KS: R & KS1
Year Group: Year 2
Literary Theme: Bravery vs. Fear
Author(s): Helen Cooper
This is a Vocabulary Vine for The Bear Under The Stairs by Helen Cooper
A Vocabulary Vine is designed to be a sister resource to a Writing Root and Spelling Seed. It sits within our wider Teach Through a Text approach by explicitly identifying vocabulary from the book and providing additional opportunities for paired, small group and whole class experimentation with this vocabulary in context. Vocabulary Vines further complement spelling development too through exploration of the morphology (word structure) and etymology (origins) of words. They also provide oracy opportunities through a focus on talk tasks and on oral sentence construction. They are designed for short burst oral and vocabulary development.
A Writing Root is available for The Bear Under The Stairs.
Letters, retellings, own version narratives
Information text
15 sessions, 3 weeks
This is a three-week Writing Root in which children will look at the book The Bear Under the Stairs and use it as a model to discuss their fears and how they deal with them. Children will write letters of advice to the main character and back before writing their own story of a child who is scared of something that might be in the house. The sequence of learning finishes with children making comparisons between real bears and toy bears and using this as the basis for an information report about bears to give 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 nastly 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
View The Bear Under The Stairs Writing Root
