Standards Correlations

R.1, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, W.2, W.3, SL.1, L.4, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will identify cause-and-effect relationships in a story about a bear attack.

Key Skills

cause and effect, text features, vocabulary, inference, problem and solution, making connections, critical thinking, narrative writing, informational writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The article describes a teen’s experience of a bear attack. Themes include bravery, problem solving, and overcoming trauma.

Structure: The story is told in first person. It’s mainly chronological but begins with a flash forward to a pivotal moment. 

Language: The language is conversational.

Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is required.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L

Guided Reading Level: T 

DRA Level: 50

Lesson Plan: “I Survived a Bear Attack"

Essential Questions

  • How can we prepare ourselves for emergencies?
  • What can we learn from difficult or scary experiences?

Literature Connection

  • Historical fiction: I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967 by Lauren Tarshis 
  • Nonfiction: Ultimate Survival Guide for Kids by Rob Colson

1. Preparing to Read 

Make a Connection (5 minutes)

Ask students what they would do if they were out in nature and suddenly saw a bear. Stand still? Run away? Make themselves look big and roar? Have students discuss the pros and cons of their chosen strategy. Then tell them that, by reading the article, they’ll learn what experts recommend.

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Read the article’s title and subtitle. What happened to Ben? Where did it happen? Ben was attacked by a bear in the mountains of Utah. 
  • Look at the photos of Ben throughout the article and read their captions. What do they tell you about him? From the photos and captions, we can tell that Ben enjoys hiking and camping, that he had surgery on his head, and that he has two dogs. (The photo with the dogs does not appear in the higher- and lower-Lexile versions of the article.)
  • Read the sidebar, “Bear Safety Basics.” In a sentence, summarize the purpose of the sidebar. The purpose of the sidebar is to give information about the differences between grizzly bears and black bears so that you can protect yourself if you ever come across either. 

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (backpacking, dangling, eternity, in shock, reattach) aloud and discuss the definitions.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow. 

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

  • Set a purpose for reading: Tell students that after reading, they’ll identify cause-and-effect relationships in the story. Point out the activity at the end of the story. 
  • Encourage students to pause at the end of each section so they can monitor their comprehension. Prompt them to make note of sentences they think tell them important ideas in each section, as well as any words or sentences they don’t understand.

2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions..

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • At the start of the article, when Ben mentions remembering that his dog was back at home, he writes, “That’s when I knew I was in trouble.” How did remembering where his dog was help Ben see that there was a problem? (inference) Ben woke up to the feeling of a wet nose against his ear. Still half-asleep, he assumed it was his dog. When he remembered that he was camping, nowhere near his dog, he knew that the animal touching him must be a bear.
  • What did Ben do that stopped the bear attack? (problem and solution) When the bear moved toward his feet, Ben threw his sleeping bag aside and ran over to a picnic table. Then he woke up the rest of his camping crew, and they all yelled and made loud noises until the bear ran away. 
  • Why do you think people ask Ben if he would go camping again? Why is his answer yes? (inference) People probably ask Ben if he would go camping again because he had a terrifying experience while camping. It would be understandable if Ben wanted to avoid similar situations in the future. But Ben has not become afraid of the outdoors. In fact, he has become braver. Surviving the bear attack taught him that he can handle anything.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • Have you ever lived through a scary or difficult experience that made you stronger in the end? What was the experience, and how did it change you? (making a personal connection) Answers will vary.
  • Review the information in the sidebar, “Bear Safety Basics.” If Ben had known about the difference between grizzly bears and black bears, do you think he would have acted differently during the bear attack? (critical thinking) If Ben had known that there were different safety rules for responding to grizzly bears and black bears, he might have run away and made noise sooner. This is the best way to protect yourself from a black bear, the kind that was attacking him. (Students may also note that the information might not have helped Ben, since it would have been hard to tell in the middle of the night what kind of bear was attacking him.)

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Assign students to work in small groups to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Cause and Effect activity.
  • Go further: Use our Sequence of Events Skill Builder, available in higher and lower level versions.  (Click here to view all your Skill Builders.)
  • Writing prompt: Imagine that you’re one of the other campers from Ben’s backpacking trip, and you’re writing a journal entry about the events on the night of the bear attack. Explain what you saw and how you felt. Include details from the story, but use your imagination too.

Learn Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Create a Camping Safety Tip Sheet

The sidebar “Bear Safety Basics” provides lifesaving information for campers. In this activity, you’ll research other useful information that campers should know in order to stay safe and present your findings in the form of a safety guide.

  • First, research camping safety tips. You can search for terms like “camping safety” and “do’s and don’ts of camping.” (One good source of information is nps.gov.)
  • After reading several trustworthy sources, choose the top five tips that you think every camper should know.
  • For each tip, write a sentence or two about what campers should do and why it’s important.
  • Optional: Include illustrations for each item. You can also add labels using arrows, just like in “Bear Safety Basics.”
  • Give your guide a title, and share it with anyone you know who might be going camping.

ELL Springboard

Have students write summary questions for self-assessment. 

Before reading, point out that unlike some of the other articles in Action, the True Teen doesn’t have accompanying Pause-and-Think questions, or questions that can be answered by reading the text. Let students know that they’re going to come up with these questions after reading. Encourage them to try to think of suitable questions as they read.

After reading, divide students into pairs. Have one student in each pair write a question about the section “Outdoor Fun” and a question about the section “Wake-up Call.” Have the other student write a question about the section “In Shock” and one about the section “All Better.” Then have the students in each pair try to answer each other’s questions.

Possible questions:

  • For “Outdoor Fun”: How did Ben feel about the backpacking trip? (He enjoyed it. He got to try new things and have fun. He thought the area was beautiful.)
  • For “Wake-up Call”: Why did Ben lie still while the bear was attacking him? (He had heard that was the right thing to do.)
  • For “In Shock”: What made the bear go away? (Ben’s, the other campers’, and the counselors’ yelling made the bear go away.)
  • For “All Better”: What does Ben say when people ask if he would go camping again? (He says yes.)
Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.

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