Teach the vocabulary of seasonal events and activities. Entertaining Brennan Bear stars in easy-to-use classroom lessons that also develop language and listening skills.
There are two themed units for each month from September through May. A monthly parent note with take-home activities reinforces the vocabulary learned at school. Each unit targets vocabulary words in a four-lesson progression:
Lesson 1: Introduce the ten-word vocabulary and the full-page, themed illustration of Brennan Bear. Play the mystery word guessing game.
Lesson 2: Read the Brennan Bear story, emphasizing the unit vocabulary words. Children listen for the vocabulary words and answer story comprehension questions.
Lesson 3: Children complete a fun, hands-on activity that reinforces the theme's vocabulary words. The activities require a minimum of materials and some preparation time.
Lesson 4: This one-page activity has children listen to and follow directions that contain the themed vocabulary words.
Children add 180 relevant words to their vocabulary. Some of the themes and target words are:
School—backpack, cafeteria, principal, supplies, and more
Football—bleachers, helmet, referee, stadium, and more
Thanksgiving—cranberries, Mayflower, chief, buckle, and more
Winter—parka, penguin, snowdrift, snowshoes, and more
Basketball—dribble, hoop, scoreboard, court, and more
Valentine's Day—arrow, Cupid, mailbox, envelope, and more
St. Patrick's Day—bagpipe, leprechaun, shamrock, rainbow, and more
Baseball—batter, dugout, diamond, umpire, and more