RUE Episode 46: Describing a Black Bear

Our focus in this episode is describing a Black Bear. We use our knowledge of farm animals to begin our description.  Black bears share some physical characteristics with dogs, so that’s the animal we choose to begin our description. We’re taking a major step today toward researching and reporting on an animal of choice. Let’s get started!

Watching Episode 46

Click here to watch or download Episode 46 in its entirety.

Watching by segments

You can watch Episode 46 in smaller segments.  Click here to view Segment One.

Watch Segment 2.

Segment 3

Episode Summary

We start Episode 46 not with a bear but with a bird! Following up Episode 45 – which focused on animal folktales – this episode features the host sharing another animal folktale.  In this case, it’s about the tiny bird called a wren, and how it came to be the King of the Birds.

Video Clips Used in this Episode

Host Reading Folktale “King of the Birds”

Deer in snow

Click here to see the video clip about Black Bears

The Black Bear video is available ad-free from archive.org. Click here to watch or download it.

Link to Video

Some of the bear video featured in this episode is from a wildlife rehabilitation and Education center in Josephine County, Oregon. The organization is called Wildlife Images. I featured Wildlife Images on the RVTV program Adventures in Education. Click here to see that episode.

Language Objectives

Describe an object (black bear) using prior knowledge of a physically similar animal.  Use the comparative form of adjectives to compare the common traits of different objects (animals). Describe the physical features of an object (black bear) by comparing body parts and general shapes.

Academic Content Objectives

Literature: Cause and Effect – Trace the cause/effects relationship in a folktale to explain a phenomena (distribution of birds to various locations and ecological niches. Identify themes in folktales about animals. Science: Life Science: Describe the physical characteristics of animals (Black Bears). Use comparison to describe differences in a trait that’s common in two different species of animal.  Social Studies: Culture: Identify a folktale in the Native American tradition that explains the natural world.

Learning Materials

These are the visual materials I used in Episode 46.  Click a slide to enlarge it.  Use your back arrow to return to this page.

Next Episode

We take a trip to the zoo and practice discussion skills in our next episode.  Click here to see Episode 47.