Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson is one of my favorite winter read-alouds for the classroom or speech therapy. This cozy story is filled with themes like hibernation, friendship, and winter animals, making it perfect for targeting a wide range of speech and language goals during the colder months. The repetitive, predictable text also helps support comprehension and early literacy skills.
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Bear Snores On Activities
Bear Snores On is a versatile book that can be used to target a wide range of speech and language skills. During a read-aloud, you can work on vocabulary development, sentence expansion, and answering WH-questions using the repetitive story structure. The predictable sequence of events makes it ideal for practicing story retell and sequencing skills, while the characters’ actions and emotions support inferencing and basic pragmatic language goals. Let’s check out some fun read-aloud activities for this story!
Story Retelling Activities
My Bear Snores On book companion features a wide range of activities to support your students’ needs. It includes three different story retelling activities: a story map (available in both color and black-and-white for students to color), a cut-and-paste story map, and a fun craft activity.
This fun craft supports fine motor skills and story retell as students glue Bear’s animal friends inside Bear’s den in the correct order. The predictable sequence of events in Bear Snores On makes it an excellent choice for targeting narrative language skills and story grammar. Students can practice identifying characters, setting, and key events while retelling the story in the correct order. Your students will love decorating Bear’s cave!
Comprehension Activities
Bear Snores On tells the story of a sleeping bear who hibernates in his den while a series of animal friends quietly wander in to escape the cold. As the animals gather, they eat, play music, and enjoy each other’s company until Bear suddenly wakes up. At first Bear is upset, but he quickly realizes he has missed out on the fun and is welcomed into the group, ending the story with themes of friendship and inclusion.
This story is a great choice for targeting comprehension because it follows a clear, predictable sequence of events. It is also the first book in a series, which makes it especially effective for fostering comprehension as students build background knowledge and get to know the characters over time. Other great books in the series include Bear Wants More, Bear Feels Scared, Bear Can’t Wait, and Bear’s New Friend. You can find them all at your local library or Amazon!
Bear Snores On Task Cards
The comprehension task cards include answer choices in a field of two and a field of three, making it easy to differentiate based on student needs. This allows you to support early learners while also providing an extra challenge for students who are ready for more complex answer choices. These cards ask a variety of WH questions related to the story.
Bear Snores On Flip Book Companion
I’m a huge fan of flip books because they’re interactive, meaningful, and memorable! This flip book addresses comparing and contrasting, sequencing, writing, and comprehension.
It includes a writing prompt about planning a winter party. This also taps into executive function skills!
Here is a peek at the comprehension page! It features 12 comprehension questions. I love cut and paste activities, not only are they another way to work on fine motor skills, but they also make learning fun!
Bear Snores On Literacy Activities
Bear Snores On is a great book for targeting early literacy skills during speech therapy or classroom read-alouds. Because the story is written in rhyme, it naturally supports phonological awareness by helping students hear and recognize sound patterns in words. The repetitive, predictable text also promotes print awareness as students learn how text works and begin to anticipate repeated phrases. In addition, the story provides rich opportunities for vocabulary development, including discussing word meanings and exploring synonyms using the story’s descriptive language and illustrations.
Rhyming Activities
The rhyming activities included in this resource help support phonological awareness in a fun, hands-on way. Students can practice identifying rhyming words using picture flash cards, as well as worksheets where they draw a line to connect words that rhyme.
I’ve included colorful flashcards that you can use in a pocket chart or literacy center! There is also a black and white version students can color and take home for practicing! Students just match up the rhyming words! These cards can also be used in a “feed me” activity where they drop the cards in a brown paper bag or a biggie mouth character!
Vocabulary Activities
This is such a wonderful book for vocabulary building. Students are introduced to a variety of forest animals, including badger, mole, wren, hare, bear, mouse, gopher, and more. If you continue reading other books in the Bear series, students become increasingly familiar with these woodland creatures. This book is also a great choice for teaching and reinforcing synonyms.
Karma Wilson uses such rich vocabulary in her Bear books, and it truly melts my English language arts–loving heart. For example, one page describes the animals as they nibble, chew, chomp, and crunch. When Bear wakes up, he gnarls, snarls, and growls.
This interactive notebook activity includes a puzzle pouch that targets four Tier II vocabulary words from the story. Students match and assemble the puzzle pieces while practicing word meanings in a hands-on, engaging way. I think that interactive activities create fun learning experiences!
More Language Skills
There are truly so many language skills you can target with this book (and all of the Bear books). From cause and effect and pragmatic language to comparing and contrasting and describing, the opportunities are endless. Let’s take a peek at some of the other fun activities this book companion offers.
Cause and Effect Activities
Bear Snores On is a great book for working on cause and effect because the story clearly shows how one event leads to another. Students can discuss what happens when the animals enter Bear’s den and how Bear’s reaction changes the outcome of the story. Practicing cause and effect helps students build comprehension and supports their ability to understand how events are connected in stories and everyday situations.
Cause and effect can also lead to great conversations about emotions. When Bear is awakened from his slumber, he is angry at first. He quickly warms up to his friends and happily joins their cozy gathering. Karma Wilson’s books are great for social-emotional learning! Bear is truly one of my favorite characters! I dare say he’s the sweetest brown bear in literature!
Comparing and Contrasting
This story lends itself so well to comparing and contrasting. Each animal brings a different dish to the gathering, such as popcorn and honey-nuts, which gives students concrete details to compare. Students can also compare and contrast the animals, their actions, and their roles in the story. Practicing comparing and contrasting helps strengthen descriptive language, organization of ideas, and higher-level comprehension skills that support both language development and academic success. This book companion includes several Venn diagrams!
A Venn diagram is a graphic organizer made up of two overlapping circles that helps students compare and contrast ideas. It shows how two things are the same and how they are different. These can be glued into an interactive reading or language notebook, or completed on a piece of paper.
Describing Activities
Bear Snores On is a great book for targeting describing skills. Students can describe the animals, settings, and actions in the story using attributes such as size, color, and function. Practicing describing helps students expand their sentences, use more precise vocabulary, and communicate ideas more clearly. If your students need extra support with describing, my describing toolkit includes additional activities and visuals that pair well with this book.
There are several different interactive language notebook activities included! They can also be placed in a reading notebook or standalone! Interactive notebook activities are an effective way to engage young learners.
Final Thoughts on Bear Snores On
Bear Snores On is a versatile and engaging book that can be used to target a wide range of speech and language skills during the winter months. Its predictable structure, rich vocabulary, and clear sequence of events make it ideal for supporting comprehension, narrative language, literacy skills, and more. With the right activities, this beloved story can easily become a go-to favorite in your speech therapy or classroom lesson plans. This also fits perfectly in a bear theme!
Need a copy of the book? Here is a convenient Amazon link for you: Bear Snores On By Karma Wilson
Where to find the book companion? There are two options:
- Speech is Sweet Club – home to all of my current and future book companions
- Bear Snores On Book Companion – in my TPT shop!
Looking for more winter speech therapy activities and ideas? Check out:
Winter Speech Therapy Activities: A Mega Guide for SLPs
Yeti Themed Speech Therapy Activities
Winter Articulation Vocabulary Books
Tacky the Penguin Speech Therapy Activities
Snowman Books for Speech Therapy
Snowman All Year Freebie
January Literature Flip Books
There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow
The Mitten Freebie
Groundhog’s Day Pronouns Freebie
Groundhog’s Day Picture Books
Winter Minimal Pairs Activities
Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day!
