Many homeschooling families have multiple ages that you teach each day. That can be trying when there is a large gap between ages and abilities in your children. Did you know that you can incorporate Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See , which is often seen as a toddler book used for teaching colors, to simply teach multi age lessons? It is written for our littles but It is so very much more than a simple book! This and many other children's books can be a jumping off point to teach a multitude of skills for students of any age.
Level 1
Reading and writing often go hand in hand and using a engaging story to excite your children to write is a great benefit of sharing these books with all of your children. If your student knows their colors but doesn’t yet know how to write and spell the color words, take this opportunity to help them create their own book where they write in the color words. Here is a tip, If they do not yet have the writing skill to form letters easily, you can quickly download a free trace font and it will give them a guide to have the confidence to write the color words themselves. To take learning up another notch, embrace Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See to model how to write in rhythm and cadence. Just as Brown Bear, Brown Bear starts with one character and follows a path of discovery, you can suggest your child start with a hard working ranger and explore the forest through the eyes of the animals living there. Don’t forget, as they write make sure that the pattern in rhythm is the same as found in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See. A straightforward way to ensure they are staying in rhythm, rhyme and cadence , which is the goal, is to use a simple song with a 4/4 time signature as their guide. Row, Row, Row Your Boat is the perfect example of a song that will make it easier to check the rhyme. Try it out for yourself and see what cool stories you can create right along side your children!
Level 2
Using children’s books like, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, to learn about other areas of study can enrich the literary experience of your homeschool. Studying about the animals that live in Washington state, the tundra, the rain forest or any other biosphere would be a natural extension of interest led study for this classic book. An effortless way to make learning about animal groupings that you choose to study, be it class, habitat, or other distinguishing features, would be to provide pictures of a variety of animals and have your student group them in like classifications. This activity could be a simple as grouping them into farm animals, jungle animals, ect. or you could really challenge older students with having them sort the pictures into major and minor classifications. As you study and explore various types of animals, don’t forget to add in the sounds they make! This will not only be fun, but also be a vocabulary building activity as they use words such as snarling, growling, bugling etc. The downside is you will most likely be hearing a bit of a zoo chorus at your home as the excited minds have fun soaking in all of this new knowledge.
Level 3
Children’s literature is so rich so please don’t limit the uses of “toddler” books to just toddlers! They can be a starting point for many and varied reading, writing, art and, most importantly, learning activities.
In the fall, we will be doing many of these activities and more with our classes. Our goal is to truly instill the love of learning in your children, right along side you. We want them to be excited to discover new things and have the desire to continue to grow in knowledge. We can’t wait to walk the journey together as we partner with your family to create an educational experience that surpasses all the rest!
We would love to hear about some of your favorite children’s books! We have never met a homeschool mama that didn’t have a few cherished books! Comment below to share yours!
