Build Background

• Ask students to tell what they know about pioneers settling out west. Discuss some of the hardships pioneers experienced during their journey.

Preview the Book

Introduce the Book

• Tell students that a fun way to read that will help them understand a story is to guess what they think will happen in a book.
• Give students a copy of the book and have them preview the front and back covers and read the title. Have students discuss what they see on the covers and offer ideas as to what kind of book this is and what it might be about.

Introduce the Strategy: Make, revise, and confirm predictions

• Model how to make a prediction as you preview the book.
• Think-aloud: On the cover, I see four people sitting around a campfire and a covered wagon in the background. Since the title of the book is Adventure in Bear Valley and they're traveling by covered wagon, I think this might be a story about a family that escapes a bear attack while moving out west. I'll have to read the book to find out.
• Encourage students to make predictions about the nature of the adventure in the book.
• Show students the title page. Talk about the information on the page (title of book, author's name, illustrator's name).
• As students read, they should use other reading strategies in addition to the targeted strategy presented in this section. For a review of additional reading strategies, click here.

Introduce the Vocabulary

• Model how to apply word-attack strategies. Have students find the word perilous on page 3. Tell students that they can look at the letter the word begins with and then use what they know about syllables and vowels (one vowel sound per syllable) to sound out the rest of the word. Remind students to look for clues to the word's meaning in the sentence that contains the unfamiliar word, as well as in the sentences before and after. Point out that in this book, they may also look to the illustrations for clues to find meaning.
• Remind students of the other strategies they can use to work out words they don't know. For example, they can use what they know about letter and sound correspondence to figure out the word. They can look for base words, prefixes, and suffixes, or other word endings. They can use the context to work out meanings of unfamiliar words.
• Remind students that they should check whether unfamiliar words make sense by rereading the sentence.
• For additional tips on teaching word-attack strategies, click here.

Set the Purpose

• Tell students as they read the book to make predictions about what will happen based on what the characters say, do, and think. Remind them to revise or confirm their predictions as they learn more about the events of the story.
• Give students the prediction worksheet to fill out as they make, revise, and confirm their own predictions about the story. Tell them to fill out the first column, What I predict will happen, before they begin reading.

Student Reading

• Guide the reading: Have students read to the end of page 11. If they finish before everyone else, they should go back and reread.
• When they have finished reading, ask students to tell why the area is called Bear Valley. (There are big black bears, and even bigger grizzly bears in the woods. It is a very dangerous place.)
• Model making, revising, and confirming predictions.
• Think-aloud: So far my prediction is partly right and partly wrong. I thought the story might be about a family that escapes a bear attack while moving out west. I know now that the adults and children are not a family, and that the children's parents have died. But I also predicted that they will escape a bear attack, and it looks as if that's what could happen next. From what I've read about Emily, she seems like a brave girl to me. On page 10, it says that she headed into the woods to gather firewood even though she was afraid. I think that she'll be attacked by a bear when she goes off alone and that she will have to defend herself.
• Direct students to page 11 in the book. Read these sentences aloud: The sound came closer. Emily was too terrified to move. Ask students what these sentences tell about what will happen next. Remind students that the author is asking readers to infer what will happen, based on the clues given.
• Encourage students to continue to make, revise, and confirm their predictions as they read the remainder of the story. Tell them to fill out the middle section of their worksheet, Changes in my prediction.

    Tell students to make a small question mark in their books beside any word they do not understand or cannot pronounce. These can be addressed in the discussion that follows.

Reflect on the Reading Strategies

• Ask students what words they marked in their books. Use this opportunity to model how they can read these words using decoding strategies and context clues.
• Discuss how making predictions about what will happen in the story keeps them actively involved in the reading process and helps them understand and remember what they read.
• Think-aloud: I predicted that Emily would be attacked by a bear while searching for firewood in the woods alone, and I was interested in continuing to read the story to find out if my prediction was right. My prediction actually turned out to be wrong. Did anyone predict something different? Tell students to fill out the last column of their worksheet, What actually happened.

Teach the Comprehension Skill: Sequence events

• Discussion: Talk with students about the specific sequence of events in the text. Discuss the order in which the events occurred when the bear encounter took place. (Emily saw the bear cub, she realized the mother was nearby, the cub lifted its head and sniffed the air, Emily walked to the wagon and told Elizabeth, Emily shared her idea, they scared the cub away.)
• Introduce and model the skill: Review or explain that common sequencing words, such as first, next, then, after that, and finally, are often used to show the order in which events occur. Write these time-order words on the board. Tell students that some writers do not present the events of the story in order. It is then up to the reader to look for these signal words, or time references, such as dates, to help them put the events in the order in which they occurred.
• Ask a volunteer to list the events of the bear encounter, using time-order words (first Emily saw the bear cub, after that she realized the mother must be nearby, next the cub lifted its head and sniffed the air, etc.).
• Discuss that when writing a story, authors sometimes choose to present the major events out of order. Ask students to turn to page 3 and name the first major event. Discuss that even though Jess and Emily's parents had already died, this event is important to the story. While it isn't part of the plot of Adventure in Bear Valley, it still must be identified as the first major event.
• Check for understanding: Have students work in pairs to examine the sequence of events during the bear encounter. Instruct them to write the sequence, using time-order words, on a separate piece of paper. Allow time for students to share their work aloud.
• Independent practice: Have students practice identifying the sequence of events by completing the sequencing worksheet. Discuss answers aloud when they're done.

    Extend the discussion: Talk with students about what they think of the way Jess felt about Mr. Hutchinson. Ask how the death of his father changed the way he treats Mr. Hutchinson. Ask if they think their relationship will change over time.

Grammar and Mechanics: Dialogue words that show emotion

• Write the following on the board: "Did you hear that?" Emily whispered urgently to Jess. Ask students if they can tell how Emily is feeling (afraid, anxious, etc.). Explain that the words whispered urgently are used in the dialogue between Jess and Emily to depict emotion. Read the following sentence from page 5, as Jess responds to Emily: "Afraid of some ol' boogeyman?" Jess teased gently. Point out that the words teased gently show how Jess feels about Emily (protective, playful, etc.).
• Identify the many words used in the text to depict dialogue. Remind students that these words come directly before or after the quotation marks to show that the character is speaking. Ask students to find those words used in the text and write them on the board as they find them:

said	started	taunted
shouted	inquired	offered
replied	volunteered	admitted
asked	whispered	breathed
complained	explained	pleaded
teased	interrupted

• Talk about how these words help the reader know how the characters are feeling. Ask students to tell which of the words show that the character's words should be read loudly to show anger or excitement (shouted) and which should be read in a soft voice to show apprehension or fear (breathed, whispered). Ask them to think of other words that depict dialogue that they might see in other books (screamed, shared, added, etc.). Add these words to the board.

    Check for understanding: Have students work in pairs to locate where dialogue is found throughout the text. Instruct them to underline the dialogue words that depict emotion (pleaded, said with a smile, etc.).

• Extend the discussion: Have student volunteers read the dialogue aloud and act out the different characters' parts, showing the emotion of each character.

Word Work: Irregular content words (slang)

• Talk about the many uses of slang in the text, such as between hay and grass and bosh. Point out these phrases in the glossary and ask a volunteer to tell what they mean. Explain that slang is highly informal speech that is outside standard usage and consists of new meanings given to coined terms. Discuss how the slang definition for hold your horses (wait) is very different from the literal definition of somebody holding a horse. Explain that the use of slang is one reason why learning the English language can be so difficult.
• Identify all of the places where slang is used in the book and write them on the board: tie to, between hay and grass, peter out, like a bear with a sore head, hold a candle to, dragged out, hold your horses, have a blowup, bosh, bully, flapjacks. Talk about how slang changes through time, and that some sayings are still used today (hold your horses, have a blowup) while others aren't (like a bear with a sore head). Ask students about other slang phrases that are used today and add them to the list on the board.
• Check for understanding: Provide opportunities for students to say the slang phrases and words from the book and to use them in sentences. Refer students to the glossary or dictionary if necessary.
• Independent practice: Give students the vocabulary worksheet. Each worksheet gives the opportunity for students to work with two slang phrases. Supply multiple copies for students to work on more phrases if they have time.

Independent Reading

• Allow students to read their books independently or with a partner. Encourage repeated timed readings of a specific section in the book. 

Home Connection

• Give students their books to take home to read with parents, caregivers, siblings, or friends.

Writing Connection

• Have students add to the story by telling what happens to Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson, Jess, and Emily after they leave Bear Valley. For example, students may tell about how the characters all settled into their new home or they may tell of another adventure in the wild. Point out that since the story is written in past tense, students should continue writing in that same tense.

Social Studies Connection

• Provide print and Internet materials to have students research life in California in 1850. Have them locate California on a map. Have them research aspects of pioneer life, such as pioneer homes, businesses, clothing, schools, etc.

Monitor students to determine if they can:

• make logical predictions based on available pictures and text; revise and/or confirm predictions as they preview and read the book
• accurately sequence events in text
• identify dialogue words used to depict emotion
• recognize the use of slang in text

Comprehension Checks