School + football = FUN

Fifth-grade teacher gets Bears fans started young

They may be some of the younger Chicago Bears fans, but their roar is just as loud as those who are old enough to remember the first time the Bears shuffled to the Super Bowl in 1986.

Keith Jensik's fifth-grade class at Welch Elementary School has had a bad case of Bears fever all year thanks to Jensik, a Naperville native who was 14 years old when the Bears dominated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX. For Jensik, football has always just been a part of life, and he's helped pass that love on to a whole new generation of fans.

There's bulletin boards decorated with Bears poster paper, a collection of Bears football cards the kids have brought in tacked to the whiteboard, blue and orange Fridays when the kids can show off their Bears pride via clothing choices, and a Web site with photos and recaps after each game. During the class holiday party, the kids made fleece snowboarding caps out of Bears print material. On Friday they had a Super Bowl party to get ready to celebrate today's big game.

The party was as full of junk food and music as any "real" Super Bowl shindig. Decked out in their best Bears attire, kids had written "Go Bears" on their hands and faces and feasted on blue and orange gelatin treats in the shape of football helmets, doughnuts, cupcakes, cheese and crackers, chips and nacho cheese dip, chicken wings and more. As they danced to "Bear Down" and other Bears-themed songs they worked on a Super Bowl fun fact sheet and also read a list of 41 things that were popular the last time the Bears hit Super Bowl turf.

"I've been a Bears fan since I was little because my dad is one," said 10-year-old Samantha Carlstrom. "It's been really fun in here this year."

Taylor French and Courtney Carpenter, both 10, thought it was cool the Bears had made it to the big game and both said Brian Urlacher was their favorite player.

"I think the final score will be pretty close," Carpenter said. "I don't think it'll be that far apart."

Katie Middleton and Rachel Pavlinec, both 11, decided to go straight for a numerical guess.

"28 to 13," Middleton said.

"I think it'll be the same," Pavlinec said. Both girls would be watching the game with their families today.

Jensik said throughout the season kids enjoyed coming in on Mondays and talking about the game from the day before.

"This is the first year almost all are Bears fans," Jensik said. "I don't have any (Green Bay) Packers fans."

Even better, the football frenzy is something both parent and child can get in on.

"They all come in on it," Jensik said. "They all watched it at home. Some dads have said I had to sit down and explain to my daughter the rules and what's going on."

That level of parental involvement helps make it fun, Jensik said.

"(The party) is great," said Brian French, Taylor's father, who was helping out in Jensik's classroom during the party. "I'm a big sports fan."

The topic of football even made it into classroom work this year, with a few discussions about yards, statistics and percentages using the sport as a reference point.

"We had football terms for spelling words this week," Jensik said. In addition, a worksheet to be filled out during the Super Bowl can score the kids some extra-credit points.

While the party took the noise level in the fifth-grade wing of Welch up a few notches, today promises to be a bit quieter for Jensik, when he'll be at home with his wife and sons watching the game and eating some junk food.

"When you've got (high-definition TV), you've got to," he laughed.

Contact Kate Houlihan at khoulihan@scn1.com or 630-416-5224.