COLORS * Color Song         (Tune:  If you're Happy and You Know It)         If there's white on your shoes stand up quick         If there's white on your shoes stand up quick         If there's white on your shoes,         If there's white on your shoes,         If there's white on your shoes stand up quick!    (Of course you can change the article of clothing and the action you do to extend the song or to include others that have white somewhere else.) *Color Chart       For this Unit I make a chart with everyone's name written down the side of the chart, and a square for every color we will be doing colored in across the top of the chart.  I set up a color writing table and it is everyone's responsibility to get there once every day.  I lay out paper the color of that particular day and a word card of that color.  It is the child's responsibility to go to the table, take a piece of paper and write the color word of the day...so today they would write WHITE.  Then they are asked to color in the square next to their name on the color chart under the correct color....this gives me a guide as to who has done it for the day and who has not.  For the children it teaches them to read charts and graphs, find their name, write letters beyond the ones in their name etc.  This is a very interesting activity as I make it THEIR responsibility (after reminding them of it every day at first circle).  You will quickly see who always fulfills their responsibility first every day....who does do it over the day without reminding them....who always needs a gentle reminder before the day is over.... who needs to be told it is time to do it NOW....and who needs direct teacher help when doing this activity. It also shows you who will attempt or can already write letters beyond their own name and who finds this activity overwhelming. It is simple but very insightful as you ready your children for Kindergarten.  I use alot that I learn just at this table, during parent conferences when talking about their child's readiness for Kindergarten.   I save these written word pages and use them as dividers for each color in our end-of-the-year COLOR BOOKS. *Cups of Color Fill all of the cups in the muffin tin with water. Place, red, yellow, blue, food coloring in each cup of water. Children use eye droppers to transfer colored water to other cups, thus creating different colors. * Shape/Color Bingo Make up 4 cards with a 5x5 grid on them. I used a 6-inch ruler and it was the perfect size for length and width of each box so that it is uniform.  Choose 5 shapes (circle, square, rectangle, triangle, oval, etc.) and 5 colors.  Draw one of each shape and color per square (I used a 6-inch ruler with a shape stencil so that they were all the same size, and colored them with markers).  Do the same with the other 3 cards, but randomize (is that a word?) the shapes and colors.  Next, take index cards and quarter them.  Draw one of each colored shape in each quarter and cut the cards.  Put these in a container so that a 5th child can draw the card and call out the color and shape to the other 4 players. Use dried beans or whatever as markers (we used mini-marshmallows which made it even more fun!).  You may want to laminate the cards so that they will last. * Color Hop...sing to the tune of Old MacDonald.          I see something that is_____[color].      Do you see it too?        I see something that is [same color].      HOP there if you do.        With a hop, hop here         And a hop, hop there. Hurry up! Hop it up!     Hop as fast as you dare.       I see something that is [color].      Do you see it too?                  Have children tell you what they found . * The Rainbow Song (to the tune of Jesus Loves Me) Red, orange, green, and blue Shiny yellow, purple, too. All the colors that you know Show up in the rainbow. I write this on chart paper using colored markers for the color words and we voice point as we sing. *A traditional color poem that I use in a similar way is: I Can Read Colors Orange is a carrot, Yellow is the sun, Red is an apple, And purple is a plum. Green is the grass, Blue is the sky, Black is a witch's hat, And red is cherry pie! Note: as you go on into the other colors, a good way for mixing two primary colors to get the  secondary color is to put a little of one color on one the child's thumb  (tempra paint works fine) and  the second color on the index finger--at your signal, have them rub thumb  and finger together. I ask  mine to wait for my signal so they all get the experience on their own rather than someone having  done it before they get their paint. * COLORS AND COLORS by Vivian Couled Sometimes I think of colors one by one by one... Pink for puffy evening clouds Yellow for the sun. I think of watermelon for something that is green, or an orange jack-o'-lantern on the night of Halloween. I think of purple eggplant, and sky that's bright and blue, or white for sneaker laces, especially when they're new. Sometimes I think of traffic lights when they just turn to red, or else I think how black it is at night when I'm in bed. I might think of an elephant for something that is gray. I like to think of colors and have some fun that way. * SPECIAL UMBRELLA The first umbrella is red. It keeps rain off my head. The second umbrella is yellow For a very lucky fellow. The third umbrella is blue. It is one that I drew. The fourth umbrella is brown. I will carry it to town. The fifth umbrella is green Fit for a king or a queen! (One finger at a time may be held up to review ordinals.  Suggest that the children draw and color umbrellas as a rainy day activity.) * UMBRELLAS IN MANY COLORS Umbrellas help in many ways. This black one is for rainy days. In summer, when there's too much sun, I carry this bright yellow one. This umbrella pink and neat Fits at the table where I eat. This red one when I put it up Looks like an upside-down big cup. (Ask the children to take out their crayons and hold up the correct color as you red the poem aloud.  Suggest that they draw and color their favorite umbrella.  Ask, "How many umbrellas are mentioned in the rhyme?"  Ask them to say the rhyming words in the poem.  Read the poem again and ask the clas to help you with the words.)             *To use the colors together make the shape of a gumball machine- different color circles to add for the gum. *A RAINBOW I see a rainbow. It is more coloruful than... My favorite rainbow color is... If I look uner the rainbow, I will find... To catch a rainbow, I will... I can use my rainbow to... If I had two rainbows, I would give one to... * COLORS The wolrd is full of colors. The coldest color I can think of is... The warmest color I can think of is... The softest color I can think of is... The scariest color I can think of is... When I think of yellow, I think of... When I think of red, I think of... When I think of blue, I think of... When I think of green, I think of... My favorite color for a house is... My favorite color for a flower is.. The funniest color I can think of is... The color that makes me the happiest is... * I LOVE COLORS CHORUS: I love colors, yes I do! Red and orange and green and blue! I love colors, dark or bright, Yellow, purple, black, and white! What is red?  Juicy Beets! What is brown?  Chocolate treats! What is white?  A shiny moon! What is gray?  A big baboon CHORUS What is orange?  Carrot sticks! What is yellow?  Baby chicks! What is gold?  Bright goldfish! What is black?  Licorice! CHORUS What is green?  Grass so high! What is blue?  The open sky! What is purple?  Eggplant shells! What is silver?  Silver bells! CHORUS You could change the words to this song to incorporate your fall produce theme. *If your clothes Have any Red Sung to:  If You're Happy and You Know It If your clothes have any red, any red If your clothes have any red, and red If your clothes have any red, put your finger on your head, If your clothes have any red, any red If your clothes have any blue, any blue If your clothes have any blue, any blue If your clothes have any blue, put your finger on your head, If your clothes have any blue, any blue Additional verses:  If your clothes have any green, wave your hand so you are seen.  If your clothes have any yellow, smile like a happy fellow, If your clothes have any brown, turn your smile into a frown, If your clothes have any black, put your hands behind your back. *I LOVE COLORS   CHORUS: I love colors, yes I do! Red and orange and green and blue! I love colors, dark or bright, Yellow, purple, black, and white! What is red?  Juicy Beets! What is brown?  Chocolate treats! What is white?  A shiny moon! What is gray?  A big baboon CHORUS What is orange?  Carrot sticks! What is yellow?  Baby chicks! What is gold?  Bright goldfish! What is black?  Licorice! CHORUS What is green?  Grass so high! What is blue?  The open sky! What is purple?  Eggplant shells! What is silver?  Silver bells! CHORUS *COLORS AND COLORS Sometimes I think of colors one by one by one... Pink for puffy evening clouds Yellow for the sun. I think of watermelon for something that is green, or an orange jack-o'-lantern on the night of Halloween. I think of purple eggplant, and sky that's bright and blue, or white for sneaker laces, especially when they're new. Sometimes I think of traffic lights when they just turn to red, or else I think how black it is at night when I'm in bed. I might think of an elephant for something that is gray. I like to think of colors and have some fun that way. poem by Vivian Couled * Color Game Cut colored construction paper in half--to give each child a half--making sure each will have a partner to match.  Go around in a circle singing this song Colors, colors all around See them here and there When the singing finally stops Find a friend to share As they  are going around the circle you could have them either hold the color behind their back or show it as they're walking.  At the end of the song, they find the color that would match theirs. Extend this activity by then having the friends that match talk about things that are that color, find something in the room that is that color, etc. *I do a song to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It. If you're wearing red please stand up. If you're wearing red please stand up. Stand up and turn around then please sit back down If you're wearing red please sit down. You can change the color or even the activity. *1 medium ziplock bag Shaving cream (white) Food coloring Squirt white shaving cream inside the ziplock bag, add a few drops of food coloring, and close the bag, making sure that all the air is out.  This gives your child the opportunity to explore mixing colors (red and yellow makes orange, etc.) -- and there's no mess to clean up afterwards! Or clip a corner & finger paint with it. WHITE *Paint with SALT I give each child a small dixie cup 1/2 full of white tempera paint.  I allow the child to spoon in as much table salt as they want and mix it into their paint.  Next they take a piece of colored paper and paint anything they want on the paper.  When dry the paint will have a rough texture and sparkle from the salt.  As the children paint with this salt mixture they LOVE the gritty, bumpy, noisy texture and sounds that occur.  Some will paint designs....but most enjoy it so much they paint the entire paper white.  Any extra paint that is left I pour together in a larger paint cup and place it at the easel. *WATER COLOR SURPRISE I lay out white paper, water colors, paint brushes, water cups and masking tape.  The teacher rips off different lengths of masking tape and sticks it to the edge of the table.  The children take these masking tape strips and tape them any way they want on their white construction paper.  (I have had children just randomly lay the tape down and I have had children form the tape into letters and create their entire name.  Whatever they come up with is fine.)  Once they have taped down all the tape that they want, I tell them to watercolor their entire paper....tape and all.  It is important that they paint the entire paper...otherwise the results are disappointing.  When done we hang them up to dry.  On another day I lift up the edges of the pieces of tape and then call the children to the table.  I tell them to CAREFULLY pull their masking tape pieces off of their pictures.  What appears?.....the WHITE spaces that were hiding under the masking tape that did not get painted.  These are very striking, a fun surprise for the children and we always talk about HOW did this happen!! *AT THE EASEL       On WHITE day as a "side" I put up black paper and lay out WHITE chalk. *STORY I always read IT LOOKED LIKE SPILT MILK (which I am sure you all know) as the story on WHITE DAY. *Sensory Ideas              salt/sugar/flour/icing sugar, styroafoam balls, white yarn, streamers, white paper shredded up (Let children use scissors to cut it up),snow in the winter time, white finger paint.  BLACK *BLACK Baa Baa Black Sheep Baa, baa, Black sheep, have you any wool? Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full; One for my master and one for my dame, And one for the little boy who lives down the lane. RED *Wear Red Day was just a day when we all wore as much red as possible and I got some theatrical makeup and painted everyones face red after rest time. We made red cards for Valentines day and we read books about the color red(again from the library so I'm sorry but I don't remember the titles). Everyone took home a reb balloon and we danced to "99 Red balloons" a song from the 80's for all you young kids! We had heart shaped PB& red jelly sandwiches for lunch. * I buy some strawberries, raspberries, cherries, several types of red apples, and any other red fruit readily available. Then we have a "taste test" and make a large graph of the children's favorite red fruits. * 1. Have a red day--wear something red to school if possible *Take a red walk around the school--look for red things. *Do you have the story about the Star in the Apple? It is good to use and later you can make apple star prints. *Take 2 slices from a red apple--spread peanut butter on each slice--put miniature marshmallows on top of the peanut butter--in a row--near the skin side of the slice--place the other slice on top with skin side showing--you have an apple smile snack. (I hope this makes sense). * Read about CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG. Have a large poster-sized Clifford that the children color red by tearing red pieces of construction paper and gluing onto him. *I'm A Big Red Tomato I'm a big red tomato Growing on a vine, A big re tomato Looking oh, so fine. Now you can make good things with me- Soup, juice, pizza, to name just three. I'm a big red tomato Growing on a vine. Grow, grow, grow. ( cherry red-make cherry trees, draw a tree outline and let the children either use their finertip to add red cherries or use small circles made from a hole punch. *RED Lady bug Lady bug, Ladybug, Fly away home! You house is on fire, your children are gone. All but one, and her name is Ann, And she crept under the frying fan. BLUE **Eat blueberries *Make blueberry muffins  *Read Blueberries for Sal *Have everyone wear something blue *Make berry blue Kool-aid   *Read New Blue Shoes * BLUE   Little Boy Blue Little boy blue, come blow your horn; The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn. Where's is the boy who looks after the sheep? He's under the haystack, fast asleep. *One activity we did for blue was to make necklaces out of dyed wagon wheel pasta (blue food  coloring and rubbing alcohol mixed with the pasta - mix in large Ziploc  bag and allow to dry on a   garbage bag overnight). The children used tipped yarn and threaded on the  blue wagon wheels (they  are a perfect size for the yarn). They looked great. I also use dyed pasta for patterning activities  later in the year. *Blueberry blue- make a blueberry pie- cut smallpie shapes out of tan construction paper.  Cut small blue holes with a hole puch  out of dark blue paper.  Let the children spread glue on their pies and add the blueberries. *The Blueberry Bush  (Sung to the tune The Mulberry Bush) Here we go round the blueberry bush, The blueberry bush, the blueberry bush. Here we go round the blueberry bush, So early in the morning. Pick the blueberries small and round, Small and round, small and round. Pick the blueberries small and round, So early in the morning. (Taste the blueberries, ripe and sweet.) YELLOW *have a "Yellow Day", where you wear yellow, eat yellow foods, do lots of things outside in the sun.  Have lots of arts and crafts that involve the color yellow, or yellow items.  You can do these things all on one dy, or split them up so that you can do one thing each day. You can also play games that involve yellow: Count yellow counters, name as many things that are yellow as you can, plant yellow flowers and many many more. * Literature Links Yellow Ball written & illustrated by Molly Bang Little Blue and Little Yellow written & illustrated by Leo Lionni *Lemon yellow- make lemonade.  Show them how you can squeeze fresh lemons to make your own juice. * YELLOW Sally Go ROund the Sun Sally go around the sun, Sally go around the moon, Sally go around the chimney-pots On a sunday afternoon! * You Are My Sunshine Need: tagboard circle cutout, yellow tissue paper pieces, yellow streamers, gold glitter, and glue. Have the child glue the yellow tissue paper pieces all over the circle cutout to cover it. Then sprinkle glitter over circle. Finish by attaching the yellow streamers to the edges to create a sun. * Lemonade!?!   Cut a quantity of lemons in half lengthwise. Set several aside to dry slightly. Store the remaining in the refridgerator. Then gather: drying lemon halves, white construction paper, newspaper, and yellow paint. Pour the yellow paint into a pan, and have the child dip the lemon into it. Dab onto newspaper, and then have them make a print on the construction paper. After you finish the prints, make lemonade with the remaining lemons! GREEN *I run off a cute frog blackline on bright yellow construction paper, then the kids put dots on the frog with "blue" bingo markers. It is magic to them to see the dots turn out "green" on the frog! They then cut the frogs out and put them in their color booklets they are making on the GREEN page. * "Oscar the Grouch"--using 35mm film canisters, have the children cut a little square of newspaper (approx. 3X3") put a drop of glue in the bottom of the canister and then put the newspaper in so some sticks out of the top; glue one green pom-pom on the newspaper, and glue two tiny squiggle eyes on the pom-pom (they will need help with the eyes.) it looks just like Oscar the Grouch in his garbage can. You can get all the film canisters that you need for free at a film/camera store (I got mine at Kits.) * We make green eggs after reading Green Eggs and Ham. Make a skillet full of scrambled eggs. I use a dozen for a class of 24.(then you can teach "a dozen". If you add one small drop of blue food coloring to it, the eggs will turn green right before their eyes. You do know that green eggs taste better than regular eggs :-)You can also read the book Little Blue and Little Yellow. * GREEN Peter Piper Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers; A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? * Pickle green-  get several different kinds of pickles and have a tasting party. ORANGE *There is a book called _The Big Orange Splot_. Also, pumpkins are orange - might be a nice tie in  with fall activities. In my class last year we wrote a class book called  "An Orange is Orange." Each  page named something orange (ie a fire is orange, a pumpkin is  orange...). The last page was a surprise ending. We brainstormed for something silly and ended up with a picture of a fuzzy orange  monster and the caption "An alien is orange!" * Carrot orange- cut off the tops of carrots and place it in a shallow dish of water.Over time the carrot will sprout at the top.   Play carrot, carrot , corn.  (like duck, duck goose) Cut carrots to paint with.  White paint on orange paper or orange paint on white paper *ORANGE Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Eater Peter, peter, Pumpkin eater, Had a wife and couldn't keep her; He put her in a pumpkin shell And there he kept her very well. PURPLE *In a zip-lock bag I put about a tennis ball size squirt of shaving cream, a squirt of red paint and a  squirt of blue paint. The children mix it with their fingers until purple magically appears, then I open a small area on the end so they can squeeze it out and they finger paint with it on a piece of while card  stock or construction paper. It smells great!! * PURPLE Little Jack Horner Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, Eating a Christmas pie; He put int his thumb, and pulled out a plum, And said, "What a good boy am I!" * Grape purple- cut small circles and let the children glue their own bunch of grapes.  I did this  with my 3's and they loved it.. GRAY PINK BROWN *BROWN Old Woman in a shoe There was an old women who lived in a shoe. She had so many children she didn't know what to do. She gave them some broth without any bread, And sang to them sweetly, and sent them to bed.