Honey by David Ezra Stein

After hibernating all winter, Bear wakes up craving honey. But it is too early for honey, so he reminisces about it while keeping himself busy in a myriad of ways. Delightful paintings accompany rich vocabulary. This book would be great for tuning in to interesting words to boost comprehension, and as a mentor text for writers who want to create clear pictures in the minds of their readers with their specific word choices.

Possible Strategy Instruction:

Comprehension

• Use prior knowledge to connect with text. “It was his second year. ‘I’m back!’ he said.” Where was Bear back from? What do bears do in winter? How can you tell by the picture that winter is ending?
• Make a picture or mental image—the precise words make it easy to imagine a bear doing all the things described.
• Summarize text—a great story for simplifying and summarizing the beginning, middle, and end.

Accuracy

• Cross checking . . . Do the pictures and/or words look right? Do they sound right? Do they make sense?
• Flip the sound.
• Skip the word, then come back.

Fluency

• Use punctuation to enhance phrasing and prosody.

Expand Vocabulary

• Tune in to interesting words and use new vocabulary in speaking and writing—scraped, aromatic, sap, cracked and grumbled, splattered and shivered, muzzle, trundle, lapped, crisp.