Teaching East Asia: Korea Teaching East Asia: Korea | Page 129

Bee-bim Bop!
By Linda Sue Park ( 6.99)
Lesson by Mary Connor, Advisor (National Korean Studies Seminar)
Kindergarten – Grade 3
Excerpts from Amazon.com reviews:
A wonderful paperback picture book about the joys of family and food from Newbery Award
winning author Linda Sue Park. The book is a celebration of a well-loved Korean cultural dish.
Bee-bim bop is a traditional Korean dish. In a bouncy-rhyming text from a child’s point of view.
a hungry child tells of helping her mother make bee-bim bop: shopping, preparing ingredients,
setting the table, and sitting down to enjoy a favorite meal. The enthusiasm of the narrator is con-
veyed in the whimsical illustrations, which bring details from the artist’s childhood in Korea to
her depiction of a modern Korean-American family. The book includes Linda Sue’s own bee-bim
bop recipe!
Common Core:
1. CCSS.ELA.Aa-LiteracyRL.K.1 With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about
key details in text.
2. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.K.6 With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a
story and define the role of each in telling the story.
3. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g. regular beats, alliteration,
rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
4. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or
events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
5. CCSS.ELA-Literacy W.3.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.
The Lesson
1. Before reading the book, ask the class to tell some of their favorite foods to eat at dinnertime.
What are the favorite dishes in the country of origin for the family?
2. After reading the book, ask students to discuss the tone of the story and how a happy tone is
created in the story and illustrations.
3. Ask members of the class to find examples of words that rhyme in the story.
4. What are some of the ingredients in bee-bim bop?
Follow Up Activity: Children could explore a favorite dish created in their home and how the
dish is distinctly native to their family’s country of origin.
Bee-bim Bop!
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