Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Martin, Jr., B.(1967). Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Illustrated by Eric Carle. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Brief Annotation: The book showcases various animals in different colors of the rainbow as it is read by a teacher. The teacher sees the children, and the children see the book as well as their teacher.

Genre: Poetry/Concept Book

Grade Level: PreK- Grade 1

Readers who will like this: Children who are pre-readers would love this book. And those children who are beginning readers will enjoy this due to the repetition within the story they can chant along to the familiar portions of the story.

Response/Rating (1-4): I rate this book a 4. Not only does this book allow for chant reading, but you are able to incorporate the concept of color as well as the concept of animal sounds. The author has done a magnificent job at incorporating several concepts into one book!

One question you would ask before a read aloud: I would show the children the book, and ask them what they think the bear will see? Do they think we will be able to see what the bear sees?

Reading Strategies Connection: Choral Reading (Tompkins pg. 16). Students will learn to read more expressively and increase their fluency by repeating phrases from a poem or book. The teacher chooses a poem or other text and copies it onto a chart or makes photocopies to give to the students. Then the teacher works with the students to arrange how the reading will take place. For this particular book, I would recommend a chart and pictures of the various things the Brown Bear sees during the story. The story is read several times at natural speed, ensuring to pronounce each word carefully. The strategy suggests the teacher to stand in front of the students so they can see her/his mouth move to form the words as they are reading. The final step is for the students to read the book aloud. The teacher’s role is to emphasize clearly spoken words and ensure the students are reading with expression. The students can also be recorded and later watch/hear themselves partaking in the reading.
Choral Reading is an excellent activity for ELL students because they can practice reading in a non-threatening group setting.