The forest is their habitat, or where they make their home. They get food from the forest. They live in caves and hollow tree trunks. Hollow means empty. Bears are bear-y good at climbing trees!
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Hey There, Bear!
You are going to read about black bears. Here are three things to know first.
By Laine Falk
From the September 2024 Issue
Give students background knowledge about bears before they read this issue’s Big Read, “Bear Cub Rescue.”
Lexile® measure: 390L
Vocabulary: habitat, hollow
Topic:
Science,
Common Core Standards
TEKS Standards
1. Black bears live in forests.
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2. People have built roads near bear habitats.
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Bears don’t like to go near people. But people have built towns and roads near where bears live. So sometimes you might see a bear by a road.
3. Mama bears usually have two or three cubs.
The mama bear does everything for her cubs. She feeds them. She cleans them. She keeps them safe. She teaches them to catch fish and climb trees. It is a lot of work!
It can be hard for a mother bear to have more than three cubs. She might not be able to get enough food for all of them.
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Activities
(3)
Skills Activities
Answer Key
(1)
About the Article
Science Focus
Habitats
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Implementation
Small group; whole group; independent reading
Pairings and Text Connections
- Pair this with the Big Read, “Bear Cub Rescue.”
Before-Reading Resources
- Text Preview Bookmarks
(10 minutes) Kids can cut out the nonfiction bookmark and use it to preview the text.
Suggested Reading Focus
Comprehension, nonfiction text features (30 minutes)
- This article gives students background knowledge that will help them better understand this issue’s Big Read, “Bear Cub Rescue,” on pages 6-11 in the print issue.
After-Reading Skills Practice
(15 minutes)
- Quiz: Comprehension check
- Nonfiction Text Feature Hunt: Students can practice identifying nonfiction text features in the article.
Text-to-Speech