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.
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