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Rafe Esquith: Five Tips to Help Children Develop Their Natural Gifts

#2911. Look for the Colors!

Art, level: Kindergarten
Posted Sun Aug 10 08:53:49 PDT 2003 by Paula R. Trueax (paulat@eoni.com).
McNary Heights Elementary, Umatilla, OR 97844
Materials Required: old magazines, glue sticks and scissors, large sheets of white paper at least 2 feet long to post
Activity Time: 30 minutes for each color
Concepts Taught: Visual discrimination of colors, charting

post 11 (8 basic colors plus pink, white and gray) large white sheets of paper around the classroom the first day of school. Have students (after introductions are made) get a magazine and look for only the specified color of the day, for example, red. Ask that only red pictures from the magazines to be cut out. Students bring the "red" picture cut from the magazine up to the "red" chart to glue in place. Progress through the colors (I usually begin with red, blue, yellow the three basic colors) and do this activity for the first few minutes everyday for the first week of school. Save the posters for later use (discussion of colors, pictures, story writing, art, math, auction item at end of year, whatever but don't throw this away!)
This is a good ice breaker, gets the students ready for learning, helps them learn their colors and work in a cooperative group setting. You can also observe the students and see where paper cutting and social skills practice is needed. I have taught this activity for several years now and the students always want the posters at the end of the year as a memory of their first activity in Kindergarten.