READING CIRCLE Sing this colorful song to the tune of London Bridge as you invite youngsters to your reading circle.

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1 COLOR DANCE Written and Illustrated by Ann Jonas A delightful mix of movement and color dances off the pages of this book as four performers create a rainbow of colors with their scarves. Encore! Sing this colorful song to the tune of London Bridge as you invite youngsters to your reading circle. Mix blue and yellow to make green, To make green, to make green. Mix blue and yellow to make green, In our color dance. (Repeat the song, replacing the color words each time with combinations that create different colors, such as Mix red and yellow to make orange. ) Once your colorful little ones have joined your reading circle, ask them to listen to the story to discover new colors that can be created from different color combinations. Science Invite youngsters to create their own color combinations with this experiment. To prepare, fill each of three quart-size freezer bags one-third full of water. Add red, blue, or yellow food coloring to each bag. Zip the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible; then seal the top of each bag with clear duct tape. Lay the bags flat on a large sheet of white paper. Ask each child in a small group to predict which new color can be created by combining two of the color bags. After he guesses, invite him to overlap the two color bags to check his answer. Then sing the song from Reading Circle, filling in the appropriate colors in the song and changing the last line to With our color bags. Afterward, have each child use primary crayon colors to illustrate the results of his experiment. Encourage him to share his discoveries with his family. 3

2 4 STORYBOOK CAFÉ It takes two to do the tango toast two colors, that is! When youngsters practice their color-combination skills on this snack, they ll dance with delight over the tasty results. Supplies: 3 basting brushes paper plates toaster oven ART SMARTS Create colorful dance scarves with this crafty idea. Half-fill three clear plastic cups with water. Add red, blue, or yellow food coloring to each cup. (The more drops you add, the darker the water color.) Put an eyedropper in each cup. To make a scarf, a child drops different water colors onto a thick white paper towel to mix and create new colors. After the towel dries, cut it in half lengthwise and tape the halves together to make a long, narrow scarf. Invite students to use their color scarves in Purposeful Play. Tango Toast Ingredients: white bread 3 cups of milk, each tinted with either red, blue, or yellow food coloring sugar To make one slice of tango toast: 1. Paint a design with two milk colors on a slice of bread. 2. Sprinkle sugar onto bread. 3. Toast bread in oven. 4. Enjoy tasty tango toast! PURPOSEFUL PLAY Everyone s a star in this special color dance. To prepare, cut out a class supply of large circles from red, blue, yellow, green, orange, and purple construction paper. Tape the colors onto the floor to form a large ring. Give each child the scarf she made in Art Smarts. Then have her stand on a color. To begin, chant [Red and yellow], here s your chance. Step inside and do a color dance! The children standing on the named colors step inside the ring and wave their scarves as they dance to a selection of lively music. The remaining children circle around the colors while the music plays. When you stop the music, repeat the chant using two different colors. The children on the named colors then enter the ring while the former dancers move to a color circle. Continue the dance rounds in this fashion as student interest and energy dictates.

3 FREIGHT TRAIN Written & Illustrated by Donald Crews All aboard! A black engine pulls a line of colored train cars through tunnels, past cities, and across trestles. Brief text and bold illustrations blend to create a colorful and exciting cross-country journey. Use this choo-choo chant to steer youngsters to your reading circle. Red caboose moves down the track. Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack. [Orange] train car moves down the track. Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack. Big engine moves down the track. Shiny and black. Shiny and black. Toot! Toot! (Repeat the second verse for each car color in the book yellow, green, blue, purple, and black. Then sing the last verse.) After your little ones have clickety-clacked their way to your reading circle, invite them to take an imaginary ride on the freight train as you read this story. Basic Concepts Set your students on the right track when it comes to color recognition. To make train cars, cover each of seven shoeboxes with a different color featured in Freight Train. Working with groups of seven students at a time, give each child a box; then sequence students according to the color sequence in the book. Instruct the child with the black train car to lead the student train around the room to find an item matching his car color. Have him put the item in his box and then move to the back of the train. Invite the new train leader (the purple car) to follow suit. Once the black car returns to the front of the train, reassign the color cars; then send the train down the track for another round of color collecting. CHALK-GONE 5

4 ART SMARTS Your little engineers can choose colors for their own color trains with this creative choo-choo art. To begin, make several tagboard rectangle tracers. Then fill a separate shallow tray with a paint color for each train car: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and black. Have each child trace a row of rectangles onto a long strip of paper. To make a train engine, have the child overlap and trace two rectangles, as shown. Have him paint each car a different color and then paint color streaks between the adjoining cars to give the appearance of a speeding train. Have him complete the train by painting black wheels on the cars. Once their color trains have dried, encourage your little ones to take them home and share them with family members as they invent new stories about where freight trains go. PURPOSEFUL PLAY Youngsters can toot their own horns in this color-recognition activity. Appoint a child to be the train engine. Ask him to call out a color in his own clothing. Have the other children check their clothes for the named color. Instruct all the children wearing that color to connect hands to form a train behind the engine. Then invite the engine to pull his color-coordinated train cars around a designated train track. When the train chugs back to the station, appoint a different child to be the engine; then invite youngsters to play again. STORYBOOK CAFÉ Give youngsters a nutritious sampling of some tooty-fruity flavors with this snack. Toot! Toot! Fruity Freight Train 6 Supplies: large napkins plastic knives Ingredients for each child: 6 graham cracker sections whipped topping watermelon cube small chunk of orange banana slice green grape half blueberry purple grape half 12 pieces of Cheerios cereal To make one fruity freight train: 1. Spread whipped topping on each cracker train car. 2. Line up cars; then put a different fruit on each one. 3. Add two cereal wheels to each car. 4. Roll train down the track and into tummy. Chug-a-chug-a-yum-yum!

5 GROWING COLORS Written & Photographed by Bruce McMillan Take a peek through Bruce McMillan s camera to view a cornucopia of colors growing in the garden. Call your class to storytime with this song sung to the tune of London Bridge. Red and yellow, orange and green, Purple and brown, black and blue. Colors grow for me and you. Good and tasty! (Repeat until all of your little ones have joined the circle.) After youngsters gather together, share the sights and colors of Growing Colors. Science What colors does your garden grow? To learn more about colors that grow in the garden, invite students to create a garden mural. To prepare, visually divide a length of white bulletin board paper into eight equal sections. Label each section with a different color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, or black. Then assign each child a section of the paper on which to draw. Instruct her to draw a plant that grows food of her given color. Refer students to the book for ideas, but also encourage them to brainstorm plant foods not pictured in the book, such as apples, lettuce, and eggplant. Label each child s drawing with the plant name. Then display the garden mural with a leafy border. Title the display Growing Colors. GROWING COLORS plum blueberries potato carrots blackberries beans apple squash apple strawberries apple peanuts grapes pepper oranges eggplant lettuce lemons tomato purple blue brown orange black green yellow red 7

6 PURPOSEFUL PLAY ART SMARTS When youngsters make these carrot drawings, they ll discover that some garden foods are good for more than just eating! Invite each child to spread fingerpaint on a large sheet of fingerpaint paper. Have her use a carrot like a pencil to draw designs, pictures, or letters in the paint. To erase the drawing, have her simply smooth out the paint and then begin drawing again. When each child creates a drawing she wants to keep, have her set it aside to dry. Later, invite each child to share her drawing with the class. Then encourage her to take her carrot art home to share with her family. STORYBOOK CAFÉ Combine these common garden foods to create a cup of colors with a crunch! Supplies: clear plastic cups plastic spoons Garden Goodies Ingredients: carrot rounds squash cubes diced red peppers celery slices ranch salad dressing Challenge youngsters categorizing skills with this Wheel of Color game. To prepare, cut a large circle out of bulletin board paper for every six to eight students. Visually divide each circle into eight segments. Color only the tip of each segment with a different color from an eight-count box of crayons. Then place the crayons in a bag. To play, a group of six to eight students sits around the color wheel and passes the bag from child to child. When a signal is given, the child holding the bag removes a crayon. The group identifies the crayon color and then rotates the wheel so that the corresponding segment is in front of the player with the crayon. On the segment, she draws an item that is commonly that color, such as a yellow banana or a red fire truck. Afterward, she returns the crayon to the bag and passes it for the next round of play. When these wheels go round and round, students will create a collection of color categories to display for the enjoyment of classmates and class visitors. 8 To make one serving of garden goodies: 1. Layer vegetables in a cup. 2. Top with dressing. 3. Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!

7 X X Theme: COLORS LUNCH Written & Illustrated by Denise Fleming A very hungry mouse frolics across the table, lunching on a feast of colorful fruits and vegetables. With a festive flair, this tale leaves readers eager for Mouse to return for his dinnertime eating excursion. Assemble your class for storytime with a rollicking version of this song, sung to the tune of Mary Had a Little Lamb. Sniffle, sniffle. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Munch, munch, munch. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Sniffle, sniffle. Crunch, crunch, crunch. This little mouse is having lunch! (Repeat until all of your little mice have joined the circle.) Once your munchy mice have joined you, ask them to listen to the story to discover all the different food colors eaten by Mouse. Language Arts Youngsters will develop an appetite for reading with these mini versions of the story. To prepare, make a class supply of page 11. Then make a class supply of the mouse patterns (page 14) on gray construction paper. Give a copy of the booklet pages and the mouse patterns to each child. Invite each child to illustrate his booklet pages and personalize the cover. Then have him cut apart the pages and stack them in order. Hole-punch at the dot, through the entire stack. Insert one end of a halflength pipe cleaner through the holes, bend the end toward the stem, and then twist together to secure. Next, have him cut out the mouse patterns and glue the cutouts together back-to-back. Punch a hole in the mouse on the dot. Insert the loose end of the pipe cleaner through the hole and twist closed. To use, a child feeds his mouse the food as he reads each page. When he reaches the last page, he turns the mouse over and puts him down for his nap. Sweet dreams! Lunch Lunch for for Mackie Mackie Mouse Mouse 9