The Berenstain Bears Catch the Bus: A Tell the Time Story

The Berenstain Bears

by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain

It's 7:45 a.m. and Gus the bus driver is on his way. But the Cubs aren's even up yet! Will they miss the bus? Told in humorous easy-to-read text, this simple story offers up a blow-by-blow description of just another morning in the Bear household--which readers will find not all that different from their own!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, School, Mathematics, 1st Grade, Back To School

32 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 1999

About the author

Stan and Jan Berenstain (often called The Berenstains) were American writers and illustrators best known for creating the children's book series the Berenstain Bears. Their son Mike Berenstain joined them as a creative team in the late 1980s.

Reviews

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sister and Brother Bear are stuck in bed while the rest of the day goes on and almost miss the bus to school (kids can relate). This book is nice to teaching time (clock on every page) and teaching the students that they cannot be lazy. Also nice for intermediate reader or writer's workshop (small moments).

[Angelique Jordonna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unrealistic. School starts before eight, so that bus was already running late. Grizzly Gus is great though. Also, no way can you wash, dress, comb your hair and brush you teeth and then eat breakfast in three minutes.
The art work saved the book.

[Sandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story to use as a read aloud when teaching children to tell time. A Berenstain Bears classic with great illustrations and a fun, fast paced story.

[Jenny Larges · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary “Berenstain Bears Catch the Bus”: The Berenstain bears offer another teachable moment during morning preparation for catching the bus to go to school. Also, if you get the “Step Into Reading” version, there are parent/teacher guided information.

Reading level: LG, BL 1.6 AR quiz #36413

Characteristics that Support the Genre: The realistic aspect for the premise of this story is relatable to most families on a daily basis!

Mentor Writing Traits:
Idea: The heart of this composition is to thoughtfully use your morning to calmly start your day without having to rush around at the last minute.
Organization: Minute-by-minute morning transition
Voice: The reader experiences the morning challenge of continuously hitting the “snooze” button to opt for sleeping versus waking up in a timely manner.
Word Choice: Words rhyme.
Sentence Fluency:
Conventions: The text offers traditional conventional traits with punctuation, etc.
Presentation: The large text and colorful illustrations provide a relatable presentation.

Classroom Integration: The digital time read-out on each page would be something I would also use for teaching time.

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love having the clock on each page along with what is happening at that time. The problem is that the young bears are able to make it to the bus, after they oversleep without a realistic amount of time to actually get ready and catch the bus when it arrives. This is horrible for someone with ADHD or other time difficulties to see. It shows the young bears going from bed to bus within 5 to 10 minutes. There is no way they could have washed, dressed, eaten, and made it to the bus on time. This gives children a false sense that this is possible. It shows no consequences for getting up late. A funnier idea would be to have them get up late--not as late as shown in the book, hurry to get ready, make it to the bus on time, but have a funny consequence like a shirt on backwards or mismatching shoes or socks or some other silliness. Then have them determined to get up on time the next day.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can you tell time? Well obviously, Brother and Sister have a hard time keeping up with everything that goes on with their morning routine. As the time wounds down, closer and closer to the school bus arriving, the more Mama Bear realizes her cubs are still in bed.

I enjoy the Berenstain Bears, I have always liked the lessons that they taught growing up and now I enjoy teaching them to my own children. I will always recommend these stories, even if some of them don't make since sometimes due to the easy-to-read plans. You cannot go wrong with this bear family.

[Amber Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of my favorites because of the good lesson at the end of the book and all of the rhyming. The book also has two different kinds of clocks on each page showing what time it is. There is a digital and a wall clock with a face. This helps children not only know how to read books that rhyme but also learn how to tell time.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book. I think that the author did a good job on telling a story that can happen in just about any house during school time. I like that clocks were added in as well. The book was easy enough for beginner readers. This is also an AR book for anyone who might want to know. I would recommend this book to others.

[Hannah Brewster · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great for incorporating other school subjects with Language Arts. Students can learn the concept of time while reading this engaging story.

Traits: Voice, Organization

Reading Levels:
AR - 1.6
DRA - 16

[Kassidy McCusker]

This book follows the bears as they wake up late for school and are rushing to get ready so they can catch the bus. This is important because it shows students that they should be getting ready earlier if they are rushing to catch the bus.

[Karah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've acquired the goal of reading every Berenstain Bears book. I still love these books but in childhood, I didn't buy them as often as I would have preferred.

This book would be best for someone just learning to read.

[Lee Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and silly, classic Berenstain Bears. 3/5 stars.

[Huratio · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it when they were going to be late.

[Michelle Farella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Step into Reading Level 2, harder words, longer sentences, short plot, good for kids that can sound out words.

[Danette · Rating 3 out of 5]

1/26/21 Julia read to me

[Charlie Stubbs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a good read.

[Samantha Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is about the bears trying to wake up one morning to catch the school bus. The clock tells us what time it is and what is occurring at that time. The bears are not awake when they are supposed to wake up. The bus is picking up all the other bears, but brother and sister bear has yet to even get out of bed. Their mother sees the bus and realizes she has to go get them up. She is very angry at them. The cubs hurry and get ready just as fast as they can. The were almost late but they ended up being just on time. It was a close one though.

In class, I would do an activity about rhyming words or even an activity about sequencing based on the order of the book.

[TJE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for instructional purposes! Lacking for entertainment value compared to more traditional BB books. Worked well for introducing "time" vocabulary to three year old and would use again in second or third grade when learning time.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic Berenstain rhyming early reader, with a time element added, and a tiny moral (If you're still in bed at seven, you may be late when the bus comes at eight.) Probably good for discussing time passing, but not as good for an early reader as the other Berenstain early readers. (But 150% less heavy handed than the larger-format newer Berenstain books.)

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book tells a story from 6:59 to 8:00 in the morning. The story itself is just okay--it involves the little bears oversleeping and almost missing the bus. But the clocks on each page are helpful for learning time. It includes both digital and analogue.

[Alexander The Triumphant · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, the clock rings, the cubs wake up, and five minutes later the cubs are back to bed. And the cubs don't wake up early enough, so the bus comes to their house. And the bears get on the bus. -by Alexander

[Felicity The Magnificent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked this book because the Berenstein Bears kids were late for school, and their parents kept worrying about them, and then they finally woke up just before the school bus came, and got ready so fast and caught the bus. -by Felicity

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would be a book for kindergarten or 1st grade readers. The story is very simple and relatable to young students. Probably the best feature of this book is that every page has a clock face on it that helps readers learn to tell time.

[Tricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

bears oversleep and almost miss their bus. teaches time on both round and digital clocks.

[Mary Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for young readers. It addresses time and rhyming words, as well as easy-to-read. We got it for our 5 year old to read from the library.

[Emerson and Theodore · Rating 3 out of 5]

They keep sleeping--oversleeping. The bus is coming and the bears are sleeping. The bears just barely make it to school.

[Katie]

II

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun way to help kids tell time.

[Cin-Ru · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is funny and brother bear and sister bear is keep going sleep and sleep and sleep and sleep and not worry about time and school.

[Moksh Mehta · Rating 2 out of 5]

this book is good it's not a novel. it's about two children are late for the bus.