The Very Cranky Bear is part of our Starts With a Story Collection, which includes more than 600 picture book companions based on high quality children’s literature that support you in delivering highly-engaging interactive read alouds with follow up activities. Learn more about this children’s book below! - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
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SUMMARY
"The Very Cranky Bear" by Nick Bland is a delightful children's book that tells the story of a bear who is feeling grumpy and out of sorts. As four cheerful animal friends—a moose, a lion, a zebra, and a sheep—seek shelter from the rain, they mistakenly choose the bear's cave as their hideout. The bear, annoyed by the intruders, warns them that he is very cranky. The animals try to cheer him up by dressing him in silly outfits, but nothing seems to work. It's only when a tiny sheep accidentally brings a ukulele into the mix that the bear's grumpiness melts away, and they all join in a joyful and musical celebration. Through Bland's lively illustrations and humorous storytelling, the book explores the themes of friendship, understanding, and the power of music to lift one's spirits. It teaches young readers the importance of empathy, finding common ground, and the transformative effect of shared joy.
 USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
Our read aloud lesson plans for this picture book come with reading comprehension questions (with sample student responses), 30 writing prompts, teaching ideas for grammar skills, social emotional learning discussion ideas, and more. Check out our list below to get a sneak peek at some of the skills this resource teaches.
- Encourage students to use their summarizing and retelling strategies.
- Discuss the books plot and examine the problem and solution.
- Practice identifying the genre of a story by analyzing this picture book.
- Have students sequence the important events in the story. This is an important skill when it comes to retelling a story.
- Discuss the author’s use of rhyme and rhythm in this book.
- Explore prepositions and how they describe nouns or pronouns.
- Introduce homophones and discuss the multiple meanings of homophones in this book.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30Â 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
This book is a must have for your school or classroom library. Your students are going to love completing these activities for the book and you will be impressed with how much they learn. You will want to read this book to your class every year.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will love the similar books listed below, which can all be found in our free picture book list.
- Giraffes Can't Dance by Giles Andrade
- Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang
- The Bad Seed by Jory John
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
