Eat Like a Bear

by April Pulley Sayre

Follow a grizzly bear through a full year of foraging, from spring's first greens to autumn's pre-hibernation feast, discovering the remarkable variety of foods that sustain a bear's massive appetite.

Big Idea

Every creature's survival depends on a deep connection to the rhythms of the natural world.

Discussion Questions

1.What different foods does the bear eat throughout the year?
2.How do the seasons change what the bear can find to eat?
3.Why is it important for the bear to eat so much before winter?
4.How do the illustrations help us understand what the bear is doing?
5.What would happen if the bear's habitat changed?

Lesson Plan

⏱ 30 minutes📦 Chart paper, crayons, printed bear template

Learning Goals

Identify seasonal changes in animal diets
Understand the relationship between habitat and survival
Observe and describe visual details in informational text
Make connections between animal and human needs

Activity Steps

1.Read the book aloud, pausing to note what the bear eats in each season.
2.Create a four-column chart labeled Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.
3.Have students draw or list the foods the bear eats in each season.
4.Discuss why the bear eats differently in different seasons.
5.Compare the bear's seasonal diet to how humans eat seasonally.

Standards Connections

ELA: RL.K.1 — Ask and answer questions about key details
ELA: RL.K.2 — Retell stories, including key details
ELA: RL.K.3 — Describe characters, setting, and events
ELA: RL.3.6 — Acknowledge differences in characters' points of view
ELA: SL.K.1 — Participate in collaborative conversations about the text
ELA: W.K.3 — Write narratives recounting events with descriptive details
SEL: Responsible Decision-Making
Art: VA:Re7 — Perceive and analyze artistic work

Pace-Write-Read Study with Pace-Write It!

Focus question: How does an author use pacing to show a year in the life of a hungry bear? In Eat Like a Bear by April Pulley Sayre, readers follow a grizzly bear as it searches for food from spring through fall before hibernation. The book uses pacing by moving quickly through lists of foods and actions, then slowing down with vivid words and page-by-page discoveries that help us feel the bear’s growing appetite and the changing seasons.

Element	How to notice or teach it in the novel
Pace	Read: Notice how the pacing in Eat Like a Bear speeds through many foods the grizzly eats and then slows to highlight important seasonal changes, from spring greens to the huge autumn feast before hibernation. Classroom Activity: Write 3 short sentences that speed through foods an animal eats, then 1 longer sentence that slows down on the biggest meal.
Plot	Read: Notice that the plot is not a problem-solution story but a yearlong sequence of foraging as the grizzly bear eats, grows stronger, and prepares for winter sleep. Classroom Activity: Make a beginning-middle-end map of the bear’s eating year and write one sentence for each part.
Prosody	Read: Listen to how April Pulley Sayre’s language sounds when read aloud, with energetic food words and changing sentence lengths that create a lively, hungry feeling. Classroom Activity: Read one page aloud with expression, then write your own 2-line animal-food section that sounds good when spoken.
Word pause	Read: Notice where you naturally stop on food names, action words, or line breaks to take in each thing the grizzly bear finds and eats. Classroom Activity: Write a sentence about an animal eating and use slashes to show 3 places a reader should pause.
Concept	Read: Think about the big science concept: animals need different foods across seasons, and a grizzly must eat a lot to survive and prepare for hibernation. Classroom Activity: Write 2 sentences explaining how food helps the bear live through the year.
Voice & World View	Read: Notice the lively, curious voice that treats the bear’s eating habits with wonder and respect, helping readers see nature as active, surprising, and connected. Classroom Activity: Write 3 sentences in an excited nature-expert voice about what a wild animal does to survive.
Setting & Place	Read: Watch how the natural setting shapes the story, with mountains, streams, meadows, and seasonal wild places providing different foods for the grizzly bear. Classroom Activity: Choose one setting from nature and write a sentence explaining what food an animal could find there.
Point of View	Read: Notice that the book is told from an outside narrator’s point of view, but the close focus on the grizzly’s actions helps readers stay near the bear’s experience. Classroom Activity: Rewrite one moment from the bear’s point of view starting with “I sniff…” or “I find…”.
Original Characters	Read: The main character is a real grizzly bear, yet the book makes this animal memorable by showing its enormous appetite, strength, and steady searching through the seasons. Classroom Activity: Create an original wild animal character and list 3 foods it must find in one season.
Dialogue	Read: Notice that Eat Like a Bear does not rely on character dialogue; instead, the action and descriptive language carry the book forward. Classroom Activity: Add one imagined line of dialogue the bear might say while searching for food, then write one factual sentence beside it.
Details	Read: Pay attention to the specific details about what the grizzly eats, because these precise food choices make the science realistic and interesting. Classroom Activity: Write a factual sentence with at least 3 specific foods an animal might eat.
Descriptions	Read: Notice how the descriptions help readers picture the bear’s movements, the plants, and the rich variety of food across the year. Classroom Activity: Describe one animal food using 3 vivid describing words.
Strong First Lines	Read: Look at how the opening quickly introduces the bear’s hunger and pulls readers right into its search for food. Classroom Activity: Write a strong first line for an informational story about an animal getting ready for a season.
Immediacy & Engagement	Read: Notice how the close-up action of sniffing, digging, chomping, and roaming keeps the grizzly’s search immediate and exciting for young readers. Classroom Activity: Write 2 present-tense action sentences that make a reader feel close to an animal.
Story Scenes & Summaries & Unique Structures	Read: Notice how the book mixes scene-like moments of the bear finding food with summary sections that move readers through a whole year of eating. Classroom Activity: Write one detailed scene of an animal finding one food, then one summary sentence about what it eats all season.
Flashback & Flash Forward & Cliffhangers	Read: Although this book mostly moves forward through the seasons, readers can feel a kind of forward pull as the bear keeps eating toward the important future event of hibernation. Classroom Activity: Write a sentence that hints at what your animal will need later, starting with “Soon…”.
Tension & Suspense & Surprise	Read: Notice that the tension comes from the question of how the grizzly will keep finding enough food, and the surprise comes from the wide variety and quantity of foods it eats. Classroom Activity: Write a sentence that creates suspense about whether an animal will find food, then a second sentence that reveals the surprise.
Page Turns and Chapter Breaks	Read: Notice how page turns help reveal new foods, new actions, or a new part of the season, keeping the grizzly’s foraging journey moving. Classroom Activity: Fold a paper into 3 pages and plan what new food or action will be revealed after each page turn.
Performance	Read: This book invites dramatic read-aloud performance with strong eating verbs, changing pace, and expressive emphasis on the bear’s endless hunger. Classroom Activity: Practice reading one section like a storyteller, then mark 3 words in your own writing to emphasize aloud.
Personality	Read: Even in a factual nature book, the grizzly seems determined, powerful, and always busy because of the way its actions are presented. Classroom Activity: Write 2 sentences that show an animal’s personality through actions, not feelings words.
Humor	Read: Notice the playful humor in imagining just how much a giant grizzly can eat and how its nonstop foraging can amaze readers. Classroom Activity: Write one funny but factual sentence about an animal’s appetite.
Pause	Read: Notice where a pause lets readers absorb a surprising food item, a seasonal change, or the size of the bear’s appetite. Classroom Activity: Write a short line about an animal, then add a dash or line break to create a dramatic pause.
Poetry and Poetic Devices	Read: Listen for poetic qualities in the patterned language, sound play, and strong sensory words that make this informational picture book feel musical. Classroom Activity: Write a 3-line poem about a bear or another animal eating, using one sound word and one image word.
Repetition	Read: Notice how repeated eating actions and food-focused phrasing build the feeling that the grizzly is always searching, always chewing, always preparing. Classroom Activity: Write 3 sentences that repeat the same beginning, such as “It eats…”.
Rhythm	Read: Feel the rhythm created by short bursts of action and longer descriptive phrases, which mimic the steady, active work of foraging. Classroom Activity: Write one short sentence and one longer sentence about the same animal to create rhythm.
Punctuation	Read: Notice how punctuation helps control the speed of reading, separating foods, actions, and ideas as the bear moves through its year. Classroom Activity: Write a list sentence of foods with commas, then add an exclamation point to show excitement.
Questions	Read: As you read, ask questions such as why the grizzly eats different foods in different seasons and how it knows where to search. Classroom Activity: Write 2 science questions about the bear’s eating habits, then answer one with a fact sentence.
Compare-Contrast	Read: Notice how spring and autumn can be compared and contrasted, since the grizzly’s food choices and eating urgency change across the year. Classroom Activity: Write 2 sentences comparing what the bear eats in one season to what it eats in another season.
Objects	Read: Pay attention to the important natural objects in the book—berries, roots, fish, plants, and other foods—that tell the story of survival. Classroom Activity: Choose 3 food objects an animal uses and write a sentence about each one.
Threes	Read: Look for places where ideas can be grouped in threes, such as three foods, three actions, or three seasonal changes, to make the information memorable. Classroom Activity: Write a sentence that names 3 things a bear does to find food.
Whitespace & Negative Space	Read: Notice how the space around the words and illustrations can slow readers down and help them focus on the bear, the food, and the setting. Classroom Activity: Create a one-page mini-book page with one sentence and lots of blank space around your main idea.
Art & Graphics	Read: Study how the illustrations support the science by showing the grizzly’s size, movement, habitat, and the foods it finds through the seasons. Classroom Activity: Draw an animal in one season and label 3 foods around it.
Interactives & Gamification	Read: This book invites interactive noticing, such as hunting for each new food the grizzly eats or tracking the changing seasons. Classroom Activity: Make a “Bear Food Hunt” checklist with 5 foods from the book and check them off as they appear.

Pace-Write It!

20-Minute Classroom Flow\nRead (5 min): Read aloud a section of Eat Like a Bear by April Pulley Sayre that shows the grizzly finding and eating different foods across one or more seasons. Pause to emphasize action words and food words.\nNotice (5 min): Ask: How does the book move quickly in some parts and slowly in others? Chart student ideas under “Fast Pace” and “Slow Pace.” Notice how lists of foods speed up the reading, while description and page turns slow us down to help us picture the bear and its habitat.\nWrite (7 min): Students write their own short seasonal animal piece. Writing frame: “In the ______, the ______ looks for food. It eats ______, ______, and ______. Then it finds ______. Soon, it must ______.” Encourage students to make the first 3 foods quick and the last idea slower and more detailed.\nShare (3 min): Partners read their pieces aloud and snap or tap when they hear a part that sounds fast and a part that sounds slow. Invite 1-2 students to share how they used pacing.\nExit ticket: Write one sentence answering: “How did April Pulley Sayre help readers feel the bear’s busy year of eating?”

Classroom Activities

Seasonal Bear Menu

Students create a four-season chart showing what a bear eats in each season, then compare it to their own seasonal eating habits.

Seasonal Bear Menu

Students create a four-season chart showing what a bear eats in each season, then compare it to their own seasonal eating habits.

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