Geography Lesson

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We're in downtown Windsor today. I climbed way up here so I can see everything. This big 'ole maple leaf  is what cars and trucks see when they come out of the tunnel. Windsor is our home. Windsor is in Ontario. Ontario is in  O Canada.  O Canada is really big, you know. It's bigger than our back yard! O Canada is our home and native land. Know what else? It's a song we stand up to sing. We look at the maple leaf flag and the picture of Queen Elizabeth when we sing it.  James says, "Windsor is the centre of the universe and the very nicest part of Detroit." Detroit isn't in O Canada. It's in Michigan. That's in the Knighted States. I know my phone number and my address and my Postal Code. It's important to remember those things.

Oh! Wait! What happened to Chance? I'd better get down from here and find him. He's so little he might get lost. He doesn't know our Postal Code or anything!  He's a real handful. James is missing, too! I don't see him. I don't hear him hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs? Where are the Princes of Windsor?" Okay. I gotta go find them both before they get into trouble! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Look after your little brother and  your buddies. Know where  you live so you don't get lost. Over and out!"

Cassidy

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? Chance and me are hanging out with our friend Cassidy. Cassidy is a bunny rabbit. He lives with his buddies Jay and Shawn. Cassidy has a really big bedroom. It has lettuce and carrot wallpaper. He has lots of toys. Our favourite game is Tag. We play Tag with Cassidy. He hops real fast. I can hop, too! Cassidy doesn't eat  porridge with gummy worms or Smarties. He's a vegetabletarian. I know what vegetabletarians are. They don't eat meat. I know what librarians eat. They eat libraries. 

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Princes of Windsor?" That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Princes of Windsor.
We'll go find him so he can tickle our ears and kiss our noses. Cassidy will get his ears tickled and his nose kissed, too! Okay! We got to go. This is Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Play Tag with your friends today. Over and out!"

Snow People

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We made snow people! This is how we do it. We roll snow into balls and stack them on top of each other. Then we give them faces and put scarves and hats on them so they won't catch cold and have to take Buckley's Cough Syrup.  It tastes awful. I made a snow person. James made a snow person. Chance is too little, so we helped him make a snow person. He likes making snow people. I can tell 'cuz he makes little squeaky noises when he's happy. We named them Frosty, Freezy and Fred. Snow people don't talk, you know. I don't know what snow persons eat. I'm sure they like Smarties and licorice.  Chance and me don't need to wear snowsuits. We get to run around and play bare naked. That's a pun you know. I'm five. I know what puns are.

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs? Where are our Princes of Windsor?" That's me, Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're the Princes of Windsor! We better go find James. He'll tickle our ears and kiss our noses, too!

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Go outside and play in the snow. Make snow people and feed them Smarties and licorice. Eat some yourself. Okay, we gotta go. Over and out!"

Dreaming of Tanner

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? When James tucks us into bed he always says, "Good night  my handsome bear cubs,  sweet dreams you Princes of Windsor." I had a dream last night. I dreamt that Chance and me were playing Hide & Go Seek with Tanner. Tanner's a big 'ole yeller dog who lives with his buddies Shaun and Jay. I didn't know I could have dreams about Tanner. Tanner was my bestest friend but he died of cancer at Christmas. I sure do miss him a lot. I'm glad I had the dream about Tanner. I wonder of Chance has dreams. Probably not 'cuz he's too little. He's so little he doesn't have a tail. He doesn't even have teeth!

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's me! Charles. That's Chance. We're gonna find James so he can tickle our ears and kiss our noses. I can smell porridge. I l-o-v-e porridge. Today I'm gonna put red gummy worms in my porridge. Gummy worms are yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide.  Chance can't eat gummy worms. He drinks condensed owls' milk in his bottle. I don't have a bottle. I'm five, you know. I have a sippy cup with Spiderman on it. Okay! We gotta go! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "When you got to sleep tonight, "Good night to all my buddies and friends and sweet dreams! Over and out!"

Grandma Donna

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We're sitting on Grandma Donna's lap. She's the bestest Grandma ever! She makes quilts. She made the pretty purple quilt on our bed. Grandma Donna tells us stories about the olden days and sings songs with us like The Prune Song. She lets us help her cook. We make gingerbread persons.  She tickles our ears and kisses our noses. We l-o-v-e Grandma Donna. Oh! Wait! Grandma Donna has a horse. The horse's name is Jeannie. Jeannie can go faster than my bike! I like to ride horses, don't you?

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's me! Charles. That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs! We are gonna go to the stable with him and Grandma Donna and feed Jeannie some carrots and some sugar cubes. Carrots and sugar cubes are yummy and they're in the Canada Food Guide. Okay! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens! Visit your Grandma. Maybe she will let you help her make gingerbread beings and ride the horse! Over and out!"

Chance and Cheddar Cheese

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? This is Chance. He likes to take off his diaper and climb things. He climbed up here on the kitchen counter. He's looking at the Cheddar cheese. He put some in his mouth and spit it out. Chance can't eat cheese. He's too little. He doesn't have any teeth, yet. He drinks condensed owls' milk from his bottle. I like cheese. Cheese is yummy and yummy is one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. I like gummy worms, too. They're full of Vitamin C. I like gummy worms in porridge.

Did you hear that? Our buddy James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs! "Come down from there, my son! We'll find James and get our ears tickled and our noses kissed!" I smell porridge for breakfast! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Eat cheese. Eat all your porridge. Starving children in Belgium would love to have a good breakfast! Over and out!"

Sitting

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? There are lots of ways to sit. James tells Chance and me to sit up straight at the table. He tells us to sit back in the car seat. Sometimes he tells us to sit down and sit still. When James tells us to sit tight, I know something exciting is gonna happen in a few minutes. That's a lot of ways to sit, you know. When I'm all grownup, I can just sit around!

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That me! Charles! That's Chance, too! We're handsome bear cubs. We don't want to sit now. We're gonna run find James and get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. We can sit on his lap and he'll hug us and tell us stories! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Sit the way you're supposed to and you'll get to eat wallermelons and drink root beer! Over and out!"

Our New Friend

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? This is our friend Fred. He's a frog. We play Leap Frog together. We play Hide & Seek, too. Frogs are green. That's a different colour from Chance and me. We're brown. Some bear cubs are black and some bear cubs are white.We have friends who are all different colours but Fred is our first green friend. He's lots of fun to play with. We're gonna help our buddy James make lunch. I l-o-v-e lunch! We get to cook. Today we're going to make orange juice and peanut butter sandwiches. They're yummy and yummy is one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. We get Smarties for dessert. We get dessert only after we eat our sandwiches. Then we'll go outside and dig some holes in the backyard.

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my buddies? Where's my handsome bear cubs and my handsome frog?" That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. Oh! Wait! That's Fred, too! We'll find James and he'll tickle our ears and kiss our noses. Oh! Wait! Frogs don't have ears like bear cubs. That's okay. James will kiss Fred's nose twice!

We gotta go. We wanna help make lunch. This is Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens and help your friends and buddies make lunch. Good citizens get to eat Smarties and dig holes in the backyard. Over and out!"

Art

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? I am an artist. I know everything about art. I learned from Miss Jackie at the Scruffy Maple Daycare Centre. She showed me how to colour inside the lines. She showed me how to fingerpaint. I l-o-v-e to fingerpaint. I fingerpaint with peanut butter. That's so I can eat some when I get hungry. Fingerpainting makes me as hungry as a---bear. Hmmn.

Now I can paint with a brush. It's hard 'cuz bear cubs don't have thumbs, you know. I'm a pretty good artist. I got three gold stickers for my fingerpaintings, already. I'm painting pictures of Chance and me. They look like us, don't they? I name each picture. This one is called, He Ain't Heavy.

Artists are good citizens. Good citizens get to eat wallermelons and drink root beer. Good citizens get porridge for breakfast with gummy worms inside!

Did you hear that? It's James hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's me, Charles! and Chance! We're handsome bear cubs! We'll find James and show him the painting. He'll tickle our ears and kiss our noses. This is me saying, "Be good citizens! Make a fingerpainting for someone you love but don't eat it all up! Over and out!"

Our Buddy Brielle

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? This is me and Chance. We're visiting our buddy Brielle. She is lots of fun. She goes to school. She tells us stories and sings us songs. Brielle is very smart. She can even speak French. That's different from French fries. French fries are yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. If Brielle was a food I would eat her all up 'cuz she's a yummy buddy but we don't eat our friends, you know.

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs? Where's my buddies?" That's us! Charles and Chance and Brielle! We'll go find him and he'll hug us all and kiss our noses and tickle our ears and we can go to the store and buy a BIG box of Smarties. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Don't eat your friends. Eat Smarties instead! Over and out!"

Fountain Climbing

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? I'm fountain climbing. The fountain is in front of our Post Office. I climbed way up here so I can everything. Everything looks different way high in the air. I can see Chance but he can't see me. This is a good place to hide! In the summer the fountain is full of water and we can play in the water. I asked James how old he is. He says he's so old he's the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark. He must be really old 'cuz he doesn't want to climb the fountain and hide here with me.

Oh! Did you hear that? Chance is making little squawky noises. He wants me to come down from the fountain and play with him. My buddy James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's me! Charles. That's Chance! We'll go see James and he'll scoop us up in his arms, tickle our ears and kiss our noses. I gotta get down from here. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Find a fountain to climb and everything will look different! Over and out!"

Mardi Gras

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's old and forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We're at the Post Office. It's a nice place. We come here to buy stamps so we can mail a package. A big 'ole truck will pick up our package and take it to your house! I could be a postie. I'm pretty good at licking stamps, you know.

When we get home we get to eat baked beans and chocolate chip pancakes with maple syrup on top. That's because it's Mardi Gras today. We get to eat paczis (punch-keys), too! Paczis are yummy. They have jelly inside. We only get them once a year on Mardi Gras. Chance is too little to eat paczis so I will eat his for him. James says I'm being a pig. That's silly. I'm not a pig. I'm a bear cub. Growing bear cubs need to eat a lot of paczis!

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's us! Charles and Chance! We're handsome bear cubs! He'll scoop us up in a big hug and tickle our ears and kiss our noses. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens! Eat paczis and pancakes today. Don't forget the maple syrup! Over and out!"

Family Day

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He forgets where he put his mitts. He's really old, too. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark. He must be 20 years old!  I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? Today is Family Day. It's a holiday. I know what a family is. It's me and Chance and James and you. Families do things together like make gingerbread beings and snow people. We read books together. Families laugh together and before bedtime we pray together. Families give each other lots of hugs and kisses on our noses and give us Buckley's Cough Mixture when we're sick with a cold. Buckley's tastes awful, but it works.  Families share wallermelons and Smarties and everything!

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Who's my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario?" That's us! Charles and Chance. I'm a handsome bear cub!  I'm a Son of Windsor. I'm a Prince of Ontario! So is Chance! We'll go find  James and he can tickle our ears and kiss our noses! We gotta go! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens! Be nice to your family! Do something special for Family Day. Over and out!"

Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Special Ed James. He rides to school on a short bus, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? Today is a double double special day. It's Saint Valentine's Day AND it is Chinese New Year, too. I know who St. Valentine is. He's the boss in charge of friends. His little brother is St. Cupid. I think lions ate them. I hope they had ketchup. We give our friends valentines today.

Special Ed James says this is the Year of the Tiger. Chance and me have space ray guns we got at the Dollar Store. We can hunt for tigers and give them valentines. Tigers are like lions but tigers have stripes. Oh! Wait! I have red-and-white striped Cat-in-the-Hat sox. My friend Tanner gave them to me. Tanner was my first bestest friend but he died of cancer. Cancer is not nice. I miss Tanner. I know! I will get out my pencil crayons and draw a picture of Tanner. I can draw a big red heart around his picture. That's a nice way to remember my friend. I will make a valentine for Special Ed James and for Chance and for you, too.

Did you hear that? Special Ed James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's me, Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs! We'll run and get our ears tickled and our noses kissed and we'll get great big hugs, too! This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying-

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Be my valentine
And my tiger, too!

Be good citizens and give your friends valentines. Don't forget to give some to the tigers, too. I gotta go! Over and out!

Fast Food

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, Special Ed James. He rides to school on a short bus, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We're at Wendy's. Special Ed James says it's a fast food joint. He's silly. The food isn't fast. It isn't even slow. The food isn't moving at all! I am eating a baked potato. I know where potatoes come from. They come from Prince Edward Island. Anne of Green Gables is in charge of growing baked potatoes. I l-o-v-e baked potatoes. They're yummy and that is one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide. Chance can't eat potatoes. He's so little he doesn't have teeth yet. He can't talk. He makes squeaky noises when he's happy and squawky noises when he's upset or has to poo. Chance doesn't even have a tail! He drinks condensed owls' milk from his bottle. I don't know where Chance disappeared to. I have to watch him so he doesn't get hurt. He's a handful, you know.

Did you hear that? Special Ed James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs! I'll find Chance and Special Ed James will tickle our ears and kiss our noses and give us great big hugs. This is Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Eat your baked potatoes--even the skin. Starving children in Belgium would be happy to eat baked potatoes. Over and out!"

Home Sweet Home!

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's very forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We rode in the train all day. We played games and ate lots of yummy food. The people at VIA Rail are very nice. We got to drink milk with bendy straws. Chance and me got sleepy, so we took naps. When we woke up, we were home in Windsor. It's fun to travel and see our friends but it sure is nice to be home and sleep in our own beds. We got lots of snow in Windsor. We can go outside and make snow persons! Oh, wait. We have to unpack our suitcases, first. Chance is hiding in my suitcase. He thinks he will surprise me. I will pretend to be surprised. We have to put away our things. We'll have some pictures to put up here, soon.

Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" That's us! Charles and Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're gonna go find  James so he can tickle our ears and hug us and kiss our noses, too. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens! Take time to make a snow person today. Over and out!"

Riding on the Train

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy James. He is very forgetful, so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? Chance and James and me got up really early this morning. It's dark outside at four o'clock. We went to the train station. We got on the train. It's a really nice train. Trains are faster than my bicycle. We had fun talking to people. The food is yummy, too. We got to drink milk with a bendy straw! We took a nap. When we woke up it was time to say 'good-bye' to everyone. We got pictures but we can't put them here until we get home. James says the little cord doesn't fit between the camera and the computer. That's okay.

James says we can all go outside and make snow persons. I can't wait to play in the snow. Chance will make squeaky noises if he's happy. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Ride VIA Rail and see where the train takes you! Over and out!"

Suitcase Fun

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark. He's very forgetful so I have to look after him. Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing.

Know what? We're playing suitcase. We put things inside the suitcase. I put Smarties and gummy worms in my suitcase. Oh! I put in my red and white sox that my friend Tanner gave me. Chance took all his diapers out of the suitcase and filled it up with condensed owls' milk. We get inside the suitcase and pretend we're going on VIA Rail. I make really good train noises. Chance makes little squeaky noises. That means he's happy. It's fun to play suitcase!

James is hollering, "Where's my handsome bear cubs?" We'll hide in the suitcase and see if he can find us. When he does, he'll tickle our ears and kiss our noses. This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "All aboard! Over and out!"