Illustration of siblings fighting over the last gummy bear
Art by Anna Jones
Fiction,

You Can’t Catch Me, I’m the Gummy Bear!

Does this story remind you of The Gingerbread Man?

By Janice Behrens
From the December 2024/January 2025 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will compare a new twist on the Gingerbread Man story to the original version.

Lexiles: 380L
Featured Skill: Main Idea,
Common Core Standards
  • RF.1.3 Decoding RL.1.1 Ask and answer questions RL.1.2 Retell stories RL.1.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events SL.1.1 Participate in collaborative discussions with peers and adults SL.1.2 Ask and answer questions about key details in a text read aloud
TEKS Standards
  • English Language Arts
    (6) Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to: (C) make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures with adult assistance.

Magazine View
See Student View

One day, a brother and sister found a bag of gummy bears. There was just one left. It was the red one.

“Give it to me,” said the sister.

“I want it,” said the brother.

PAUSE AND THINK: What did the brother and sister find?

While they were being rude to each other, the gummy bear jumped up. It said something strange.

“Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me.
I’m the gummy bear!”

“That doesn’t even rhyme,” said the sister.

“Whatever,” said the gummy bear, and it ran down the hall.

PAUSE AND THINK: What did the gummy bear do?

It ran by the cat. 

“Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the gummy bear!”

“If I can catch a mouse, I can catch you,” said the cat.

It ran by the dog. 

“Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the gummy bear!”

“You look like a yummy gummy,” said the dog.

PAUSE AND THINK: Do you think they will catch the gummy bear?

Then it ran into the den. Grandma was asleep in her chair. The gummy bear called out,

“Run, run, as fast as you can. You can’t catch me. I’m the gummy bear!”

“Zzz,” said Grandma. 

The gummy bear looked at Grandma’s open mouth. 

“Hmm,” it said. “No one will ever find me in there.” 

PAUSE AND THINK: Where is the gummy bear going to hide?

So the gummy bear hopped into Grandma’s mouth. 

But as soon as it did, Grandma shut her mouth and opened her eyes. She gulped down the gummy bear!

“That’s right,” she giggled. “They will never find you in there.”

Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)
Activities (2) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities
Answer Key (1)

About the Story

English Language Arts Focus

Genres of fiction

Compare/contrast

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

Implementation

  • Whole group

Pairings and Text Connections

  • From the Storyworks 1 archive: “Early Reader Fiction: The Little Round Bun" (February 2022)
  • Suggested books: The Gingerbread Man by Gail Yerrill; Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett

Suggested Reading Focus

Compare/contrast (20 minutes)

  • Preview the story by reading the title. Ask students if it sounds familiar. Tell them that you will be reading a version of the Gingerbread Man story.
  • Read the story aloud while students follow along in their magazines. Model summarizing the section and asking comprehension questions at each Pause and Think.
  • Finally, compare and contrast the story with the original Gingerbread Man story. How are they similar? How are they different? How do both versions end? Have children discuss both stories and tell which one they like more.

After-Reading Skills Practice

  • Skills: Story elements/compare and contrast; story sequence (15 minutes each)

Text-to-Speech