COLOR FARM

This is a song your students will enjoy singing, but there are many skills “camouflaged” here. *This song reinforces the concept that when you put letters together you make a word.
*Children can learn to read the color words.
*More advanced children can learn to spell the color words.

The Color Farm
(Tune: “BINGO”)
There was a farmer had a cat
And Black was her name-o
B-L-A-C-K (Clap on each letter.)
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
And Black was her name-o.

Dog – BROWN
Cow – PURPLE
Horse – GREEN
Duck – ORANGE
Bird – BLUE
Chick – YELLOW
Pig – RED

English

Click to view

Spanish

Click to view

Puppets
Let the children make stick puppets that they can hold up as you sing.

Write the color word and put a picture clue by it on a sentence strip. Pass these out for the children to hold up as you sing.

Cut a 7” circle out of the top of a file folder. Add ears, tails, and other features for each animal. Children hold it up around their face as you sing.

Hint! Make up additional verses for other colors. For example, a pink flamingo, tan turtle, grey goat, white sheep, etc.


Word Puzzles
Materials: sentence strips, envelopes, markers

Directions: Write sight words on sentence strips. Cut between the letters to make a puzzle. Place the puzzle pieces in an envelope. Make a balloon the appropriate color on the front of the envelope. Children remove the letters and try to put them together to make the word.
Hint! Write the word on the back of the envelope so children can self-check.

Pull and Read
Materials: sentence strips, envelopes, markers

Directions: Write sight words on 10” sections of sentence strips with a black marker. Draw a small balloon the appropriate color at the right end of each word. Seal a letter size envelope and then trim off the left end. Insert the sight words in the envelope. Children pull out one letter at a time and try to blend the sounds and identify the color word. They can self-check with the balloon at the end.


Configuration Puzzles
Write color words on the board. Invite children to trace around the outside shape of each word. Erase the letters inside the outlines. Can children identify the word from the shadow? 

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A COLORING WE'LL GO

Do you remember how happy a new box of crayons made you when you were a child? There was always a lot of “hope” in those sharp, new crayons. I was never a great artist, but I was thrilled with the “possibilities” those crayons offered!

*A good rule of thumb for encouraging children to use many colors in their drawings is to ask them to use as many colors as they are in age. If they are four years old they should use at least 4 different crayons; if they are five years old they should use five colors, etc.

*As you read books to the class, explain the illustrator’s name. Have children notice details in illustrations. Why is it important to add details? Remind them when they draw pictures they are illustrators, too, and they should add lots of details to make their pictures more interesting.

*Encourage children to close their eyes and think about what they want to draw before they begin coloring. “Get a picture in your brain and then you’ll know what you want your picture to look like. It’s like telling a story with your crayons.”

*Keep a box for “lost crayons” on a shelf so children have a place to put crayons that get misplaced.

*Use mint tins to store crayons when boxes fall apart.

A Coloring We’ll Go
(Tune: “A Hunting We Will Go”)
A coloring we’ll go.
A coloring we’ll go.
Hi ho, it’s fun you know,
A coloring we’ll go.

Use straight and curvy lines.
Use straight and curvy lines.
With yellow, purple, green, and orange,
We’ll make our picture fine. (Chorus)

The details we will draw.
The details we will draw.
Imagine all the little things.
The details we will draw. (Chorus)

We’ll fill in the page.
We’ll fill in the page.
Use as many colors
As you are in age.

A coloring we’ll go.
A coloring we’ll go.
We’ll put them in the box and close the top
When we’re through, you know.

https://bit.ly/drjeanAColoring

Crayon Book
Materials: copy paper, hole punch, crayons, rubber band



Directions: Fold two sheets of paper in half. Cut in half. Stack and fold in half again. Make two hole punches on the folded sided about 2” from the ends. Insert a rubber band in one
hole and slip a crayon through the loop. Insert the other end of the rubber band in the other hole and slide the other end of the crayon through that loop. Children can use these books to write color words, draw pictures of their favorite colors, cut objects out of
magazines and label the color, and so forth.


Rainbow Everything
Materials: paper, crayons or markers

Directions: Children can trace around shapes or letters with different colors of crayons. You can adapt this activity to seasonal shapes, words, numerals, or anything you want the children to practice.

MY COLORFUL WORLD

The world is full of beautiful, colorful things. And, many classrooms are full of colorful things and having discussions about colors this time of year. But, have you ever wondered why? Colors nurture visual discrimination and visual memory skills which are the building blocks for letter recognition and sight words. Colors are bolder and easier to discriminate that letters and words, so let's get started!

Color Box (Tune: “Happy Birthday”)
Here’s a crayon for you. (Pretend to hold a present in your hand.)
It’s a blue one for you. (Hold up a blue crayon or marker.)
B – l – u – e blue
Here’s blue for you...
Red, yellow, orange, green, purple, brown, black, white.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8DdOf6xY2c

*Children could hold up crayons or touch something the appropriate color as you sing.
You can download small color cards here:

file:///Users/jeanfeld/Downloads/Color_Cards_Small.pdf


You can download large color cards here:

file:///Users/jeanfeld/Downloads/Color_Cards.pdf

Sign Language
Teach children manual signs for the colors. You can see video clips at aslpro.com.

Color Scavenger Hunt
Cut construction paper in a variety of colors into 2” squares. Place these in a bag and let children choose a square. Have them hunt around the classroom to find an object that color. Can they find more than one?

*Try a color scavenger hunt on the playground.

Colorful Snack
Have a “colorful snack” where every child brings a colorful fruit or vegetable. Ask parents to prepare the food in bite size pieces so it will be easy to serve the class.
*Have children draw pictures of the “colors” they ate.

Wearing Colors
Sing this song to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It." Children stand up when the color they are wearing is sung in the song.
If you're wearing color stand up.
If you're wearing color turn around.
If you're wearing color jump around.
If you're wearing color sit down.

SONGS IN SPANISH

Here are some of my favorite songs in English and Spanish. What a perfectly fun way to help children make language connections!

TODAY IS SUNDAY

Click for English  Click for Spanish

THE WEATHER SONG

Click for English - Click for Spanish

OPPOSITES

Click for English - Click for Spanish

FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS 

Click for English - Click for Spanish

COUCH POTATO POKEY

Click for English - Click for Spanish

You will find a new version of this song in the Canciones playlist below.

COLOR FARM

Click for English - Click for Spanish

TU TI TA TA

Click for English - Click for Spanish A Tu Ti Ta Video 

Click to download A Tu Ti Ta Cards 

Right on time!

Alex May (webmaster) just created this complete list of songs in English and Spanish!  Ole!

YouTube Spanish Playlist - https://bit.ly/drJCanciones

Playlist PDF - https://bit.ly/drJCancionesPlaylist

Video About Playlist - https://bit.ly/drJAboutCanciones

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EARTH DAY

Every day should be “Earth Day,” but is officially celebrated every April 22nd. It’s always important to think about our planet and get kids interested in protecting their environment. Your students are going to be so proud of this “Earth Book” when they take it home to share with their families. 

Materials: 8” squares of the following colors:
2 orange, 1 green, 1 blue, 1 yellow, 1 brown, 1 purple

Directions:

1. Use the link at the bottom to cut out the different pages for the book.
2. To assemble the book put down the solid orange, then the purple, brown, yellow, blue, green, and end with the orange with the circle cut out.
3. Staple on the left.
4. Younger children can “read” the book by describing the colors of the earth on each page. Older students can write simple descriptive sentences on each page.
5. On the last page invite children to write or draw how they can help protect the earth.

Hint! Your students will be overwhelmed to do this all in one day, so stretch this project out by asking them to just do 2 or 3 pages a day.

Here's a pdf with the patterns.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1SnEagA4jljNnFFV0VhbU5YcEk/view?usp=sharing




Earth Day Necklace
1. Give children a small ball of blue polymer clay.
2. Give them a small piece of green clay and tell them to break it into 4 or 5 little pieces.
3. Attach the green pieces to the blue ball and roll in your hands.
4. Make a hole in the center with the nail.
5. Bake in a 275 oven for 12-15 minutes.
6. String the earth ball on yarn or string to make a necklace.

Nature’s Colors
1. Give children assorted pony beads and a piece of string or yarn 20-24” long.
2. Explain that they can select a bead to represent the different things in nature that they appreciate. For example, a blue bead might remind them of the ocean, or a red bead might remind them of a cardinal. (Hint! Limit one bead per color. To make it easier to string wrap a small piece of tape around the end of the yarn.)
3. Tie the ends of the string together to make a necklace.
*Older students could write sentences about each color.
4. Ask children to describe their necklaces and explain what each color represents.

THE KITTENS' MITTENS

This was always one of my favorite flannel board stories to tell my children. They learned rhymes, colors, sequence, and oral language without realizing it!

Note! After I told this story I gave each child a small paper plate and I poured a little milk on it. They put their hands behind their backs and tried to lap up the milk like little kittens. This was many years ago, but I bet some of my students still remember being kittens better than the worksheets!

Materials: You will need a small piece of brown, white, black, red, blue, green, orange, purple, and yellow felt. (You can also use colored paper and attach a small piece of Velcro to the back.) For my flannel board I glued a piece of felt to the front of a file folder and stapled the sides. I stored the mittens in the flannel board and glued the words to the back.

Directions: Cut small mittens from the felt. You will need two of each color. Place the mittens on the flannel board as you tell the story below.



The three little kittens lost their mittens, their brand new mittens of blue.
Let’s help the kittens look for their mittens so they won’t go, “Boo hoo!”
We found some mittens just right for kittens by the bedroom light.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for the are colored white.”
(Place white mittens on the flannel board.)

We found some mittens just right for kittens in our school backpack.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for they are colored black.”
(Put up the black mittens.)

We found some mittens just right for kittens in the washing machine.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for they are colored green.”
(Time for the green mittens.)

We found some mittens just right for kittens by the puppet clown.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for they are colored brown.”
(Now the brown mittens.)

We found some mittens just right for kittens under baby’s bed.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for they are colored red.”
(Put up the red mittens.)

We found some mittens just right for kittens by the crayon that’s orange.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for they are colored orange.”
(Orange mittens)

We found some mittens just right for kittens by a box of Jello.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for they are colored yellow.”
(Yellow mittens)

We found some mittens just right for kittens by the maple syruple.
“Boo hoo, the mittens are not the right mittens for they are colored purple.”
(Purple mittens)

We found some mittens just right for kittens in a tennis shoe.
“Hooray, the mittens are just the right mittens for they are colored blue!”
(Blue mittens)

Hint! After children have heard the story several times, encourage them to fill in the missing color word. You could also pass the mittens out to the children and let them hold up mittens at the appropriate time in the story.


*Hide mittens around the classroom for the children to find. Ask each child to find one mitten and then match it up with a classmate who has the same color of mitten.

*Sing the song about “The Three Little Kittens” and then let the children act out the song. Choose one child to be the mother and three others to get down on all fours and pretend to be the kittens.


Want to download the story?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1SnEagA4jljN2NWVWJwM19ENDQ/view?usp=sharing

COLOR YOUR DAY HAPPY

Something old...something new!

Did you know that Crayola makes WINDOW MARKERS and WINDOW MARKERS WITH CRYSTAL EFFECTS that are washable and will bring out creativity in anyone. I bet you could think of a dozen more ways to use these in your classroom.  (Yep!  Available on Amazon!)

Reading
Write letters, words, numerals, shapes, or anything you want to reinforce on windows or mirrors.
*Let children wear sunglasses and identify the information with a pointer.

Writing
Let children practice writing letters, numerals, spelling words, etc. on classroom windows.
* How about rainbow writing? Make giant letters, shapes, words, etc. on windows. Children can take the markers and trace around the figures with different colors.

Reward
Use these as a reward or when children finish their work early.

Reminders
Use the classroom mirror as a message board to write words of encouragement, reminders, or to celebrate accomplishments.

Special Days
Let children decorate classroom windows for holidays, seasons, themes, or other special events.

Brainstorm!
Write a word or theme and invite children to add their own thoughts to the window.

Sign In
Children can write their name or a special message when they come to school each morning.

Graffiti
What an open-ended art center this could be throughout the year!

Note! You could even have “window washer” as a classroom job. I found it was best to wipe off the marks with a wet towel before using a window cleaner.

ITSY BITSY SPIDER

How about another new video for your children?

https://bit.ly/drJItsyBitsy

MY COLORFUL WORLD

The world is full of beautiful, colorful things. And, many classrooms are full of colorful things and having discussions about colors this time of year. But, have you ever wondered why? Colors nurture visual discrimination and visual memory skills which are the building blocks for letter recognition and sight words. Colors are bolder and easier to discriminate that letters and words, so let's get started!

Color Box (Tune: “Happy Birthday”)
Here’s a crayon for you. (Pretend to hold a present in your hand.)
It’s a blue one for you. (Hold up a blue crayon or marker.)
B – l – u – e blue
Here’s blue for you...
Red, yellow, orange, green, purple, brown, black, white.

*Children could hold up crayons or touch something the appropriate color as you sing.

You can download small color cards here:

Click to download small cards

You can download large color cards here:

Click to download large cards

Sign Language
Teach children manual signs for the colors. You can see video clips at aslpro.com.


Color Scavenger Hunt
Cut construction paper in a variety of colors into 2” squares. Place these in a bag and let children choose a square. Have them hunt around the classroom to find an object that color. Can they find more than one?

*Try a color scavenger hunt on the playground.


Colorful Snack
Have a “colorful snack” where every child brings a colorful fruit or vegetable. Ask parents to prepare the food in bite size pieces so it will be easy to serve the class.
*Have children draw pictures of the “colors” they ate.


Wearing Colors
Sing this song to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It." Children stand up when the color they are wearing is sung in the song.
If you're wearing color stand up.
If you're wearing color turn around.
If you're wearing color jump around.
If you're wearing color sit down.


Color Book
Materials: copy paper, hole punch, crayons, rubber band



Directions: Fold two sheets of paper in half. Cut in half. Stack and fold in half again. Make two hole punches on the folded sided about 2” from the ends. Insert a rubber band in one
hole and slip a crayon through the loop. Insert the other end of the rubber band in the other hole and slide the other end of the crayon through that loop. Children can use these books to write color words, draw pictures of their favorite colors, cut objects out of
magazines and label the color, and so forth.


Rainbow Everything
Materials: paper, crayons or markers

Directions: Children can trace around shapes or letters with different colors of crayons. You can adapt this activity to seasonal shapes, words, numerals, or anything you want the children to practice.

THE COLOR FARM

This is a song your students will enjoy singing, but there are many skills “camouflaged” here. *This song reinforces the concept that when you put letters together you make a word.
*Children can learn to read the color words.
*More advanced children can learn to spell the color words.

The Color Farm
(Tune: “BINGO”)
There was a farmer had a cat
And Black was her name-o
B-L-A-C-K (Clap on each letter.)
B-L-A-C-K
B-L-A-C-K
And Black was her name-o.

Dog – BROWN
Cow – PURPLE
Horse – GREEN
Duck – ORANGE
Bird – BLUE
Chick – YELLOW
Pig – RED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlgZjI_K8vA

Activities:
Let the children make stick puppets that they can hold up as you sing.




Write the color word and put a picture clue by it on a sentence strip. Pass these out for the children to hold up as you sing.

Cut a 7” circle out of the top of a file folder. Add ears, tails, and other features for each animal. Children hold it up around their face as you sing.


Hint! Make up additional verses for other colors. For example, a pink flamingo, tan turtle, grey goat, white sheep, etc.


Word Puzzles
Materials: sentence strips, envelopes, markers

Directions: Write sight words on sentence strips. Cut between the letters to make a puzzle. Place the puzzle pieces in an envelope. Make a balloon the appropriate color on the front of the envelope. Children remove the letters and try to put them together to make the word.
Hint! Write the word on the back of the envelope so children can self-check.


Pull and Read
Materials: sentence strips, envelopes, markers



Directions: Write sight words on 10” sections of sentence strips with a black marker. Draw a small balloon the appropriate color at the right end of each word. Seal a letter size envelope and then trim off the left end. Insert the sight words in the envelope. Children pull out one letter at a time and try to blend the sounds and identify the color word. They can self-check with the balloon at the end.


Configuration Puzzles
Write color words on the board. Invite children to trace around the outside shape of each word. Erase the letters inside the outlines. Can children identify the word from the shadow?

SONGS IN SPANISH

Songs can be a powerful bridge for learning a new language.

TODAY IS SUNDAY

Click to view

THE WEATHER SONG

Click to view

OPPOSITES

Click to view

FIVE LITTLE MONKEYS 

Click to view

COUCH POTATO POKEY

Click to view

COLOR FARM

Click to view

Cheers in Spanish

I’m so excited to share these cheer cards that Carla Ureno (El Paso ISD) created! It’s not easy to translate some of these things into Spanish, so Carla needs to KISS HER BRAIN!

P.S. And thanks to Teacher Toni for updating the graphics. She made them the perfect size to put on a ring.

SPANISH CHEERS

Click to download

A FISHY TALE

HOW ABOUT A "FISHY" TALE TODAY?

You will need a file folder and 2 orange, 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue, and 1 black sheets of construction paper. Trace a fish shape on one side of the file folder and cut it out. Color around the fish so it looks like an ocean. Tape the sides of the folder together. Cut the construction paper into 7” x 9” rectangles. Place the construction paper behind the fish cutout in this order: orange, red, yellow, blue, black, and orange. Glue the words to the story to the back of the file folder so you can read it as you remove one sheet of paper at a time. Encourage the children to join in on the chant.

       
Once there was an orange fish named Mitch who could change his color with the swish of his tail. All he had to say was:
I’m Mitch the fish.
I swim and I swish. 

And I can change my color
If I wish.

One day he was swimming around on the ocean floor and he saw a red lobster. He thought it would be fun to be a bright color like the lobster so he said:
I’m Mitch the fish.
I swim and I swish.
And I can change my color
If I wish.



Suddenly he turned red. (Remove the orange sheet of paper to make Mitch red.) The lobster said, “I’m the only sea creature who can be red. I’ll snap at you!” So Mitch decided he didn’t want to be red anymore. Just then he saw a yellow starfish and he said:
I’m Mitch the fish.
I swim and I swish.
And I can change my color
If I wish.


And with a swish of his tail Mitch turned yellow. (Remove the red paper to show the yellow.) The starfish said, “I’m the only creature who can be yellow. I’ll prickle you!” So Mitch decided he didn’t want to be yellow anymore. Mitch saw a blue whale and decided it would be fun to be blue so he said:
I’m Mitch the fish.
I swim and I swish.
And I can change my color
If I wish.

The whale said, “I’m the only creature in the sea who can be blue. I’ll spout water on you!” Mitch thought it might not be a good idea to be blue, so when he saw a shark he decided to be black and he said:
I’m Mitch the fish.
I swim and I swish.
And I can change my color
If I wish.

Well, you know the shark didn’t like Mitch being black and he said, “I’m going to get you!” Finally Mitch said:
I’m Mitch the fish.
I swim and I swish.
And I can change my color
If I wish.

And he turned back into being an orange fish again. Because being yourself is the very best thing that you can be!


Flying Fish
You can make a little flying fish from a strip of paper cut 8 ½” x 1 ½”. Cut slits halfway through near each end as shown. Hook the tabs together, toss it in the air, and watch your fish fly!