Some of the best stories are real stories.
In this case it’s the story of Winnie, the black bear who inspired some of the best-loved children’s stories featuring a bear and his friends who live in the Hundred Acre Wood.
LGS 4-6 team students recently enjoyed the book Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear, by Lindsay Mattick. The book is a story within a story: a mother is telling her son a bedtime story about a Canadian soldier in World War I who stumbles upon a baby black bear.
Because the book takes place in a present day setting as well as the past, it provided an opportunity for a lesson on verb tenses.
Using verbs from the book, students identified “clues” which help identify the tense:
Past tense: -ed (he jumped, she watched)
Present tense: -s (he jumps, she watches)
Future tense: will (he will jump, she will watch)
The students were challenged by some irregular verbs like “ate” and did very well.
Pooh would be pleased.