Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear by Lindsay Mattock

Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World’s Most Famous Bear

Written By Lindsay Mattick, Illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Little, Brown and Company

2015

Reading Levels: Lexile- 590, Grade- 3

2016 Caldecott Medal Award

Before Winnie-the-Pooh, there was a real bear named Winnie. And she was a girl! In 1914, Harry Colebourn, a veterinarian on his way to tend horses in World War I, followed his heart and rescued a baby bear. He named her Winnie, after his hometown of Winnipeg, and he took the bear to war. Harry Colebourn's real-life great-granddaughter tells the true story of a remarkable friendship and an even more remarkable journey--from the fields of Canada to a convoy across the ocean to an army base in England... And finally to the London Zoo, where Winnie made another new friend: a real boy named Christopher Robin

“friendship, remarkable journey, true story, rescue, bear”

Suggested Delivery: Read Aloud

Electronic Resources:

Zsl.org/videos/fun-animal-facts/the-bear-who-inspired-winnie-the-pooh

This is the site for the zoo that was home to Winnie the bear a hundred years ago. The page provides a brief video that tells the story of the Winnie and how she was rescued, brought to the zoo, and made famous. The video could be used to present to students before reading to begin to build schema about the story.

Americanhistory.si.edu/blog/how-did-animals-even-slugs-serve-world-war-i

This page from the national museum of American History can be used as an extension reading for students after reading the story about Winnie the bear. The page provides many unique stories about other animals who served during world war I and were taken care of by soldiers.

Teaching Suggestions

1. Vocabulary:

• Veterinarian: a doctor who treats animals
• Soldier: a man or woman in the military
• Pace: to walk at a steady speed, back and forth, to show anxiety or annoyance
• Trapper: someone who traps animals for a living
• Colonel: a high-ranking soldier in the military
• Navigate: to plan and or direct a route of travel
• Voyage: a difficult journey or trip
• Mascot: a person or thing that is supposed to bring good luck and/or symbolize an event or organization
• Nuzzled: to rub or push against gently with the nose and mouth
• Enclosure: an area that is sealed off with an artificial or natural barrier

2. Before, During, and After Reading Strategies

Before Reading:

Most likely, most or all students will be at least somewhat familiar with the character Winnie the Pooh. Before reading have students brainstorm a list of as many characteristics of Winnie the Pooh as they possibly can. Ask the students to share their ideas with the class and create “master list” of characteristics. Explain to students that the story they will be listening to is about a real-life bear who inspired the character Winnie the Pooh. Ask the class to make predictions on whether or not they think the real life Winnie will have any similar traits as the fictional Winnie the Pooh. Document the predictions and return to them after reading to see if they were right or not.

During Reading:

Implement a CLOSE reading activity while reading the story by having students analyze the language, specifically the dialogue in the text. Throughout the text the story is interrupted by dialogue between Cole and his mother. Point out these interruptions in the story for students to study and listen to and infer the tone and punctuation of the dialogue. Ask students throughout the story inferential questions such as

1. Why does Cole keep interrupting the story?

2. Why do you think Lindsay Mattick chose to add dialogue to the story?

3. How does it affect your experience?

Ask students to think about these questions when they hear dialogue in the text and after reading hold a class discussion as to how the dialogue affected their experience. During the discussion ask students to analyze how the dialogic language affected their understanding of the characters, plot, and setting.

After Reading:

The back matter of this book appears to be the scrapbook that Cole and his mom are looking at throughout the story. Ask students to think about some memories or important moments that have happened throughout the school year for them. Using Smilebox, a digital scrapbooking software. Students will be responsible for creating their own scrapbook page of their school year. Once complete, the teacher can publish all the pages into a collective class scrapbook to share with students and parents.

Writing Activity:

Mattick chooses to tell the real-life story of Winnie the Bear in the form of a fictional bedtime story. Since the interesting structure of the story provides an opportunity to explore the structures of narratives, ask the students to write their own narrative about their favorite animal. Require the students to write their story from the unique point of view as someone telling a bedtime story to someone else as Mattick does in the text.