Common Lesson Plan

Activity Name: What Is Your Color?

Grade Level of children: 3 years old (Early Childhood)

Major Concepts to be covered: the use of different colors to create a unique chameleon

Materials:
• A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni
• Chameleon pictures
• Markers and Crayons
• Colored glue

Rationale: Based on Piaget’s preoperational stage of development, students will use their developing
language skills and their independence in participation. The students will be using their language
skills to verbally interact with the story by saying their colors and also choosing independently which
utensils they would like to use to color their chameleon from the story.

South Dakota Early Learning Guidelines:

Creative Arts and Expression
Goal CD-12: Children engage in a variety of creative activities for enjoyment and self-
expression including play, visual arts, music, expressive movement, and drama.
• Explore the properties of art materials and use them for constructing, painting,
drawing, and sculpting.
• Experiment and create 2D and 3D art with clay, crayons markers, paint, and collage
materials
Foundations for Reading
Goal CLL-5: Through their explorations, play, and social interactions, children comprehend,
use, and begin to reflect on and analyze information in books and other media.
• Discuss storybooks by responding to questions about what is happening and
predicting what will happen nest, with promoting and support form an adult
• Use their knowledge of the world (what things are, how things work) to make sense
of stories and informational texts.

Behavior Observable Objectives:

Students will use different utensils and materials to create a unique chameleon picture as introduced
in the story.

Pre-Assessment:
Before reading the story, the teacher will ask the students to name off some colors. The teacher
would also ask the students what colors they see around the classroom.

Assessment:
The teacher will assess the students by going to each student and asking them what colors they used
to create their unique chameleon.
Can you show (document) that your students learned from what you taught in this lesson?
The teacher will have a list of the students’ names and record if they were able to name off the colors
that they used correctly or if they struggled with the name of the colors.

Teaching Strategies:
Anticipatory Set- Before reading the story, the teacher will ask the students to name some colors
that they know. The teacher will also ask students what colors they see in the classroom. The teacher
will then read the book to the students stopping to ask the children what color the chameleon has
become in the story.

Input- Students will need to know some of their colors so that they can tell the teacher what color the
chameleon has changed to throughout the story.

Model- The teacher will model saying the repeated phrases through examples of what can be
observed around the room. Students will then do the same.

Check for Understanding- The teacher can check for understanding by asking the students if they
know the name of the color that they are using to decorate their chameleon. If the students can name
the color then they understood, where as if the student is struggling to name the color they may have
not understood it completely.

Guided Practice/ Independent Practice- After reading the story, the students will independently
color the chameleon from the story using markers, crayons and/or colored glue.

Closure (Finish)- To end the lesson the teacher will walk around to each student and ask about each
of his or her animal pictures. After students are finished with their projects, the teacher will walk
around and ask each student what colors they used to decorate their chameleon.

Modifications for special needs or cultural differences:

- Have the teacher sit on the floor so that the pictures are easier to see
-Make the picture that the students are going to decorate larger
-Make sure to read the book a little slower or more than once to help them understand

Reflection- My lesson went very smooth with my children. To catch the student’s attention, I started
by asking what some of the colors are that they already knew. I choose to sit on the floor along with
the students which I thought I choose a good spot to sit because all of the students could see the book
very well. All the children were close and could see the book and the pictures on every page. As the
story progressed I would spot on a page and ask the kids what color the chameleon was at this point
in the story or I would ask what colors the chameleon has been during the book. I asked these
questions to make sure that the students were paying attention or to see what colors they already
heard. When I finished the story, I had the students get up based on the colors that they were on their
clothes. The activity went very well as well. I think that they students really enjoyed being able to
create their own chameleon and make it whatever color that they wanted. I think that they enjoyed
being able to be independent and pick whatever color they want. The only thing that I would do
different when doing this activity is to not put both markers and glue together. I had a few students
try to color over the glue which ruined the markers that we were using.