Exploring Paddington with Branch Out World {Product Review}

Do you love the stories of Paddington as much as I do? There is just something about that darling bear which warms my heart. We were recently asked to review a unit study of Paddington Bear from Branch Out World, a British company.

About Branch Out World

Branch Out World is a British company producing educational resources like the Picture Book Explorers series. These are a collection of literature based unit studies created around beautifully illustrated picture books with links to the British Isles. These are all downloadable units that incorporate reading aloud with a variety of coordinating fun and educational activities.
Every unit study contains maps, flags, a time line, fact sheets...plus over 20 activity suggestions with everything you need to know to complete them. Some of them have notebooking pages, mini-books, quizzes, and/or coloring pages. Each topic pack contains maps, flags, a time line and fact sheets to help you on your way. Some will contain notebooking pages, mini-books, quizzes and/or colouring sheets. The activities include subjects like writing, arts, maths, sciences, field trip possibilities, and more!

There are currently twenty-three literature units available in the Picture Book Explorers series. This series is geared for ages 5-10.

Some of the books in the series include...
The Tale of Jemima Puddleduck
Paddington Bear
Floss
The Boat
Black Dog
The Day the Crayons Quit
Fog Island
Gracie, the Lighthouse Cat
and more!

We were given the literature unit study for Paddington Bear to review with my son, age 8.

Our Thoughts on the Product

The program is very simple. It's a 5 day intense study of the book, with a variety of activities to pick from for each day. Each day's topic is different so every day can be a unique exploration of the book. The first steps are to download the unit study and to get a copy of the book. While obtaining the unit study was easy, finding a copy of the book was more challenging. The product required a specific version of the book, and none of my libraries carried it, and it wasn't available online for purchase. My next option was to obtain the chapter book version, for the story itself is contained in the first couple chapters. But for the illustration part, I was fortunate to have found a YOU TUBE read aloud of the very book that was needed.

This actually worked very well for us, as it freed me up from the reading aloud portion so I could prepare the day's work. All the worksheets needed to complete the unit study are included IN the unit study in the appendix. You may need to collect other things like an atlas, travel brochures, magazines, science experiment supplies, and cooking ingredients. The best way to figure out what you are going to do, is simply print off the teaching plans for the whole unit. This will layout ALL the activities for the unit--separated by day--and you can mark or highlight the ones you think you are going to do. There is no sense in trying to do ALL OF THEM when you are working this into a 5 day unit. In fact, the program reminds you NOT to try to do it all. Simply pick some from each day that will work for your family.

The first few pages of the unit study is for YOU the teacher. It lists things to grab before you start, gives advice for recording your child's work, and last minute advice before you start. The next section gives you insight on how the unit study is broken up.

There are five daily sections:

Day 1: Exploring the Setting
After reading the story, the activities for the day include learning about the where and when of the story. This section focuses on history and geography and some basic themes in the book (like migration).

Working through a country facts minibook

Day 2: Exploring the Words
After reading the story again, you will do activities that explore grammar and vocabulary. There will also be opportunities for creative writing.

He dictated me a narration of the story

Day 3: Exploring the Pictures
Once you have read the story for the third time, you will spend more time examining the illustrations. The activities will be geared towards art in learning art terms or techniques. Your child will have a chance to do artwork of their own.

Day 4: Exploring Science
After reading the story for the 4th time, all the topics in this section are geared towards science! There will be everything from animal studies to hands-on experiments.

Day 5: Exploring Maths, Crafts and More!
On this final day, you will read the story one last time to your child, and then explore maths activities that relate to the story when applicable. There will also be some craft activities and recipes to bring a fun conclusion to your literature study.

As you can see, this is geared to be done in five consecutive days. The regular reading of the book allows it to stay fresh in your child's mind.

Now within each day's activities there are usually 5+ options. It would be crazy to try to do them all, as some of them are quite detailed. I looked through each day and picked the things I felt my son would enjoy the most, AND would "teach" the most for him. We did flags, maps, and country facts for our first day of exploration. The second day, we talking about helping others and I had him dictate a narration of the story. The third day, we did the activity which examined a specific picture of the book and looked for the different architectural features the study pointed out. Day four was a favorite, as we did a science experiment of making foam. Day five we concluded with the activity on spacial awareness as I let my son try to pack all his necessities for a trip into a suitcase to see if they would fit. We also bought some orange marmalade to try.

I think we spent about 30 minutes each day on this except for the first day which required more work to do the maps, flags, and facts. By the fourth day, my son was sooooo done with the story. LOL. He groaned about listening to it again.

So, overall thoughts---this program reminded me VERY much of a very popular one used in the US that ALSO has a unit study focused around a children's book that is read five days in a row. I am very familiar with that, as we used it when my oldest was younger. The only cons we had really was that my son didn't like reading the story over and over and over. We ended up only reading it three times. Also, it is important to note that because this is a British product, the measurements and some ingredients would probably be unfamiliar to most Americans--like caster sugar for example. I do appreciate that the recipes had the American measurements as well as the Metric system. I would maybe suggest a note about WHAT Caster sugar is and where it can be found.

I love that there were recipes included for some of the treats that the book mentioned. I also think the art projects were more creative than usual. The creating of Tablas de Sarhua or using Shaving Foam Art is much more fun than just drawing a picture!

I think this program would be a great school break activity. I think it is definitely perfect for the ages recommended (age 5-10) and I like that they include adaptions for younger/older students. I appreciate that ALL the worksheets are included in the appendix. I think the activities are great and there are a nice collection of different types of activities in each day's work that would work for your students.

The biggest challenge would be the thought that you have to do ALL of the activities to make it "enough". But this isn't true. At most, I may pick three of the 5 to do.

In summary, I think the program is very well done. It would be easy to create an entire year's worth of work if you worked through each of the twenty-three units. You would only need to add a few more week to finish a year. The Paddington Bear unit sells for 9 pounds which converts to about $11.50. You will have to come up with book yourself, but most libraries should have it.

If you are an open-and-go kind of person, this really isn't for you. But if you are willing to give lit-based unit studies a try, your child will really enjoy diving into books more deeply. This is a great way for the elementary aged student to learn since they love being read aloud so much. If you have older children you may want to check out their Chapter Book Explorers series.

Want to Know More about the Product?

We've been reviewing Paddington Bear, a Lit Studies from Branch Out World. You have seen some of the projects that we chose to work on, but there are so many more! Make sure you visit the other crew members to see more about what the program has to offer!

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Now that we are done with our study, we are going to rewatch the two recently made Paddington movies and I will have my son find the things that were included in the book as we go! :)