The Bear Did What???

Well, he might have eaten your sandwich.  Then again he might not have.  You’ll have to read the picture book, The Bear Ate Your Sandwich by Julia Sarcone-Roach, to find the answer.  This is a delightful book which provides many entries into teaching vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.  The story is told by an unseen narrator who begins by telling us about a bear who awoke one morning as “…the scent of ripe berries drifted toward him…”.  In the back of a truck the bear finds berries and begins to eat them.  Soon he falls asleep and winds up in a place where “…the mud squished nicely under his feet.”  He’s in a new forest…the city.  He encounters wonderful new smells like popcorn and activities like a merry-go-round and a slide.  On top of the slide though he spies a lonely sandwich.  He sneaks over to it and begins to eat it.  As he is finishing he notices he has been seen by a pack of dogs.  Afraid, he races out of the park to a boat which takes him back to his home in the forest.  The end of the book is surprising when the unseen narrator is revealed!

There are a variety of writing activities you could use with this book.  If you wanted to work on making inferences, you could have your students answer questions like these:  “Who ate the sandwich?  How do you know?”  A second option could be to have your class come up with questions an investigator might ask the bear to determine if he really ate the sandwich.  A third option would be to have your students write a story like the original book but with a different character and object.  The kids could even use some of the same language the author uses.  Remember, the way children learn to write (well, to do most things) is through imitation and practice.  As long as they realize what words are theirs and which are not, and they’re not planning to make money off of it, they’re fine.

If choosing the third option, I would make sure I had read the book several times and discussed it thoroughly.  After all, this will be a mentor text.  Then plan a story as a class.  Click Writing Planning Sheet Filled In for an example you could use.  If this particular plan works well for you, click Writing Planning Sheet Blank for a blank copy.

Now tell me…what did that bear really do????