A Day at the River--By Jessica Benson

A Day at the River
Story and Picture by Jessica Benson

bears

Once upon a time deep within the forest there lived three bears, and they were all brothers. There was Big Bear, Medium Bear, and Little Bear. They all enjoyed playing together in the forest. These brothers really loved and cared for each other because one bear would not do anything without the other two brothers.

One day, the three bears decided they wanted to take a swimming trip. They all got their swimming trunks and were ready to take a dip in the river. Big Bear knew that they must go and ask Mama Bear if they could all go swimming at the river. Mama Bear told them that they could go swimming if they would all be extra careful. As the bears walked towards the river they noticed it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly through the tress, the birds were chirping, and there were butterflies everywhere. When they reached the river Big Bear was the first one to jump into the water. As soon as Big Bear jumped in, Medium Bear followed shortly after and they began to splash the water at each other. Little Bear saw all the excitement the other two were having, so he decided to make a big splash by jumping off a small cliff. As he began to run towards the edge of the cliff, Little Bear slipped and fell and broke his arm on a rock. When the other two bears saw what had happened, they rushed toward him to take him to Mama Bear. Mama bear then bandaged up Little Bear’s arm and told him to stay in for a week or two for his bone to heal.

The next day, as Big Bear and Medium Bear went out to play, they noticed that Little Bear looked very sad. Medium Bear asked Little Bear what was wrong. Little Bear replied, “It’s just not fair for me to stay in while you two have all the fun.” Big Bear saw how upset Little Bear was, and he came up with a plan to stay in and play with Little Bear while his arm healed. When Mama Bear saw this it touched her heart, and it showed her how her three sons really loved each other.

Activity for Lesson Using Critical Thinking

After sharing your creative writing story with your students, have your students use their critical thinking skills to answer the following questions to write or dictate their story. After writing their stories, have the students draw a picture using the Paint program to illustrate their story.

Critical thinking questions to ask students that would change your story to their story:
1. How would you change the main character? (Introduction)
2. Where would your story take place? (Setting)
3. What would happen to the main character in your story? (Plot)
4. How would your story end? (Ending)

Jessica's Homepage

jabenson@valdosta.edu