Standards Correlations

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

Learning Objective

Students will read about events in the 1960s that changed how we interact with nature and identify text evidence to support conclusions.

Key Skills

text evidence, text features, vocabulary, central idea, cause and effect, key details, making a personal connection, narrative writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The text explains how two bear attacks in the 1960s led to new policies at national parks.

 

Structure: The article weaves together narrative and informational passages.

 

Language: The language is informative and matter-of-fact.

 

Knowledge Demands: Some familiarity with camping will be helpful but is not required.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L 

Guided Reading Level: T 

DRA Level: 50

SEL Connection

This story and lesson plan promote social awareness.

Lesson Plan: Night of the Grizzlies

Essential Questions

  • What responsibilities do humans have toward wild animals?
  • How can humans be in the natural world without disturbing it?

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 

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article in their magazines or at Action Digital. Preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Read the article’s title and look at the image of the bear. What do you think happened on the “night of the grizzlies” based on the image? The bear in the image looks scary, like it is about to jump out of the page and pounce on the reader. A good prediction might be that the “night of the grizzlies” involved a bear attack.
  • Look at the map of Glacier National Park. Which U.S. state is the park in? What country besides the U.S. is it in? Name the lake that’s located inside Glacier National Park. Glacier National Park is in Montana and Canada. The lake that’s located inside Glacier National Park is Trout Lake.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (rugged, habitats, fearsome, crisis, aggressively) aloud and discuss their 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 by telling students that the article “Night of the Grizzlies” provides information about how our attitudes toward bears have changed over time.
  • Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
  • Tell students that as they finish each section, they should think about how the text features on the page (e.g., photos, captions, and section headings) relate to what they’ve just read.
  • Point out the activity at the end of the article and tell students they’ll complete it after reading. Encourage them to keep the Think About It! question at the bottom in mind as they read.

 2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Digital. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (25 minutes)

  • Reread the section “Chased From Home.” In the 1800s, why were grizzlies chased from the lands where they had lived? (cause and effect) People began to build on the lands where the grizzlies lived. Stories also spread that grizzlies liked to eat humans, which led many people to kill the bears.
  • Reread “Filled With Terror.” What did scientists learn about grizzlies by the mid-1900s? (key details) Scientists learned that grizzlies aren’t monsters that want to eat humans. The bears are actually smart and shy. Grizzlies are powerful animals that can tear apart tree stumps with their sharp claws and chomp through bone with their strong jaws. But they attack humans only if they sense they are in danger.
  • Reread “The Real Problem.” How did garbage cause grizzlies in Glacier National Park to lose their natural shyness toward humans? (cause and effect) People left garbage all over Glacier National Park. So instead of hunting for their food, grizzly bears started eating garbage left by people. Some people even used garbage to lure bears closer to humans. As a result, grizzlies started losing their fear of humans.
  • What was the news from Glacier National Park on August 13, 1967? What made this news especially shocking? (key details) The news from Glacier National Park was that two women had been killed by two different grizzlies in the park. This news was especially shocking because there had never been a deadly grizzly attack in Glacier before and because nothing had surprised or scared the bears into attacking the women. 
  • Reread “Lasting Change.” After “the night of the grizzlies,” what changes were made at Glacier and other national parks? (problem and solution) Rangers cleaned up trails. They started using trash cans that grizzlies can’t get into. Picnic areas were set up far from where people slept. If a grizzly was seen near a trail, the trail was closed.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • Reread the last sentence of the article. How did Glacier become a “cleaner and healthier” place? (key details) Glacier became cleaner because the litter was cleared away. It was healthier because grizzlies could go back to finding food that is healthy for them to eat. Humans were better protected from having bad experiences with grizzlies, which was better for the health and safety of the humans and the bears.
  • After reading the article, has your view of grizzly bears changed at all? Why or why not? (making a personal connection) Answers will vary.

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Text Evidence activity. As a class, discuss students’ answers and the Think About It! question.
  • Have students work independently to complete our Central Idea and Details Skill Builder, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
  • Writing prompt: Imagine that it’s July 1967 and you recently visited Glacier National Park. Write a letter to the Glacier park rangers about all the garbage you saw in the park. Why is this a problem? What should be done? (Along with information from the article, feel free to use your imagination to come up with details about the trash, what you experienced at the park, and so on.)

Learn-Anywhere Activity

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

Project the task below on your whiteboard or share it with students in your LMS.

Film a News Interview

Playing the role of a real person can help you to better understand that person’s experience. 

Working in a group of four people, make a short video of Steve and John being interviewed shortly after their scary experience in Glacier National Park. Two students can play Steve and John, another can play the reporter, and the fourth can film the interview. 

Before you start filming, write a script. It might help to discuss these questions:

  • What would a reporter ask Steve and John? (Think about when they first noticed the bear, how they got away from it, and what happened next.)
  • How would the boys answer? (Think about how they probably felt about having their campsite attacked.)
  • Why does Steve and John’s story belong on the news?
  • What might the boys hope Glacier will do about the grizzly problem?

Share your video with your class. Discuss the questions and answers that different groups chose to include, as well as how and why different actors chose to play the same role differently.

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Review the suffix -ly to boost fluency.

After reading the article, point out the word aggressively in the vocabulary box. Tell students that the word aggressive is an adjective: It describes something or someone. (Example: Rangers had been getting complaints about aggressive grizzlies.) When you add the suffix -ly, the word becomes an adverb, which describes how something is done. (Example: The grizzlies were behaving aggressively.)

Explain that -ly can be added to many adjectives to create adverbs. If students come across an unfamiliar word that ends with -ly, they can try removing the -ly and see if the resulting word is known to them. To reinforce students’ understanding of this idea, have them complete each sentence below with an adjective they’ll create by deleting -ly from the adverb in bold.

  • I bravely stood up for a classmate who was being bullied, even though I’m not always ______.
  • My mom always speaks softly, and her voice is extra ______ when she’s tired.
  • I guessed that David could bake a cake neatly because his room is always so  ______.
  • This train always moves slowly, and a ______ train isn’t what I need right now.
  • I left because the dog was barking loudly and I don’t like ______ noises. 

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.

Print This Lesson Plan

Text-to-Speech