Before class, cut out a variety of shapes out of purple construction paper. Tape the shapes to your blackboard. Read the book "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson. Discuss Harold's imagination and let each student explain how they have used their own imagination. Allow your students to volunteer their opinions of the best way to arrange the shapes to make pictures. Give each child a piece of black construction paper and a glue stick, and provide a basket filled with the cut-out purple paper shapes. Set up an assortment of crayons and oil pastels in different shades of purple, as well as tubes of purple glitter glue. Direct the class to arrange their shapes on the black paper to create scenes or images. Demonstrate the correct method to use when gluing the shapes down on the paper and let each student choose the art supplies they want to use to further decorate their pictures. After each picture has been completed, call up the children one by one to present and describe their picture in front of the rest of the class.
Overlap large colored pieces of bulletin board paper and glue them together. Lay the mural background sheet out on a large worktable. Use paperweights to keep it in place on the table. Cut out a variety of identifiable shapes of different sizes using black construction paper. Begin class by reading the book "The Shape of Me and Other Stuff: Dr. Seuss's Surprising Word Book" by Dr. Seuss. Discuss the main idea of the story with your class, explain how everything has a shape. Provide each student with scissors and a piece of black construction paper. Instruct the children to cut out their own shapes. Glue one of the shapes you cut out before class on the mural background sheet. Have the children glue their shapes to the mural background sheet.
Start off your class by reading "Hop on Pop" by Dr. Seuss aloud. Choose some of the short vowel or consonant-vowel-consonant ("C-V-C") words that appear in the book and write them on your chalkboard using at least one example of every vowel. The book contains the words "cat," "red," "pup," "him" and "hop." Say each of the words out loud stating each vowel sound after the word. Tell your class to repeat the vowel sounds in each word. Choose an assortment of foam letters that could potentially construct short vowel "C-V-C" words. Split these letters up into buckets. Make sure you have enough buckets for every two students in your class. Divide your class into pairs and pass out the buckets and pieces of paper. Tell your class to record the letters that are in their bucket on the paper. Then have each pair create as many short vowel sound words as they possibly can using the letters they have in the bucket, writing down the words on their papers. Let each student alternate in their pair reading their list to the rest of their classmates.
Use half of a sheet of white drawing paper to create a large circle template. Make a smaller circle template that fits inside of the first. Continue doing this until you have six nested circles. Create a rectangle template out of half of a sheet of white drawing paper. Set up smocks, tempera paints and painting supplies and glue sticks at each desk in your class. Use sheets of blue and green cellophane to shade your classroom lights and inflate clear balloons. Tie white ribbons to the knots of the balloons to create "jellyfish" and secure green streamers to the ceiling for "seaweed." Read "A House for Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle. Give each student two pieces of paper and let them paint each paper a different solid color. Demonstrate different "texturing" methods by applying different colors of paint with sections of carpet, noodles and film canister caps. Let each student try to create textures on their own papers with these materials. Gather the papers and cut them into the circle and rectangle templates. Make a pile of circles for each student. In every pile include six nested circles. Every circle in a pile should have a different "texture." Show your class a hermit crab and talk about its appearance. Pass out the circles and pieces of background paper. Tell your class to glue the largest circle onto the paper followed by the second largest circle inside of the first and so on. Show your class a starfish and talk about the starfish in the book. Distribute three rectangles to each student and cut the rectangles from the top right corner to the bottom left corner to create triangles. Show your class the method to use for making a star by overlapping triangles. Tell your class to glue the arms of their starfish onto the background paper.