£5.00 (inc. VAT)
KS: R & KS1
Year Group: Year 2
Literary Theme: Bravery & Courage, Bravery vs. Fear, Storybook Bears
Author(s): Helen Cooper
File of fears entry, letters seeking and giving advice, oral retellings, own version narratives
Information text
15 sessions, 3 weeks
This is a three week Writing Root in which begins with children arriving to find a mysterious shape in the classroom covered in a blanket with warnings and questions all over it. They go on to create questions and statements about what they have discovered before beginning to explore the book. Children will discuss their own fears and create their own entry for a class ‘file of fears’ before writing letters in role as William asking for help. They will send advice letters to William in response suggesting what he should do before creating their own oral retellings of the story before writing their own story about a child who is afraid of something in the house. Children will then explore fact and fiction around bears in order to create information reports about bears to send to William to help him feel less scared.
William is scared of the place under the stairs. He is absolutely sure there's a great big and probably hungry grizzly bear lurking there. He is utterly convinced that the bear will gobble him up if he doesn't feed it, so every day he carefully opens the door, throws in some food and slams it shut quickly - wham, bang, thump!
Find out what happens when a nasty smell pervades the house and Mum and William decide to investigate . . .
This gorgeous, lyrical text tells the story of a boy called William who is convinced that a bear is living under the stairs. As the story is told in rhyme and uses alliteration, it is a great way for children to review certain phonemes, particularly different ways to make the /a/ sound. The repetitive language ‘wham, bang, thump’ is also a fun way to encourage children to join in with the reading. It also has strong PSHE links, particularly around overcoming fears and speaking to a trusted adult. Helen Cooper is a significant and prolific author who won the Kate Greenaway award twice for two consecutive books.
Fear, bravery, bears, phonics, family, speaking to a trusted adult, overcoming fears, the power of imagination, fact and fiction
Date written: September 2014
Updated: October 2023, July 2025
A Spelling Seed is available for The Bear Under the Stairs.
This is a three-session spelling seed for the book The Bear Under the Stairs by Helen Cooper. Below is the coverage from Appendix 1 of the National Curriculum 2014.
Spelling Seeds have been designed to complement Writing Roots by providing weekly, contextualised sequences of sessions for the teaching of spelling that include open-ended investigations and opportunities to practise and apply within meaningful and purposeful contexts, linked (where relevant) to other areas of the curriculum and a suggestion of how to extend the investigation into home learning.
There is a Spelling Seed session for every week of the associated Writing Root.
any, bath, behind, children, door, pass, prove, steak, sugar, sure
Homophones and other words that are often confused
The /ʌ/ sound spelt o
View The Bear Under the Stairs Spelling Seed