do I have to have an adventure? Id my ds going to be eternally looked down upon if the bear does little more than play football in the garden and maybe go to a friends house and tesco?

I thought a good treat for being good would be NOT having to do anything on the holiday weekend???

Dd1 went to a different school in P1 so I have never come across this before, but think I have seen it mentioned on here, which is why I'm posting.

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TheApprentice · 19/09/2007 15:34

I've known teachers who've done this before, Usually said bear comes with instructions though! Does he have a diary? The times I've come across this before the child is supposed to write in the bear's diary eg, "today we played football in Johnnies back garden" etc.

If you want to be really creepy you could take a photo of the bear doing something, or somewhere in your house/garden and then give it to the class.

But you certainly don't need to be doing anything special, just whatever you are normally up to is fine.

Original poster
harrisey · 19/09/2007 15:39

Ah yes! There's a diary in its backpack!

Just having a look ......

Well, look slike tesco and football would be the bears most boring weekend so far (has been a lot of places in Greater Glasgow over the last few weeks). Ds is happy to have it go to football club with him though, so that will do.

He is very proud of himself, I havent let him realise just how much I have no clue what this is about!

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southeatsastras · 19/09/2007 15:40

i was creepy as i took photographs. it took up more space as my son's handwriting is appalling and i didn't want all the other mums seeing it

CaptainFlameSparrowWifeOfJack · 19/09/2007 15:41

I always remember Psychomum's DS2 coming home with said bear - twas not the best of areas, the bear stank of cigarettes and sick (that is NOT an envy type green) - her DS2 drew a picture in the book of the mournful looking teddy going round the washing machine

Original poster
harrisey · 19/09/2007 15:43

lol!

What is the reasoning behind this? I suppose it is a reward. Being a secondary teacher by training, all the things they do to encourage primary kids just baffle me, though I have 2 primary age kids and a preschooler of my own.

Bear is currently sitting on the table watching ds draw extravagent pictures of Star Wars battles in luminous technicolour. I think if i sent those back we'd have the educational psychologist on the phone!

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Nip · 19/09/2007 15:45

nursery gave me one of these to take home when DS was 10 mo!!!!

The bear had a wonderful time if you read the book...(park, nannies house, bath time etc etc) in reality he was put in a tesco bag waiting for monday morning to come round!

10mo FFS!!!!

MrsBadger · 19/09/2007 15:46

I went to antenatal yoga in a prep school hall and one wall was covered with them:
'Kate and Amelia took Ted to Pony Club Camp'
'This is a picture of Emily and Ted in the swimming pool on holiday in the Bahamas'
'Ted and Jemima on her daddy's boat'
'Ellie took Ted to Henley Royal Regatta'

I kid you not

TheApprentice · 19/09/2007 15:51

Ha, it seems that what the bear gets up to very much depends what socio-economic group he is mixing with!

The idea is partly reward, (most kids like to "look after" a soft toy), partly to encourage writing and partly just generally educational as it gets kids talking about what other children get up to/places of interest etc.

Hope its not too much work for you!

indignatio · 19/09/2007 15:53

There are some great threads on this b*y bear. One line which sticks in my mind was "** the bear spent the weekend in the footwell of mummy's car"
Actually it is not as bad as it is cracked up to be. Take some photos, stick them in the book, write captions and leave the odd word for your child to write in. Unless said child has great writing and does not mind spending his holiday weekend writing.

Or as a friend suggested (if you are good with the computer) take a photo of bear and superimpose the image on pictures of space rockets and the moon etc and make the whole thing up - least that way the teachers will get a laugh.

snowleopard · 19/09/2007 15:54

Aah there was a hilarious thread on this a while ago - it seemed the done thing was to take photos and write up ted's adventures over a weekend. One MNer suggested lots of dark pictures of a car footwell as that was where their ted had dwelt for the duration

UnquietDad · 19/09/2007 15:54

Oh, gawd, the "class teddy" again!
When we got this, I posted in despair on here and got lots of useful and amusing suggestions.

It's just an exercise in one-upmanship really. If you take Teddy to the park, give him chips and watch "Doctor Who" with him, you can guarantee that next week he will go home with Petronella, whose mum writes the bloody report for her and makes sure that Teddy goes on a nature walk, eats organic falafel in a vegan cafe, visits a donkey sanctuary and handweaves bags for a Guatemalan abused women's home before reading some edifying books.

TheApprentice · 19/09/2007 15:55

My friend has one of these for her class. LAst New Year she went to New York with her boyfriend and INSISTED that the bear went with her. She came back with loads of photos of the bear on Empire State Building, in Central Park etc etc!

The kids loved it though, and it was a good way to teach them about a foreign place.

snowleopard · 19/09/2007 15:56

This hasn't happened to us yet but I'd be sorely tempted to take pics of it sat on the sofa with a remote control and a can of tennents, watching men & motors channel.

TheApprentice · 19/09/2007 15:56

LOL at Unquiet Dad!

Said activities would NOT be part of the social agenda where my friend teaches, though!

UnquietDad · 19/09/2007 15:56

"This weekend Teddy surfed bear porn on the internet."

Original poster
harrisey · 19/09/2007 15:57

I suppose I could send bear off with dh for weekend oncall as a Glasgow GP.

'Ted helped section 2 violent patients, dealt with 4 cases of acute heroin withdrawal and approximately 4,000 so called emergency sore throats and coughs'

Its an alternative to the footwell of the car.

I know I will just go with it and send back something bland. But ds is so proud of himself. He gets his photo up on the board at school cos he has Ted home, he says!

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Peshasofeight · 19/09/2007 16:05

We had Bruno the bear this week. He went to the shops and played on DD's scooter with her, 'we had such a good time' she wrote! And i was creepy and took a pic of him and dd on the scooter to make up for not actually doing anything with him!

We didn't get to see a full diary though of his adventures so far, just got a plain bit of a4 for her to write on with instructions on the back.

There was a slight panic when the dog got hold of Bruno and disappeared up the garden with him, I had visions of me having to explain why I was returning the beloved Bruno with no head Luckily I got him back just a bit damp and grass covered!

Original poster
harrisey · 20/09/2007 08:18

Wwll we had a fight last night when bear could not go in the bath with him, apparantly (dh was bathing).

But he slept in bed with ds last night and is now sitting watching tv, and is going shopping in a little while. Not sure whether to do the photo thing yet as noone else has done it in the diary. I could be the really keen mum and freak out the poor sod who gets it next weekend.

Its nice cos he's so pleased for gettting it for Gaelic - just last week he was saying he didnt like it and now he's talking to this bear in Gaelic (cos he's a gaelic bear mummy!) which is great.

But we're having a chill out day at home today so I can just see the diary. "Ted watched dvds, played 'Lego Star Wars' on the playstation and went to Morrison's to buy very unhealthy snacks for the whole family!"

Thanks for the input. I might have to do the can of tennets photo for my own amusement.

Oh, have just been informed that its not a bear, its a dog! Now I look at its ears, ds is right. That explains why its called 'Cu' - gaelic for dog. Durrrrr.... silly mum

OP posts:
TheApprentice · 20/09/2007 08:45

You should definitely do Tennants thing, if only to give the teacher a laugh!

Enjoy your day with the bear/dog!

ladygrinningsoul · 20/09/2007 14:23

I took a picture of our bear swigging runny honey straight from the bottle.

Original poster
harrisey · 20/09/2007 15:31

Oh

Left the dog thing sitting outside on the back of ds's bike to take a photo and have now realised it has been raining for about half an hour.

Its DRIPPING wet!

Ah well "While Cu was at our house, He was removed by social services to a place of safety ....."

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Blandmum · 20/09/2007 15:33

teddy goes to see the sheep

Original poster
harrisey · 20/09/2007 15:35

mb

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Blandmum · 20/09/2007 15:39

teddy goes to MacDonalds!!!

fryalot · 20/09/2007 15:40

Whatever you do, don't leave the bear in a karaoke bar somewhere in Tenerife (and if anyone finds one there, it belongs to dd1's primary school )

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