Activities Coloring Pages Word Puzzles Word Treasures Return to the Story
Get ready to discuss, share, play, create, and read your way to developing and empowering a strong character.
Imagine
You meet a stranger and before you even get to know them, you are in danger. You are running to find a safe place to hide. If you are to survive, you must trust the stranger.
Story Focus, Virtues, and Life Lessons
Story Focus:
Two strangers become instant friends and help each other in the face of danger.
Virtues:
Courage – Unity – Helpfulness
Life Lessons:
The skunk and opossum worked as a team to escape from a mutual threat:
- Unity and Helpfulness
Oliver said, “Sara, we have to leave right now. Follow me. Run as fast as you can.” She ran and followed Oliver into the dark woods. Oliver ran to a large oak tree that had fallen on the ground. He and Sara ran inside the hollow trunk. - Courage
Sara surprised the bear when she tumbled out between them. He turned his face toward her and she sprayed the bear in the face.
Magical Moments
Interactive Discussion and Activities
Reading Story Techniques
First, pre-read the story before reading it aloud with your learner. Use expressive language, gestures, motions, and sounds to make the story come alive:
- Add concern to your voice when the mother tells them there is safety in numbers.
- Change your voice to sound annoyed when Sara talks about her brothers leaving her.
- Demonstrate a stomp of your foot when Sara sees Oliver.
- Mimic a hissing sound when Oliver and Sara meet.
- Demonstrate listening by pausing for a moment when Sara hears the bear.
- Have fear in your voice when they see the bear coming toward them.
- Sniff and growl to imitate the bear.
- Show and sound relief in your face and voice when Sara and Oliver are safe.
While Reading
Interject these questions to involve the learner:
- What did Sara want to find?
- Who left Sara behind?
- When did Sara surprise the bear?
- Where did Sara and Oliver hide from the bear?
- Why did Sara and Oliver hiss and growl at each other?
After Reading
Use the answers to these questions to recall points in the story.
- Who acted first in response to the threat?
Oliver said, “Sara, we have to leave right now. Follow me. Run as fast as you can.” - Why did Oliver think that Sara was a cat?
Oliver wondered, “What kind of striped cat is this?” He stopped growling and asked, “Are you a cat from the village of Red Haven?” - What natural instinct did both animals exhibit?
Sara turned and stomped her feet at Oliver. Oliver hissed at Sara. Sara hissed back. They continued to hiss and growl as they slowly circled each other. - When did Sara save them both from the bear?
Sara surprised the bear when she tumbled out between them. He turned his face toward her and she sprayed the bear in the face. - Where is their hiding place from the bear?
Inside the hollow trunk of a tree in the Fire Fall Woods. - Note: Close with a discussion on how relationships can change with experience and knowledge. Discuss how the skunk and opossum transitioned from enemies to friends. They worked as a team to escape from a mutual threat.
Behavior/Social Development (All Ages):
Have discussions that help your learner express their feelings – scared, safe, proud, helpful, and brave.
- Talk about how their body feels when they are scared and when they feel safe. Ask questions like:
- “When you are scared, what do you do to feel safe again?”
- “When should you get help if you are scared?”
- Discuss how the body feels when they are being helpful. Ask questions like:
- “What do you do to be helpful?”
- “Are you happy when you help others?”
- Discuss feelings in the body when they needed to be brave in a difficult situation. Ask questions like:
- “When do you feel brave?”
- “What did you do to show that you were brave?”
- “Did your act of bravery help another person?”
- Ask your learner if they agree or disagree with these statements regarding unity:
- “Unity is seeking peace.”
- “Unity is a feeling of connectedness with others.”
- “Unity is looking for the best in others.”
- “Unity is refusing to engage in conflict.”
- “Unity is helping others.”
- Help your learner realize and appreciate other people’s contribution in completing a task by participating in unity building activities such as: completing a large puzzle, planting a garden, participating in a fundraising project, etc.
Language Development (Younger Learners):
- Antonyms: he – she, in – out, far – nearby, front – back, small – large
- Colors: black, white, brown and red
- Identify word patterns: Long A Sounds “– ace”
Bolded words, among the following, were used in The Striped Cat — ace, face, lace, pace, race, placed, space - Identify and explain words that may not be familiar to your learner, such as “swelled,” “growl,” “hollow,” “howled,” and “distress.”
- Animal colors and patterns — Discuss why the opossum thought the skunk was a striped cat.
- Helpfulness – Ask your learner if they think they are a helpful person. Have them tell you the things they have helped with. Extend the discussion by asking them how they feel when helping others.
- Courage — Ask your learner if they think adults are ever afraid. Have them “interview” adults in their life to ask them to describe a time when they experienced fear and what did they do.
Language Development (Older Learners):
- Review the synonyms for courage that you and your learner discovered in the story, The Frog King. Continue to develop their vocabulary by creating sentences using the words appropriately. Ask your learner if they think they posses any of the qualities and then create sentences using I, or their name, as the subject of the sentences.
- Ask your learner if they think courage is a virtue worth having and why.
- Define the word unity and give examples of where unity is present in today’s society. Extend the discussion by asking your learner how do they see unity practiced in their family, school, church, clubs, sports or organizations they may be involved with.
- Ask your learner if they think it takes courage to be helpful to others. Why or why not?
- Identify qualities and traits that a courageous person possess.
Making Memories
Discover the values covered in this story through guided activities and fun projects that ensure learner involvement.
Arts and Crafts ideas for Creatively Understanding the Virtues
Arts & Crafts Activities (Younger Learners):
Make a role model. Have your learner lie down on a large piece of paper. Draw their outline. Give them magic markers, crayons, pieces of material, and other materials to draw their features and complete their outline model. Ask your learner to tell you about the qualities they have and would like to have. Write what they say in the margin of the picture.
Arts & Crafts Activities (Older Learners):
Create a collage of pictures that represents your learner’s connectedness with their environment and to others (family, school, church, clubs, and team sports).
Involvement Tips (All Ages):
- Share any personal experiences of your acts of courage with your learner. Young learners like to hear about real-life experiences of adults who are important in their lives.
- Pinpoint acts of courage that occurs in your learner’s immediate environment; home, school, church, and community. Discuss the situation, the cause for fear, and actions taken by the people in fear. If there are limited examples from their immediate environment, have discussions from news sources, literature, or history books.
- Be conscientious to avoid making negative comments about a group of people based on race, education, class, gender, or nationality. Remind your learner that we all are part of the human race and everyone has feelings.
“Then, the bear decided to turn back. He sniffed the log. With a roar, he placed his large paw on the tree trunk and rolled it back and forth.”
Lasting Impressions
Continue with learning experiences to extend your stay.
Follow-up Activities (All Ages):
- Read together books that illustrates and advocates courage that can provide the opportunity to discuss facing fears.
- Read together biographies of historical leaders which not only portray true acts of courage, but provides a history lesson as well.
- Discover together other cultures, customs, and beliefs. Discuss the differences and similarities (unity) among them.
Real-Life Activities (All Ages):
Watch a television show or movie with your learner. Identify the characters and their behavior/actions that would represent the virtues of courage, helpfulness and unity. Discuss details observed and rate the quality of the virtues as either strong or weak.
“That’s what friends are for.”
Activities Coloring Pages Word Puzzles Word Treasures Return to the Story
Oh, no! Mother warned me about brown bears.