Sequencing and Perspective-Taking with “The Very Cranky Bear”

“In the Jingle Jangle Jungle on a cold and rainy day,
four little friends found a perfect place to stay.”

Thus begins our journey with Zebra, Moose, Lion, Sheep and Bear!

The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland is a delightful presentation in rhyme which will surely entertain Pre-K–Grade 1 students.

Below are a few activities that may be presented, modify to meet the needs of your students.

1. Retell the story

The story could be taken from each of the character’s perspectives.

2. The above could be acted out by students with simple costumes.

I am reminded of the time I taught kindergarten and of my teaching mentor, Gail O’Connor. She was so skilled at taking stories and adding simple props, then letting students add their own touches to characters! This story would so lend itself to a student play!

3. Each character had his/her own thought of what would cheer bear up.

Students could use this free thought downloadable (shown below). Modify it to meet the needs of your students (drawing or writing). The SGM’s Critical Thinking Triangle^® is the crux of the SGM tools, focusing on the thoughts of characters for perspective taking. This book is a simple introduction to a character’s thinking.

Download Thought Development Sheets

4. This story could also be used to show the four characters and what attempts they each made to please bear, using the beads on Braidy doll.

Students could be asked to write a sentence, as modeled here, using the sequence words. Then, the sentence strips could be cut and put in order, as shown.

Use this downloadable and modify it as you wish.