Count the Ways, Little Brown Bear by Jonathan London - Teaching Ideas

Mama Brown Bear loves Little Brown Bear more than...Little Brown Bear and Mama Brown Bear spend the afternoon and evening counting all the ways.

This is a sweet story that involves a fun way to count to 10.

Listed below are reading skills and strategies you can use to create a meaningful lesson. I have also created a "Favorite Part" freebie to go along with the book.

Reading level: 1.5

Theme/subject: feelings, counting

Genre: fiction

Suggested Vocabulary/phrases: strolled, sweet berry pie, claws

Reading skills and strategies:

• Asking questions - {possible questions before} I wonder what the story is going to be about. I wonder why they are counting. {possible questions during} I wonder how many ways they will come up with. {possible questions after} I wonder what Little Brown Bear will dream about. **Remember to have your students answer/reflect their questions.
• Author's point of view – Third person. Be sure to find 3 pieces of evidence to support this.
• Author's purpose – Entertain {evidence} The author made the illustrations really cute. Little Brown Bear and his mama live in a house and talk. All these things make a very entertaining story.
• Beginning, middle, end - {most important event from beginning} Little Brown Bear asked how much his mama love him. {most important event from middle} Mama Brown Bear was counting all the ways she loved Little Brown Bear. {most important event from end} Little Brown Bear finally fell asleep.
• Character analysis - describe Little Brown Bear. Describe Mama Brown Bear. {looks like, feelings, thoughts, character}
• Compare & contrast – Little Brown Bear and Mama Brown Bear.
• Connections - {possible text-to-self connections} Going on a picnic. Talking about how much you love your mom and how much she loves you. {possible text-to-text connections} Connect this book to Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. Both books have a mother and child expressing how much they love each other.
• Drawing conclusions & inferencing – Why did Little Brown Bear smile when his mom said she loved him more than all the stars in the sky? {what I know} I know that there a lot of stars. {my conclusion} I think Little Brown Bear smiled when his mom said she loved him more than all the stars in the sky because there are probably more stars than he can count and that makes him feel loved.
• Fact & opinion – {fact} Little Brown Bear and mama had a picnic. Little Brown Bear ate a jar of honey. Mama Brown Bear scratched her back on 3 trees. Little Brown Bear caught a fish. Little Brown Bear had seven teddy bears. {opinion} Little brown bear and Mama Brown bear had a nice lunch. Little Brown Bear likes honey more than anything. Mama Brown Bear thinks Little Brown Bear has too many teddy bears. Little Brown Bear thinks hugs are better than kisses. Mama Brown Bear looks tired of reading books.
• Main idea & details - {main idea} the story is mostly about Little Brown Bear and Mama Brown Bear counting how many ways she loves Little Brown Bear. {details} Mama Brown Bear said she loved him more than the three trees she used to scratch her back. More than the six story books Mama Brown Bear read before bed. More than the eight bear hugs he got from his teddy bears.
• Plot - the turning point or climax in the story is when Mama Brown bear gave Little Brown Bear bedtime kisses.
• Sequencing – They had a picnic. Little Brown Bear ate 1 berry pie. Little Brown Bear caught 2 fish. Mama Brown Bear scratched her back on 3 trees. Little Brown Bear at 4 apples. Mama Brown Bear pulled out 6 jars of honey and let Little Brown Bear eat one of them. Mama Brown Bear read Little Brown Bear 6 books before bed. Little Brown Bear got 7 bear hugs from his teddy bears. Mama Brown Bear gave Little Brown Bear one more hug so he had 8. Mama Brown Bear gave Little Brown Bear 9 bedtime kisses. Little Brown Bear told his mom he loves him more than 5+5. Mama Brown Bear tells Little Brown Bear she loves him more than all the stars in the sky. Little Brown Bear finally falls asleep.
• Story elements - list title, author, characters, setting, beginning, middle, end, or problem & solution.
• Theme – Love. Mamas always love their children more than anything.
• Visualize – Visualize 10 things that you love…but not as much as your mama.

IT'S FREE!!

Happy Reading!