Brown Bear, Brown Bear Lesson

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear" by Bill Martin Jr/Eric Carle (Pictured below) is a simple children's book with repeating language and colorful illustrations, making for a great lesson plan for children with emerging literacy skills.

A deficit within our classrooms today is not always being able to modify curriculum for all learners to be able to participate. Using PECS, and books with repeating language, such as "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" - teachers can create a lesson plan that can be individualized to any student. While most students participating in a reading activity with this book may catch on to the repeating phrase (in this case- "Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?") and verbally repeat it, showing understanding of the rhythm and flow of the story, some students may need accommodations to participate. Students who are non-verbal, or have emerging language skills may have difficulty with this type of lesson, which is where teachers can use PECS.

The PECS board pictured above can be an attractive alternative to a teacher with a student who is non-verbal, the student can utilize this PECS board by pointing to the corresponding image as the class is verbalizing the sentence. Additionally, teachers may also want to use a PECS board with all of the animals printed on it (see below), so the student is able to choose which picture corresponds to the correct page being read.

 

This activity can be used as a way for students who are non-verbal to show their understanding of emerging literacy skills. These PECS boards are often used as a stepping stone for students, and can be used when moving towards an AAC device. In which case, a text-to-speech device with these PECS on it is also a nice way to include learners who are non-verbal in the classroom setting.