Read "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse" and allow students to decorate their own purses or bags. Prior to the lesson, cut enough large purses and suitcases out of white construction paper for each member of your class. Allow boys and girls choose to decorate either type of carrying case with items such as stickers, glitter or colored cotton balls. Display the bags on the classroom walls or hang them from the ceiling.
Merriam Webster defines alliteration as, "the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllable." This is an important literary concept to teach young children and the title of the book is an excellent illustration of the idea. Point out the title and discuss the use of alliteration with "p" in plastic, purple and purse. Ask students to develop their own sentences using alliteration and write them on sentence strips. Display these throughout the classroom and ask students to read them during your poetry unit.
The letter "p" appears throughout the story. Use the book to introduce the letter "p" and its sound. Bring the students together in a group and read the story aloud. On a large poster, write a list of words and items the students think of that start with the letter "p." Suggest words such as pottery, pandas or pencils. Then create a similar poster based on "p" items found around the classroom.
In the story, purple is Lilly's favorite color. Use this fact to create a lesson on the color. Show students how to make the color purple by mixing red and blue tempera paint. Then, as a class, create a list of purple items. Suggest things such as lilacs, jelly or plums. Assign each student one item from the list. Ask them to write their words and draw them on a plain sheet of paper. Combine all of the students' papers and create a book for the class library titled, "Purple, Purple, Purple!"