FIRST GRADE UNIT

2011
Learning Color Words
Literature Unit
Kimberly Saylor
S A Y L O R S L O G . B L O G S P O T . C O M

Color Unit for First Grade, but can be adapted for Kindergarten by going
slower.
For this unit you will need:



Other books you might like:





Day 1: (Introductory with 3 colors)
Read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh
Review vocabulary: Climbed, dripped, stepped, stirred, hopped, mixed,
splashed, shouted, and washed.
Start by showing the cover and asking What do you notice? Why do you
think the mice are painting? What do you think will happen in this
book? After the first 2 pages, think aloud. I wonder if the cat will
catch the mice. Read and say, Oh, good! The cat cant find them.
What will those mice do with the paint? Turn and read and say, I
remember getting paint on my feet once. I made a terrible mess. Turn
and read. Think aloud, Now what are they going to do? I hope they
clean up that mess, Turn the page and say Look, theyre not cleaning
up. What are they doing? Continue asking questions like this to the
end of story. Have the students retell the story using the stories
props from: http://kizclub.com/stories1.htm
Sing color songs: Red, Yellow, and Orange.
Demonstrate the mixing of red and yellow. You will need two clear cups of
water and an extra clear cup. Put red food coloring in one cup and
yellow in another. Pour some of each into the empty cup and mix with
Popsicle stick.
Staple 11 cheap dinner plates together. On the front write: My Book of
Colors. Let students decorate the front with all kinds of colors or even
a rainbow.
Have students color the cover.
Read Books on Red, Yellow, and Orange. I use the ones listed on the previous
page.
Make a circle map of things that are red, yellow, and orange. Students will
write the color word in the middle of the circle and draw at least 10
things that are that color. Teacher can make large circle maps on
butcher paper and model how to write the color word and the following
sentences below some of the pictures.
A ___________ is ____________. on each page of their book.







Example






red



























A bug is red.
My Book
of Colors
by John

Day 2
Read Little Blue Little Yellow by Eric Carle
Show students the cover. Ask them what they think the book is about.
Record their answers.
Read the story.
Compare student predictions to what really happened.
After reading ask the following questions:
What did Little Blue and Little Yellow do for fun in their neighborhood?
How did Little Blue and Little Yellow become green?
What happened when Little blue went home green instead of blue?
How did Little Blue and Little Yellow feel when their parents didnt recognize
them? Why did they feel that way?
When did Little Blues mama and papa find out what caused Little Blue to
turn green?
How did the families feel in the end? Why did they feel that way?

Sing Yellow, Green and Blue songs.
Using three clear cups, make yellow and blue water. Pour small amounts of
each into the empty cup and observe.
Read: Books on green and blue.
Complete the circle maps on the colors following the same procedure as
yesterday. Students will write the color word in the middle of the
circle and draw at least 10 things that are that color. Teacher can
make large circle maps on butcher paper and model how to write the
color word and the following sentences below some of the pictures.
A ___________ is ____________. on each page of their book.











Day 3
Sing: Brown, White, Black
Read Aloud: Read: Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young.
Introduce Vocabulary: sturdy, supple, wide, sharp, breezy, and stringy.
Students will try to think of a sentence that will go with each word
using similes:
_________ is as sturdy as a (house)
_________ is as supple as a (ballerina, gymnast)
_________ is as wide as a (barn)
_________ is as sharp as a (pin)
_________ is as breezy as an (air conditioner)
_________ is as stringy as (cheese)

Read the story. Retell the story using story props from:
http://kizclub.com/stories5.htm . Use the ordinal number, days of the
week, and color cards to retell the story.

Give students the color simile sheet: A _____ is as (COLOR) as a ______.
Heres an example: A snowflake is as white as a cloud. or A Hersheys
Kiss is as brown as a dog.

Call the students attention to the number of mice. Ask them different
combinations we could use to get seven. Give them seven mice and let
them explore the different combinations of seven.

Read books on Brown, White and Black. Complete the circle maps on the
colors following the same procedure as yesterday. Students will write
the color word in the middle of the circle and draw at least 10 things
that are that color. Teacher can make large circle maps on butcher
paper and model how to write the color word and the following
sentences below some of the pictures.
A ___________ is ____________. on each page of their book.











































first


second


third







































fourth


fifth


sixth







































seventh


Sunday


Monday







































Tuesday


Wednesday


Thursday







































Friday


Saturday


white







































red


green


yellow







































purple


orange


blue


Name ________________________________































A __________ is as ________
as a ____________________.







Day 4:
Sing: Pink and Purple

Read Pinkalicious or other book on Pink.
Read: Lilys Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes.
What rule did Lily break? Why did she break it? Why was Lily mad at her teacher?
How did her feelings towards her teacher change when she got home? DO you
think Lily will make the same mistake in the future?

Students will make retelling cards using the words first, then, next, and last. Have
students retell the story using the story cards. Students will then make their
own purse to carry the cards and movie star glasses to act like Lilly. Discuss
the different ways Lilly felt during the story and how her feelings changed.

Encourage students to use the following ideas as they complete their
writing/drawing on 3 x 5 index cards.
First Lily took her purple plastic purse to school with coins and glasses in it. (picture
of purse, glasses and coins)
Then, Lily is noisy and her teacher takes her purse. (purse on teachers desk)
Nest, Lily is mad and draws a mean picture. (picture)
Finally, after finding a note from her teacher, Lily says she is sorry and gives the
teacher a snack. (bag of cheese balls).
You can differentiate this by the amount of writing or drawing you have students do.














To make a purple purse. Take a 6 by 12 inch piece of purple paper. Fold it into thirds.
Glue the bottom third to the second third by gluing only on the sides. Cut a
curve on the top third so that when it is folded down it looks like a purse. If
desired tape purple yarn to the sides to make a strap.










Day 5: Final Day
Read The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane De Rolf
If you had been in the toy store, what would you have bought? Why?
If you overheard the crayons talking, what would you have said to them?
How did the crayons feel when the girl took them home?
What did the crayons tell the little girl?

Write all the colors of the crayons in the box. Use the crayon that matches that
color.

Things You Will need
For each middle or high student: pre made bridge maps (3 Tiers). I write it out on
sentences strips before giving it to the students. A bridge map looks like this:

red ^ blue ^ green ^ orange ^ yellow ^ purple ^ black^ brown

apple bird grass sun duck grapes road candy bar

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ n

strawberry pants lime gold fish lemon crayon shirt dirt

Relating Factor ___ is the color of ______ .

You will not put any words just the blank bridge map on the sentence strip:

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ n

^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ n

RF: is the color of

For lower students: 1 ws attached to this lesson





Tell students they will have options depending up their level. (Sorry I didnt take
pictures when I did this last year. I will try to explain it clearly.)

Students who are struggling will draw an object, a color crayon and write the color
name using the ws that follows. They will not use a bridge map. Theirs will look like
this:


______

______

Regular students will trace the words, cut them out and glue them on the top row of
the bridge map and then drawing pictures on the bottom two rows.

Higher students will complete all three parts on their own.



















Name _______________________

















We are a class of students,
Each one of us unique.
But when we get together...
The picture is complete!



Name ____________________________

______
______
______
______
______
______
______
______
______
______

Give one column to each
student.