Story Comprehension Questions: Beaver Busy

After reading the Terry Gardner Four Directions tale called “Beaver Busy,” involve your students in responding to the following comprehension questions either in oral or written form or both.

Click “Beaver Busy” to read a copy of the target story.

Twelve Story Comprehension Questions

1. Who is the main character of this story?

Students Respond: A young coyote named Cassius

2. Who was the first to welcome the young coyote to Master Forest?

Students Respond: Ellen Eagle

3. What happened to Cassius Coyote’s family?

Students Respond: Some hunters and farmers found his parents and brother and took them away.

4. What was the first thing that Eagle taught Cassius Coyote about when he immediately started asking questions about where they would go, what they would do, and who they would meet

Students Respond: Eagle taught Cassius Coyote that he can’t know the future. He must live in the now, follow Eagle, and see what happens.

5. What was the first group of animals that Eagle took Cassius Coyote to meet?

Students Respond: The Beaver family

6. What is the Beaver’s main work?

Students Respond: They build a dam to block the river from flooding. They also use this dam as their home.

7. What tools do the Beavers have to do their work?

Students Respond: They use their teeth to gnaw the trunk of a tree until it falls to the ground. They use their muscles to drag the tree around, and they use their tails to help them swim.

8. How did the Beavers know how to do all that they do?

Students Respond: Betty Beaver explained that they were part of the chain of knowing what to do. They learned it from their parents who learned it from their parents and so on.

9. What bad thing did Brad Beaver do?

Students Respond: Brad Beaver was feeling mischievous. He stared tearing the dam apart just to see what happens. He was being destructive instead of creative.

10. What was the consequence issued to Brad Beaver for doing this inappropriate thing?

Students Respond: First, he had to take responsibility for his actions. He acknowledged that if he succeeded in tearing the dam apart, they would lose their home, their food, and the lake would overspill. Second, he had to cut down some trees. Third, he had to repair all the damage to the dam. That way, he would be creative instead of destructive.

11. What was Eagle going to help Cassius Coyote do at the end of the story?

Students Respond: Eagle was going to help Cassius Coyote meet another Coyote who could help Cassius create a creative Coyote life.

12. Compare how Cassius Coyote felt at the beginning of the story and how he felt at the end.

Students Respond: At the beginning of the story, Cassius Coyote was alone, frightened, and sad. At the end of the story, he felt befriended, joyful, excited, and optimistic.

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OTHER STORIES BY TERRY GARDNER

Four Coyote tales:

1. Coyote meets his master

A. Read-aloud story