Brown Bear, Brown Bear Sees Colors

 Today's post is all about colors, and more specifically books with bears and colors! Hope you don't mind my post title sounding like a Wheel of Fortune Before and After puzzle, haha.

Being able to read color words really helps kids with following directions in school and reading many early readers, as well as spelling and writing the words to add description to their stories.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle is an all-time favorite of many kids and parents. It teaches colors and animals and it's a quick, easy read. A quick Google search reveals tons of free activities and printables to do. Click "view web version" at the bottom of this post or here to view the read aloud video!

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Bear Sees Colors by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman is another must-read. We love the recipe this author has for books. The same group of friends, some rhyming and repetition, cute pictures, and a nice theme (message) that kids can relate to.  Click "view web version" at the bottom of this post or here to view the read aloud video!

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We are all about play and experience-based hands-on learning here, but sometimes my son does worksheets when I'm putting the girls down for naps. These free fall color words worksheets were so fun for him to do with his Do-a-Dot markers. I did have to trace the outline a couple of times for him to figure out what the picture was, but he loved them and wanted to do more than one at a time.

Here are some other fun color worksheets.

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When my son was younger, he learned his colors very early. "The Colors Song" from Cocomelon not only helped him learn them, but it also helped him associate foods with their colors. Click "view web version" at the bottom of this post or here to view the video!

Snag a free printable here. Kids can trace and color!

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For more Karma Wilson, click here.

For more Eric Carle, click here.

For more rainbow posts, click here. 

For more book posts, click here. 

For more videos, click here.

For more songs, click here.

St. Patrick's Day fun activities

Here are some things we've been doing this March to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! Click the links or images to go to my TPT store.

St. Patrick's Day Lucky Opinion Writing

St. Patrick's Day Math coloring pages

St. Patrick's Day Rich Opinion Writing

Dolch Rainbow Sight Words Pack

                          
                        

Check out my old post for some more fun St. Patrick's Day ideas!

Rechenka's Eggs

In the spirit of spring, we read Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco. Most of my students do not celebrate Easter, so we looked at it from an art / author's purpose view.

Babushka is an artist who enjoys painting eggs. One day she comes across a goose that has been shot by a hunter. As she nurses it to health, it begins to lay eggs. The goose, Rechenka, accidentally knocks over a basket of Babushka's carefully painted eggs...right before the Easter Festival in Moskva. Each night until the festival, the goose begins to lay decorative eggs. Babushka says goodbye and thank you to Rechenka as she leaves for the festival, knowing that she is healthy and will rejoin to her flock. After Babushka returns home, she finds a decorative egg in her basket. It begins to shake and make noise. A baby goose hatches and keeps Babushka company for the rest of her life.

My students think that Patricia's purpose was to explain why we celebrate Easter with decorative eggs in baskets! I guess we will have to ask her in a few weeks!

Here are the eggs we made. First we drew a design on dry erase boards. Next, we drew the designs on the eggs using pencils. Then we used Sharpie markers to color in the designs. They're obviously more colorful than Pysanky eggs, but it was certainly easier than painting or dying them!

  Patricia on Reading Rainbow

Scholastic Lesson Plan

Ms. Jacoby's site with tons of activities

Dolch Sight Words Pack

Here are some previews of my 49-page Dolch Sight Words Pack. The pack includes PreK-3 Dolch sight word lists in "bubble lettering" to be used for a word wall, as rainbow words, for ABC order, or as flashcards. Also included are assessment sheets, suggestions for word ladders, and links to resources for sight words. 

I like the idea of adding 5-6 sight words a week to spelling lists. Older children can be asked to write their own story using all of the words either on a test, at a center, or for homework. Speaking of that...have you checked out Spelling City yet?! It allows students to create flashcards, take a test, and play games with their words! Teachers can load their lists and create a class page for students to visit!

Another game I found is from Starfall. I love this site because it's so kid friendly and it talks to them. Another game you can play outside is Sight Word Island Hopping. It's neat because all it takes is some chalk and pavement to play! You can also create construction paper islands for indoors.

Sunlight and Shadows

Topics covered: light, shadows, sun, and moon. 

(This goes well with the rainbow and mirror lessons I have already posted!)

Younger students can use chalk to create an outline of their feet and shadow. Redraw at one hour intervals. 

Older students can use a compass, pencil, and sunclock diagram to prove that Earth is rotating toward and away from the sun.

Print the Sun Clock Diagram here

Objectives

Students will:

• Demonstrate that light travels in straight lines, or rays, unless it is bent or refracted. (website)
• Explain that the sun stays relatively the same size, but may look smaller or larger depending on where Earth is in its rotation (looks bigger on the horizon).
• Explain that the sun does not really rise, set, or disappear. Clouds can cover it or our side of the Earth may be experiencing night, so it is shining on the other side of Earth.
• Demonstrate that the angle, intensity, and length of sunlight we get due to Earth's revolution on its axis and rotation around the sun determine which season we are experiencing.
• Demonstrate why the moon appears to change size and shape.
• Make a model to show that the moon does not give off its own light. Sunlight reflects off of it as well as other moons and planets, so that they can be seen.

          

Click the pictures for some great, free resources from FOSS.

Click Teacher Resources on the left, then Duplication Masters to print lab sheets.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

Children and adults have always been fascinated, wondering how rainbows form and where to catch the pot of gold. This simple lesson will allow students to make a connection to the real world.    

First, start off by using a prism in sunlight to try to refract, or bend and separate light into the different colors of the spectrum, or rainbow. Be patient. You need just the right angle and amount of sunlight! (You may also want to try my refraction lesson first).

 

Once you can see the rainbow, ask students what colors they see. If you go in order, you should see ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.) These colors have different temperatures and wavelengths, which is why the color with the longest wavelength (red) is at the top of the arc, and why the color with the shortest wavelength (violet) is at the bottom.

If the prism doesn't work, try a cd or make your own spectroscope (it's super easy!). Once students see this, you can help them get rid of the misconception that light is only white or yellow and is really made of the colors of the spectrum.

  

Then I use a spinning color wheel. Students should notice that when the wheel spins fast enough, it appears to be white. They can then make the connection to light.

Next, I give student pairs a flashlight and 3 primary colored color paddles - red, blue, and green. Darken the room and have them observe just red on the flashlight, just blue, then both. Repeat with other colors.

• Red  + blue light = violet 
• Red  + green light = yellow
• Blue + green light = cyan

*It is really important to remind students that mixing colors of light is different than mixing paint colors!

Ask students how they think they can make the other colors of the rainbow. Then introduce the materials (whole milk, clear container with water, blue/green/red food coloring, and flashlight). Ask, "What is the recipe for a rainbow in real life?" (Dark clouds filled with water vapor that let sunlight refract/bend off the drops of water).  "What do you think the milk represents in our model?" (clouds) "The water?" (water vapor in the clouds) "The flashlights?" (rays of sunlight - remind them that light travels in straight lines but can bend through water)

Have the students pour a tablespoon of whole milk into a clear container of water. Add 3 drops each of red, blue, and green food coloring separately to different sides or corners. Shine the flashlights through the container from different angles and observe from top and side angles. You will first see violet, yellow, and cyan. Then orange will appear.

For more light and color materials, check out Steve Spangler's website!

Play this rainbow color sorting game!

Want rainbow party ideas? Check out the Party Frosting Blog and check out this cake!

Check out my website for lesson plans, lab sheets, and more light and shadow websites for teacher and student use.