Storytime Plan Theme 10
Imagining fictional bears and story characters Launch the Theme Introduce the Poster Welcome
The stories in this theme—suspenseful, funny, and wondrous—all have a problem or challenge involving a bear. As children develop their comprehension and problem-solving skills, this common element helps them talk about and learn from the stories. Skills Focus • Vocabulary: Understanding New Words • Comprehension: Storytelling & Retelling • Print Awareness: End Punctuation • Social & Emotional: Problem Solving
children to the “Imagine That! Bears!” theme. Explain that each book in the theme features a bear. Share the poster and talk about it as you explore what children already know about bears. What kinds of bears do you know about? Are the bears in this poster real? How can you tell? What kinds of problems do you think a bear might cause in a story?
TM & © Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. Illustrated by Linda Bleck.
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Talk About Bears Invite children to share their favorite bear stories.
Do you know a story that has a bear in it? How does the bear act in that story?
Resources
Bear Facts Make a Bear Facts book together. Print or find photos of real bears. Invite each child to cut out one bear and paste it onto paper. Ask each child to dictate a sentence to you, describing what his or her bear looks like. Encourage them to stick to the facts (e.g., This bear has brown fur and long claws. ). Label the photos with the name of the bear (e.g., grizzly bear, black bear, etc.), and have the children write his or her name on his or her page. Bind the pages together into a Bear Facts book. Play the CD Play the song “Three Little Birds” from the World Playground CD. Invite children to sing and dance along. First Language Support Provide translations of key words that will help children better enjoy and understand the stories. For example, for Spanish speakers: beginning = el principio ; end = el fin ; problem = el problema ; to solve = resolver
• Big Book: The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood • Read-Aloud: Maybe A Bear Ate It! by Robie H. Harris • Read-Aloud: Polar Bear Night by Lauren Thompson • Music: World Playground • Character Cards: Little Cat and Friends • Poster: Imagine That! Bears! Refer to the Program Guide for Family Time and additional activities.
STORYTIME 1
After Reading Aloud Talk About It! Encourage children to say the story in their own words as you prompt them to retell the beginning, middle, and end. What happens at the beginning of the story? Why is little Mouse nervous or worried about his strawberry? What happens next? How does little Mouse try to keep his strawberry safe? What happens in the end? What does little Mouse do with the strawberry? Why? Favorite Stuffed Animals Host a teddy bear or stuffed animal event. Send home a request to bring in a teddy bear or other favorite stuffed animal. Have children share their stuffed animal with the class and tell all about it. Invite children to categorize the stuffed animals by traits (color, type, what kind of eyes, what kind of “fur”). Reread As you reread, focus on print concepts. Point to the question marks at the end of the questions on the first several pages. Explain that when you read a question, your voice goes up. Point to the very large words in the middle of the book and repeat them with exaggerated enunciation ( BOOM ! and SNIFF !). Explain that a word in all uppercase letters tells us to say the word loudly. English Language Development Invite children to act out the story. Begin by asking them to imagine a big bear is behind you as you read the story and that each of them is little Mouse. Use a prop like a red ball for the strawberry, and have children take turns holding it and acting out story details.
In this book, little Mouse works hard to keep a red, ripe strawberry safe from a big, hungry bear. A mysterious narrator convinces little Mouse to share the delicious strawberry in the end to “keep it safe” from the bear.
Invite children to join in on this teddy bear rhyme, using their fingers to represent the ordinal terms first through fifth ! Five Little Teddy Bears Five little teddy bears standing in a line. The first one said, “I’m feeling fine.” The second one said, “Let’s go and play.” The third one said, “Let’s play all day!” The fourth one said, “Let’s run and run and run.” The fifth one asked, “Isn’t reading fun?” Share the Big Book Introduce The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear Read aloud the title and invite children to talk about the picture on the cover of the big book.
It looks to me as if the mouse is asking us to “shhhh,” or be very quiet. Why do you think he wants us to be quiet? Let’s read to find out.
Read Interactively As you read, help children notice the unseen narrator who talks to little Mouse, along with other story details. Who do you think is talking to little Mouse? What makes you think that? Why is little Mouse hiding (guarding, disguising) the strawberry? Do you think a big hungry bear will come get the strawberry? Why or why not?
• pick the strawberry and fall down • hide or disguise the strawberry • cut the strawberry in two
Research Connection Background knowledge is an important part of reading comprehension. Little Mouse is reacting to his fear of an unseen bear. This requires children to already know some bear facts: bears are very big, they eat a lot, they can be scary. Prepare children to better understand the story by activating their knowledge of bears.
STORYTIME 2
After Reading Aloud Talk About It! Invite children to retell the story and help them connect the story to their own lives. What is the cat doing in the beginning? How does the cat feel about the book? What happens to the book? What does the cat think happened to the book? What really happened to it? Have you ever lost something like the cat did? What did you imagine happened to it? Silly Animal Stories Reread the pages in which the cat is imagining how different animals took the book. Help children make a new story page in which another animal does something funny with the book. Help them dictate a sentence based on the repeating wording in the book: Maybe a ______ ______ it . Reread Give children the character cards to retell the story as you page through the book again. Encourage children to act out what the cat imagined. English Language Development Work together to make a T-chart showing the places the cat imagined the book might be and the places the cat really looked for the book. Label one column “Imagined” and the other column “Real.” The “Imagined” side will include things like “rhino’s horn” and “bat’s feet.” The “Real” side will include things like “sink” and “washing machine.”
In Maybe a Bear Ate It, a cat loses a favorite book at bedtime. Children can relate to the cat’s feelings of fear and frustration at losing a book. The cat could give up looking for the book, but instead he persists!
Engage children with this movement rhyme about teddy bears. Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn around, Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch the ground. Teddy bear, teddy bear, dance on your toes, Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your nose. Teddy bear, teddy bear, touch your head, Teddy bear, teddy bear, go to bed. Teddy bear, teddy bear, say good night, Teddy bear, teddy bear, turn out the light. Teddy bear, teddy bear, wake up now, Teddy bear, teddy bear, take a bow. Share the Read-Aloud Introduce Maybe a Bear Ate It! Read aloud the title and the author’s and illustrator’s names as you show the book cover. Who do you see standing behind this little cat in his pajamas? What does the bear have in his mouth? What do you think this story is about? Let’s read to find out.
Research Connection Rereading stories helps build children’s
Read Interactively As you read, help children focus on the main character and his imagination.
comprehension as well as their oral language skills. Help children engage more deeply with stories each time you reread them. Begin by talking together about the main events and characters in the story, then progress to making inferences (e.g., why do you think the character did that?) and making connections to children’s real lives.
What does the cat think happened to his book? Do you think this is real or imagined? Should the cat give up or keep looking for his book?
STORYTIME 3
After Reading Aloud Talk About It! Talk about the little polar bear’s journey and guide children to recognize how it helped to calm the little polar bear so that she could fall asleep. Why do you think the little polar bear goes out of her den? How does she feel? What does the little polar bear see on her journey? How does she feel at the end of her journey? How would you feel if you were the little polar bear going on that journey? Keep Going Play “Just Keep Goin’ On” from the World Playground CD and invite children to take a journey around the classroom, noticing details along the way, and then draw or write about them. Reread Focus on challenging vocabulary as you reread the book. Guide children to use context to understand the words when possible. It says the little cub creeps across the snow. How is the little polar bear moving across the snow? That’s right, she is going slowly. To creep is to move slowly and quietly.
In Polar Bear Night, a polar bear cub explores the world outside her den. Instead of being frightened by night, the polar bear feels wonder as she finds her way back home.
To prepare for the mood of the book, hold up a teddy bear and invite children to softly sing a goodnight song to the bear. Twinkle, Twinkle
Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are.
Share the Read-Aloud Introduce Polar Bear Night Show the cover and read aloud the title and author’s and illustrator’s names. Explain that this book is about a baby polar bear who goes on a nighttime adventure. This cover shows a baby polar bear. Do you know where polar bears live? Yes, they live in the Arctic. Let’s read this story to learn about this baby bear’s adventure in the Arctic. Read Interactively Read the story in a soft voice that conveys the quiet and beauty of the night. As you read, help children understand any new or unfamiliar words and notice story details. What do you think it means for something to look “keen and cold”? What are most of the animals doing? Yes, they are sleeping. Who isn’t sleeping? That’s right, the little polar bear!
English Language Development Talk about words children may not know, such as keen , snug , moonlit , and stillness . Explain the meaning of each word in context and then reread the sentence.
Research Connection One effective way to introduce children to new information is to connect it to something familiar. Many young children are not familiar with the Arctic habitat of polar bears, but most understand the feeling of cuddling with mom or dad. Including that familiar element helps children engage with the story.
Connect the Stories Display the three books and talk about the bear in each story.
What yummy treat does the bear in the first story want? What does the cat think the bear wants in the second story? Where does the baby polar bear want to go?
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