Elementary teachers looking for lesson plans and activities for Bear Says Thanks will love this post. It includes resource recommendations, teaching ideas, and information about the book.
With themes of sharing and manners, this Bear Says Thanks picture book by Karma Wilson is a favorite in 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. You and your students will love it too!
Engage Your Students with Bear Says Thanks Lesson Plans & Activities in 3 Easy Steps:
- Read a summary of Bear Says Thanks.
- Check out the teaching ideas for reading comprehension strategies, grammar topics and social emotional learning skills that can be taught using this children’s book.
- Download the book companion to make lesson planning simple with Bear Says Thanks reading comprehension questions, writing prompts, teaching ideas & no-prep extension activities.
BEAR SAYS THANKS SUMMARY
It is a cold day and Bear is alone in his cave feeling bored. He decides he would like to invite all of his friends over for a feast! However, when Bear opens his cupboard he is disappointed to find that it is empty! That’s when Bear’s friend Mouse arrives with a pie to share with Bear! He thanks her for sharing the pie.
Throughout the book, Bear’s different friends arrive, each with a different food to share. Hare brought muffins, Badger brought fish, Gopher and Mole brought honey nuts, and Owl, Raven and Wren brought pears and herbs. Every time a new friend arrives with food, Bear says thanks.
Once all of his friends are there, Bear realizes he has nothing to share! He feels bad that they’ve all brought food and his cupboards are bare. His friends reassure him that it is okay, he has his stories to share.
The friends enjoy sitting around the fire eating the feast and chatting with one another. All the friends are grateful for the food and company.
BEAR SAYS THANKS LESSON PLAN IDEAS
Each of our 400+ Starts With a Story book companions come with a teacher’s guide to make lesson planning quick and easy, printable worksheets and digital resources that cover ALL of the standards-based reading comprehension skills.
When it comes to writing lesson plans and finding activities for Bear Says Thanks, we’ve already done all of the heavy lifting for you.
We found this book was especially good at teaching the topics listed below.
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
The text-based Bear Says Thanks reading comprehension questions focus on:
- summarize / retell
- analyzing setting
- sequencing
- rhyme | rhythm | repetition
- identifying theme | message | moral
LITERATURE-BASED SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING LESSONS
We found this story to be a great SEL picture book to promote:
- sharing
- manners
GRAMMAR, VOCABULARY & WORD STUDY
- pronouns
- irregular verbs
- prepositions
- homophones
BEAR SAYS THANKS ACTIVITIES
You’ll receive all of the following resources aligned to the story:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
YOU HAVE 2 OPTIONS! WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO PURCHASE THIS BOOK COMPANION?
BOOK INFO FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS
What are the reading levels for Bear Says Thanks?
- Lexile® Measure: AD540L
- Guided Reading Level: L
- DRA Level: 20 – 24
- Accelerated Reader Level (ARC): 2.5
Who is the author? Who is the illustrator?
The book was written by Karma Wilson. It was illustrated by Jane Chapman.
What genre is Bear Says Thanks?
It is a fiction book. You may want to check out our genre activities or read our blog post, How to Teach Genre to Elementary Students.
How many pages are in the book?
The story is 40 pages long.
