Celebrate the Invention of Bubble Gum!

A while back, I ordered a bunch of new books to fill the narrative nonfiction void in my library. I now know more about George Ferris and his famous wheel, the true story of a real bear named Winnie, and the boy who snuck around Central Park building his own private treehouses to escape the bustling city below.

But my favorite book in the stack is Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gum by Meghan McCarthy.

 

It tells the true story of Walter Diemer, an accountant-turned-accidental-inventor, who mixed a little of this and a little of that until he invented a gum that could be blown into bubbles. The Fleer Corporation, Walter's employer, named the creation Dubble Bubble, and the rest is history.

As it turns out, the first Friday of February is also Bubble Gum Day, and bubble gum seems like just the thing that deserves a day of celebration in a classroom!

Bubble Gum Mini-Unit

Because it falls on a Friday, it's perfect for a mini-unit, a whole day full of cross-curricular fun dedicated to bubble gum! The activities were written for 1st and 2nd grade children and include lessons for reading, writing, science, math, and art. Check out sample pages from the unit.👇  

• READING: FUN FACTS ABOUT BUBBLE GUM

(An Informational Student Text)

• RELATED ELA WORK: SAMPLE PAGES

(Character Traits, Phonics, Fact & Opinion, Compare & Contrast) 

• WRITING: SHOULD GUM BE ALLOWED IN SCHOOL?

(A Persuasive / Opinion Piece)

• WRITING (Option 2): HOW TO BLOW A BUBBLE

(A Procedural / How-To Book)

• SCIENCE: MAKE YOUR OWN GUM!

(Physical Properties and the States of Matter)

• MATH: WHICH GUM IS YOUR FAVORITE?

(Collecting, Graphing, & Analyzing Data)

• ART: POP ART

(A Directed Drawing with a 3-D Element)

If your schedule doesn't allow for a whole Bubble Gum Day but you want to read POP!, here are a few questions for you and your students to discuss: 

What is the purpose of this book? Why do you think Meghan McCarthy wrote it?

What are some words you would use to describe Walter Diemer? Give examples from the story to support your ideas. 

How does Meghan use words and illustrations to show Walter's dedication to not giving up? 

What was the result of Walter's hard work? How would the outcome have been different if Walter had stopped asking questions and trying out new ideas? 

Happy teaching!