Use the story of the teddy bear as an introduction to a unit about Theodore Roosevelt. Divide students into small groups and give each group a period of five years of Theodore Roosevelt's life. Have the group research their years and then give a newscast about the president. To tie it in to the teddy bear story, have them use teddy bears to deliver the newscast.
Have students create two time lines. One time line should show the history of President Roosevelt and major events in his life. The other time line should show the history of the teddy bear starting with President Roosevelt's hunt in the Mississippi swamp.
Use the story of the teddy bear as a writing prompt for students. Have them write the story from the perspective of the bear in the story or from the perspective of the first teddy bear that was created. Alternatively, have them write a letter as if they were President Roosevelt and they were telling a friend about the hunting trip. Encourage them to provide as many descriptive details as possible. Provide them pictures of Mississippi from the period to generate ideas.
Have students draw their own editorial cartoons about the hunting trip. Allow them create at least two cartoons. One should be as someone who likes and supports the president and another should be as someone who supports his opponents and doesn't like the president.
Instruct students to design a teddy bear based on someone in today's current events. Have them look at pictures in the newspaper and then draw a picture or make a bear out of clay.
For younger children, follow up the story of Teddy Roosevelt's bear hunt by reading the book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt." Let students echo you as you read the book and perform the actions while standing in one place. For example, you say, "We're going on a bear hunt," and the students repeat, "We're going on a bear hunt." They can then stand up proud and pretend to hold a rifle. Continue through the whole book.
You can also have small groups create puppets out of paper bags and put on a puppet show of the Teddy Roosevelt hunt in Mississippi.
Instruct students bring in a teddy bear. Have each child measure her teddy bear and create a chart on the chalkboard to record the size of everyone's teddy bear. Talk about different ways to classify the teddy bears. Then have students guess how big a black bear is. Explain that a black bear is the type of bear that Teddy Roosevelt was hunting. Tell them that a black bear is 70 inches. Help them figure out how many of their teddy bears would have to stand on top of each other to make the height of a real bear.
You can also use this story as an introduction to a unit on zoology. Let students research what type of animals would have been found in the Mississippi swamp in the early 1900s. Instruct them to make a diorama with at least three different animals represented.