Introduction and Summary
With vivid color and black and white illustrations by Helen Oxenbury, We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, is the perfect read-aloud story for young students. Follow this adventurous family on their journey through the wilderness in search of a bear. On each page, the family encounters different obstacles in nature and must find their way through to continue their hunt. The family meets and describes each location using sensory descriptions such as; long, wavy grass, a deep, cold river, thick, oozy mud, a big, dark forest, a swirling, whirling snowstorm, and a narrow, gloomy cave. In each instance the children decide;
“Can’t go over it. Can’t go under it. Oh, no! We’ve got to go through it.”
Students will love interacting with the story as they repeat the noise the family makes as they stumble through each setting. When the family reaches it’s final destination, a narrow, gloomy cave, the family sees;
“One shiny wet nose! Two big furry ears! Two big googgly eyes! Oh, No! IT’S A ____”
Can students guess what the family might have found? Students will then love repeating back each of the sounds and adventures as the hunters run away from their prey and back into their house, up the stairs, down the stairs to close the door, back up the stairs, into the bed, and under the covers.
“We’re not going on a bear hunt again,” the family exclaims from underneath the covers as the hungry bear wanders back into the woods.
Curriculum Connections
Filled with opportunities for observations and inferences, this adventurous story is perfect for introducing process skills to a pre-K, Kindergarten, or 1st grade class. Students will be able to make and confirm observations about characteristics of each obstacle the family faces. Students will be able to make predictions about what the family will do based on their observations and the patterns from the story. This book is great for younger students because verses of the story are repeated, observations and vocabulary are age and developmentally appropriate, and there is a strong text to picture relationship. (VA SOL’s K.1 g, k, K.2 b, 1.1 a, f, h)
Additional Resources
The Bear Hunt is an extended version of the story put to music. This link provides the music for the song as well as the lyrics. Students will love singing and following along on the adventure as well as providing their own descriptions of the obstacles and experiences along the way.
A to Z teacher stuff provides a printout activity for students depicting each of the obstacles that the family faces and a table so that students can match words to print, make their own observations about each obstacle, or tell the story again through pictures using their own words.
This Bear Hunt lesson plan from Early Childhood Building Blocks turns this story into a interactive activity. Prompt questions mentioned in the lesson are perfect for teaching process skills, such as; “What sound do you think the mud makes? How high do you think they had to lift their knees in the snowstorm? Do you think they move fast or slow?”
The author, Michael Rosen, reads the book aloud in this fun and entertaining youtube video.
General Information
Book: We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Author: Michael Rosen
Illustrator: Helen Oxenbury
Publisher: Alladdin Paperbacks
Publication Date: 1989
Grade Range: pre- K – 1st
ISBN: 0-689-85349-1