The Very Cranky Bear: Story Map is a fun and purposeful activity designed to accompany a whole class reading of the picture book The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland. These no-prep worksheets will allow you to check your students’ understanding of the key elements of the story, including the characters, setting, and plot.

To complete the task, students will create a story map of the text. This activity supports comprehension and helps students organise and retell the main parts of the story in a visual and structured way. Students will engage with the text and demonstrate their understanding through drawing, labelling, or sequencing key story elements.

The Very Cranky Bear: Story Map offers multiple worksheet options to suit a range of learning needs. Whether through cutting and pasting, drawing, or drawing and labelling, this task can be easily differentiated to suit your class.

This activity is perfect for independent work, small group tasks, scribing, assessment evidence, or your relief folder. It’s a great way to reinforce narrative structure and comprehension through creative, hands-on learning.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Identify and describe key story elements (characters, setting, plot)
• ✅ Develop comprehension through story mapping
• ✅ Practise drawing, labelling, and sequencing skills
• ✅ Support oral and written retelling of the story
• ✅ Promote flexible thinking and engagement with the text

What’s Included:

• Cut and paste pictures into the correct boxes
• Draw pictures in the boxes
• Draw and label pictures in the boxes

Materials Needed:

• Printed The Very Cranky Bear: Story Map worksheets
• Pencils, crayons, markers
• Scissors and glue (for the cut and paste version)

How to Use:

1. Read The Very Cranky Bear with your class.
2. Discuss the characters, setting, and key events in the story.
3. Choose the worksheet option that best suits your students.
4. Students complete the story map by cutting and pasting, drawing, or drawing and labelling key elements of the story.
5. Encourage students to use their story map to retell the story orally or in writing.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use as an independent comprehension task after reading The Very Cranky Bear.
• 💡 Include in a literacy rotation for story structure practise.
• 💡 Use for assessment evidence of comprehension and understanding of narrative elements.
• 💡 Add to a relief folder as a no-prep literacy activity linked to a familiar text.

Top Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Enlarge worksheets to A3 for Early Years and Foundation students to provide more space for drawing and writing.
• 💛 Model how to complete a story map before students begin the activity.
• 💛 Use completed story maps as prompts for students to orally retell the story to a partner or the class.
• 💛 Display student story maps in the classroom to celebrate comprehension and creativity.

The Very Cranky Bear: Story Map is a flexible and engaging way to support students in building comprehension, understanding narrative structure, and expressing their ideas visually and in writing. It’s the perfect companion to your literacy unit on this much-loved text!

Check out more amazing resources related to The Very Cranky Bear in our The Very Cranky Bear PACKAGE.

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