LITTLE BEAR

                 Reading Activities     

Welcome to Little Bear's reading activities page. All of the reading activities focus on the novel, Little Bear.  Activities are being added to the thematic unit.  If you would like the complete unit, please go to the order form.  The unit has ready to use activities for a balanced literacy program as well as integrated curriculum.  Practice is included for standardized testing.  There are over 100 pages in the unit.

        Samples of the unit are in this web site.  I know you will be "beary" happy with my curriculum units.

                                             Sarah

       The literature book will be used in guided reading segments during class.  I am fortunate to have multiple copies of the book so each student has a copy to read and work with during the week that we work directly with the Little Bear book. 

       The reading of Little Bear is only one segment of the unit plan or theme.  During this month (usually January) I incorporate an author study (Jan Brett), the study of Alaska, and a winter theme.  This provides more flexibility in the integration of curriculum as well as the 4-Blocks Reading.   Suggestions for the unit are included in this web site as well as some of the books and resource materials that I have used to enhance the theme.  Additional curriculum areas that integrate well with the story are:  space, families, and celebrations/traditions.

       For a general time frame, I would block three to four weeks for the unit theme especially for primary students.  This allows time for writing, centers, science, and exploration of bears and Alaska. 

    Else Holmelund Minarik was born in Denmark.  She came to the United States when she was four years old.  She went to college in New York and became a newspaper reporter.  Later she taught school in the Long Island area.  When she couldn't find enough books for her first-grade beginning reading students, she began writing the books herself.  In addition to writing, the author loves gardening and having fun with her granddaughter, Zuleika.  Minarik gets ideas for her stories when she and Zuleika laugh together.

      With the emphasis on standardized testing, I develop a test similar to the SAT-9 that my students will take.  For each chapter, I write questions, supply three choices for answers and make the "bubble" answer format for responses.  I have found that the students are less intimidated by the test format when they have exposure in the form of these practice tests.

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