Celebrate Me Theme - Brown Bear, Brown Bear

 

In the beginning of the school year, it is a great idea to begin with simple stories/themes/vocabulary for early learners. The well-known children's book by Eric Carl, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see is a nice example to use for beginning the year.

Language
labeling the animals
repetition of words - sing-songy way the book is written increases child's ability to imitate.
'what's next" - once you read the book, it is great to use it as a prediction book. This also helps with memory.
can sequence story with pictures from the story.
also use pictures from the story to work on object function - "which animal flies? which animal says 'meow'?"
make your own book following the example of Brown Bear - Sarah, Sarah, what do you see? (you could have pictures of target language activities)

Articulation
make your own book following the Brown Bear story. Have child choose other animals which have your target phoneme in their names, i.e. for /k/ - cat, kangaroo, snake, skunk, cow; or expand with black cat.
make picture cards using animal names with targeted phonemes. Play memory and ask, "What do you see behind the card?"

Some helpful sites to investigate:

http://literacy.owcc.net/famlit/parents/ILA/Books-in-a-bag/Brown-Bear.pdf#search='Eric%20Carle%20Brown%20Bear%20activities'

http://www.scs.unr.edu/~dweigel/BRWNBEAR.htm

http://www.kindercritters.com/brownbear/brownbearbook.pdf

http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/brownbear/