The Bumblebear

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The children might enjoy sitting down to watch the story of ‘The Lost Bee’ while they have their Bumblebear biscuits - https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories/melody-the-lost-bee The children might enjoy helping the bees to collect the pollen from the flowers in the following interactive game - https://www.bbc.co.uk/games/embed/g758zk3wbh?exitGameUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.co.uk%2Fcbeebies%2Fgames%2Fmargarets-marigolds-game Oliver B. Bumble ( Olivier B. Bommel in Dutch) is a fictional anthropomorphic bear, one of the two main characters in a Dutch comic book series written by Marten Toonder. The other is Tom Puss ( Tom Poes), and the comic book bears the name of either of these characters. Related to this is the play in the original series with the meanings of the Dutch word heer, which does mean gentleman, though it does not mean member of the nobility, which Bumble as American would not be. He is very rich and tries to live like a gentleman. Another meaning is lord, as in (absolute) ruler; as owner of his castle, he turns out to have been the lord of the land for almost the entire series in the last story. "Sir" rather obscures this essential part of the character as it rather suggests some noble title under lordship. An acceptable translation might be Oliver Bommel Esq. There have been over 600 Tom Puss stories in total and most of them feature Oliver B. Bumble. Bumble and Puss' stories have been translated and published worldwide. An animated movie based on the series named Als je begrijpt wat ik bedoel ("If you know what I mean," one of Bumble's catch-phrases) was released in 1983. In English, it is alternately called The Dragon That Wasn't (Or Was He?) and Dexter the Dragon and Bumble the Bear. In the 1940s, Toonder created a number of short animated movies featuring the characters in commercials for Philips.

Alligator (3) Chameleon (2) Dinosaur (6) Frog (36) Lizard (5) Snake (1) Turtle (8) OtherReptiles (1) Recap on the story of ‘Bumblebear’. Parents may want to read the story again with the children or invite the children to tell them the story, using their Bumblebear or Bumblebee puppets from last week’s activities.Introduce the story, ‘The Bumblebear’ by Nadia Shireen or listen to it being read here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6ZaSM6sNGw or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tvXFif3M1o Perhaps the children would like to make their own Bumblebear or Bumblebee puppets – using paper - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQnjTI-lZSM or https://www.booktrust.org.uk/globalassets/resources/time-to-read/2017/paper-plate-bumblebees.pdf Or pompoms - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBDlsbP1qpw Or even wooden spoons - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL1fsqa52-k If you are looking for a fun homework activity, invite the children to become bees? Let them explore the sound and movement of bees and maybe even create their own bumblebee dance. To help – play the music of Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Flight of the Bumblebee’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X14kC-sEH0I or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZO5KTJTwhE&list=RDxZO5KTJTwhE&start_radio=1 In February 2007, the Dutch Programme Foundation began a 440-part radio drama based on the series, hosted by Radio 4. The series ended in December 2009. There have been rumors of a new film and animation series. Dragon (107) Monster (23) Fantasy (68) Elf (22) Ghost (2) Gnome (8) Snowman (13) Unicorn (16) OtherMakeBelieve (28)

Bumble has two staunch admirers. The first is Miss Doddle, Bumble's Dulcinea and his prime source of fresh tea, courage and resolve in times of great emotional turmoil. She idolizes Bumble and thinks he's the smartest man in the world, even though Bumble is out of his depth more often than not. The second great admirer is the dwarf Kwetal who thinks Bumble has a big thinking-frame ("denkraam") and blindly trusts his judgment. He is the source of some weird gadgets which wreak havoc in Bumble's life or work as a deus ex machina to solve the problems which Bumble's ill-conceived grand designs have caused.The claim that the B. in Olivier B. Bommel would stand for Berendinus is semi-canonical at best. A middle name is not found in any of the original stories and —according to the author— did not exist. Bommel was intended to be an American, though it is possible that he did indeed return to ancestral grounds. The lone initial was part of the American attributes of the character. The source of Berendinus was the answer by an editor in the Tom Poes magazine, and thus one given with a semblance of authority, which explains the popularity of the claim. For P1 (and older siblings) – talk about what they missed about school when they are not present and what they most look forward to when they return. Maybe they could create a message for the new P1 children –‘The best thing about Primary 1 is ….’ and draw a picture.