March Book of the Month


My Many Colored Days

By Dr. Seuss

Illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

(Hard-Copy of additional activities available with Grade Level Chairperson)

Through this book, students will:

Explore feelings in relation to colors

Read and identify how their own moods relate to colors

Analyze character traits, feelings, emotions

Understand and identify the importance of feelings

Identify the importanceof respecting yourself and others

Experience the use of rhyme within fictional writing

Use a Question Wheel to illicit higher levels of thinking during discussion

Integrate elements of the book into the content areas

Use Thinking Maps to analyze characters and story plot

VOCABULARY

This is a lengthy list of vocabulary. Use your professional judgment to create a vocabulary list for your students that will give them the concepts of the book at their level. Also, use the list to create sub-lists that can be used within your Word Study Activities. (ex: beginning sounds, ending sounds, prefix/suffix, compound words, proper nouns, etc.)

Color Words

yellow / blue / red / brown
gray / orange / green / purple
pink / black

Rhyming Words

Blue - too / Things - wings / Sea - me
Pink - think / Ways - days / Wham - am
Gray- today / Brown - down / See - me
Feels - heels / Loud - cloud / Whee - bee
Groan - alone / Seal - feel

GENRE

  • Poetry

LITERARY ELEMENTS

  • Verbal Irony: a contrast between what is said and what is meant
  • Mood/Tone: creating a mood with colors
  • Symbolism: using colors to symbolize feelings
  • Imagery: language that appeals to the senses

LANGUAGE ARTS

  • Figurative Language using colors
  • Contractions
  • Feelings/Moods: sad, surprised, excited, happy, loud, quiet, confused
  • Color Words
  • Days of the Week
  • Months/Weather
  • Action Words
  • Descriptive Language
  • Animals
  • Complete Sentences
  • Discover and learn how to name the different colors in different languages.

Word Study Activities:

  • A good resource for working with vocabulary that describes emotions
  • Descriptive words
  • Rhyming words. (examples on the vocabulary chart above)

Discussions:

  • How many different emotions are represented in the book?
  • How do different colors convey different moods?
  • What do the colors represent?

Yellow – happy

Blue – sad

Red – good

Brown – low, low down

Purple – sad

Pink – happy

Black – loud

  • Why do you suppose different colors make you feel differently?
  • How does your mood affect your behavior?

Writing Activities:

Class Book: Make a class book as a spin-off called “Our Many Colored Days.” We have a colors week. (each day we wear a different color) Take a few pictures of the kids and then mount them on that color construction paper. Head each page with a color title (example: Blue day) Write simple sentences/phrases on the pages. On the last page take a picture of the kids on a normal day (all colors) and write “Rainbow Day.”

Class Book: Create your own “Many Colored Days” book.

Example: On my purple days

I’m a swan

I sit on the lawn

And watch for fawn.

On my light blue days

I’m a kitten

Not ever sittin’.

On my red days

I’m like a puppy

Swimming

And looking for guppies.

On my black days

I’m like a tiger

Roaring and clawing until

I can do it no longer.

Write From The Beginning: Informational Writing: Write about Dr. Seuss

Write From The Beginning: Expository Writing: Explain why color is important in our lives.

Write From The Beginning: Imaginative Narrative: Imagine that you woke up this morning and there was no color in the world. What would your day be like?

Descriptive Language:

Use the illustrations in the book to work with students on descriptive language and adjectives. Anchor charts of these descriptions will be helpful for students’ writing activities.

Thinking Maps

  • Create a flow map that charts the colors in the order they are introduced in the story.
  • Use a bubble map to describethings that are a certain color. (Example: place the word green in the center. On the outer bubbles, I like green jello, grass, a preying mantis, grasshoppers, broccoli, lettuce, etc.)
  • Use a double bubble map to compare this book with another Dr.Seuss book
  • Compare/contrast emotions and things that make you feel that way.

MATH

  • Count how many colors are mentioned in the book
  • How many words in the book begin with the letter “B”
  • On pages 3-4: What lines are parallel, intersecting, perpendicular? What angles do you see?
  • What shape are the bees? The owl’s eyes? The owl’s beak?
  • What geometric shape is the seal looking at on pages 15-16?
  • How many contractions can you find?
  • Name all the different shapes you can find in the book.
  • Can you find any shapes in the book that have lines of symmetry?
  • How many days are in a week, month, year?
  • Dr. Seuss wrote this book in 1972. How old is this book?
  • Graph the surveys that are mentioned in the Language Arts lessons above.
  • Create addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems using the color survey mentioned in the Language Arts lessons above.
  • Fractions: What fraction of the class feels _____ today?

Science

  • “The Color Spectrum” free power-point presentation

Coloring Spelling: Grades 2-3

I See Colors

Colors (plus great links_

Color Classification (some Spanish also)

  • How many animals in the book have 4 legs? 2 legs?
  • Primary Colors
  • Mixing colors to create new colors
  • BUBBULARIUM: Make an observatory to see the amazing colors in bubbles

(activity in the hard copy available with your grade level chairperson.)

SOCIAL Studies

Health/P.E.

  • “A rainbow of colors provides a healthy diet.” (handout provided to grade level chairpersons.)

FINE ARTS

  • Compare the illustrations in this book with the artwork in “The Land of Many Colors”. (This book can be found in our library.)
  • Take pictures of your students wearing different colored paper hats that match up with the colors in the poem. Then put them together like a collage on a copy of the poem.
  • Study the Color Wheel.
  • Make colored Play-Dough:

2 ½ cups flour

½ cup salt

1 Tablespoon Cream of Tartar

2 pks. Unsweetened Kool-Aid

3 Tablespoons cooking oil

2 cups boiling water

Mix dry ingredients together. Add oil and water. Stir quickly, mixing well. When cool enough, knead with hands. Store in airtight container. DO NOT ALLOW STUDENTS NEAR THE BOILING WATER!

Level Library Resources

Other Related Books:

Any Dr. Seuss books

Color Songs found on kindercorner website below under “My Many Colored Days”

The Land of Many Colors by the KlamathCountyYMCA Family Preschool

The Way I Feel by Janan Cain

Feelings by Aliki

Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni

The Feelings Book by Todd Parr

Websites:

(great poems)

Lots of Websites and their information listed on the materials below:

My Many Colored Days

/ / Author: Dr. Seuss
Publisher: Random House, Incorporated
This rhyming story is a wonderful way for parents to talk with children about their feelings. Each day is described in terms of a particular color, which in turn is associated with specific emotions. Using a spectrum of vibrant colors and a menagerie of animals, this unique book does for the range of human moods and emotions what Oh, the Places You'll Go! does for the human life cycle.

(Take a Dr. Seuss quiz)

(Make colored bubbled pictures)

My Many Colored Days Extravaganza

Let’s explore some Seuss Trivia.
Your task: You may work with a partner to answer the following questions.

What do you know about color? Color is all around us. Can you imagine a day without color! Lets go exploring and learn more about the colors that artists use.

My Many Colored Days

OBJECTIVE: Students will choice the "color" and "mood" for their emotional day, following the pattern in the book, My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. The student will write the rhyme, design the illustrations, and decide how/where the text is printed.

/

My Many Colored Days Printables and Teaching Ideas

/ Bookmark Coloring Page
Print and color bookmark that goes with the book.

/ Colored Wax Pictures
Make scratch art pictures using layers of crayon and a toothpick.

/ Colored Gift Wraps
Create your own designed sponge paint gift wraps.

/ Cookies
Fun lemon-sugar cookie made with cookie cutters. Separate batter and use a different color by mixing food coloring.

/ Play Many Colored Game
Play the "I spy with my little eye" game with the class.

Our Many Colored Days- 8 lessons

Special Area: Art (Kindergarten)

UNIT: Color - Bookmaking - Illustrators (Dr. Seuss)
Lesson: "My Many Colored Days" Accordion book
Grade Level: Kindergarten - Primary


My Many Colored Days Summary:Published after his death, this book is about colors and how they describe our moods. The illustrations, at Dr. Seuss' request were drawn by another artist so that they would show what others are feeling. It's a beautiful, simple rhyme of what we can feel.

My Many Coloured Days

by Dr. Seuss

readability grade1, read aloud grade2

In true Dr. Seuss style this book will become a classic in every class. Every time you turn a page in this book your are presented with a new colour and a relative emotion. Colours are so important in our lives and reflect perfectly on the way we feel. Dr. Seuss, once again, speaks to all ages with this book.

Make your own My Many Coloured Days book:

  • Gather a wide variety of paints.
  • Students outline their story in rough draft (the colours they feel).
  • Give the students a pattern sentence to fill out. eg: Somedays I feel..... or, On (enter colour) days I feel (something that rhymes with the colour).
  • Students paint a picture for each page.
  • Make a title page and staple all the pages together to make a book.

You can also visit the My Many Coloured Days website at

LEARNING ABOUTCOLORSALL AROUND US

I use the book "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?" by Eric Carle to teach colors. First, I tell them the story. Then, I provide the children with different pictures of colored animals to paste into a bear shaped booklet that I have made earlier for each child. This is usually done during our art period.

Then, on another day or lesson, we retell the story using the childrens' booklets. I give the children the opportunity to ask and aswer the questions.

Example: Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a blue whale and it sees me.

The children love this activity as they get to read they own storybook.

Causes of color
Find out why things are colored

Color Blindness
Take a test here.

Make a Splash with color
Detailed facts like hue, saturation etc.

Color FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
You can get most of your answers about colors here

A printable book about colors for children. You will need to have the freeAcrobat Reader to be able to view or print out this book.

Conditions for using this material:
You may not use it for commerical purposes.
You may not erase our name and the copyright at the bottom of each page.

BOOKS TO READ / Printable book about colors to read
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
WORKSHEETS / Mini book of colors - Coloring activity
Print out, color, cut and staple together to make a mini book.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
OTHER ACTIVITIES / Change the color Activity for kidsNEW, Nov.2, 1999
Learn about colors by clicking on the color buttons and see the background color change.
Color matching madness by Crayola
Match the colors, interactive game
A Rainbow of Frogs
Learning about colors with frogs
What's different about these fire engines?
Learn about colors and numbers activity
Color Wheel
Make a color wheel.
Kinderart-Make an Artbook
A very interesting color book to make.
What color is it ?
Interactive online activity.
FOR TEACHERS / Primary Units
Lesson Plan Unit on Colors, Shapes & Sizes in pdf. format. Requires Acrobat Reader to view.
The Color of Light
Lesson plan for Grade Level: 4 - 6.
Color Activities
Lots of ideas, poems and songs related to colors.
The Color of Light
Lesson plan for Grade Level: 4 - 6.
Tasty color mixing
Lesson plan for Grade Level: K-4 or ages 4-8. A fun and tasty color mixing lesson for the primary grades (special thanks to Maryanne Messier).
Water Color Rainbows
Lesson plan for Grade Level: K-2 or ages 4-6. This is a good lessons for teaching children how colors blend to make new colors.
Our Exciting World
Lesson plan for ages 5-7 using Sunshine Books.
Ask ERIC : Fun With Colors on the Internet Submitted by: Jamie Juergens
Grade and Subject: Kindergarten, Art - Colors . Objectives: Students create products and make presentations that convey concepts and feelings.
Childfun Themes : The color red
Lesson ideas
Childfun Themes : The color pink
Lesson ideas
Childfun Themes : The color pink
Lesson ideas
Childfun Themes : The color green
Lesson ideas
Childfun Themes : Rainbow
Lesson ideas
Perpetual School Colors
Lesson ideas and activities for preschool
Mixing Primary - Secondary colors by Lois Ann Lynn
GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT: (K-6) By the end of the lesson, each child will have made their own color wheel by mixing colors of Play Doh. Each child will be able to name the primary and secondary colors.
3 Color Exploration Activities Using Cellophane
Age Level: Pre-K to 2
STORIES, POEMS & SONGS / Color Poems and songs
My Many Colored Days by Dr Seuss
A short story about colors
My Colors by David Lumerman
Short, illustrated color story for young children
Color Songs
Lots of songs about colors

Dr. SeussLesson plans and other teaching materials

Biography and background information on Dr. Seuss

In that spirit, we have created SeussvilleUniversity, where children can have "lots of good fun that is funny" while learning basic reading, math, science, and reasoning skills. Kids' favorite Seuss characters will serve as their guides in this brand-new interactive learning environment

How color conveys mood (lesson plan)

How Do You Feel Today?

Summary:
Children will be asked to make a graph, then listen to a story. After the story, they will do a similar graph and then compare the two graphs