We are back! Color By Numbers

It has been so long since I have written on this blog! I saw a buddy yesterday (my former First Grade teammate!) and she asked me about this blog. I fanned through my list of excuses for why I haven't been keeping up with it and failed to come up with a good one. So, here I am, back at it!

                                                We are back and ready to roll! 
 
This activity I did some weeks ago with Penelope. But, I thought of it again the other day when I knew I would be seeing my friend. I wanted to share the idea with her for her math centers at school. After telling her about it and seeing her interest, I figured I should stop worrying about potential critics and start thinking about those who would find these ideas helpful!

Penelope is now very into coloring. She has always loved art, but shied away from coloring books and things of that nature. Perhaps it was her age, or my desire to have her explore her own ideas of what art is; maybe it is her personality, but all of that considered, there came a day recently when Penelope wanted to color in different pictures. She didn't want to draw her own pictures and then color them in, she became completely fascinated with coloring in pictures already created for her.

We had a few coloring books, but not many. So, we did what we could to make this fun! Penelope would give me sheets of paper or sometimes we would even use poster board, as she would tell me a scene she wanted me to draw in black marker. I would do my best to create her vision and then she would color them in. This got me thinking. Could this become a game that worked on even more skills? I certainly remember my students loving coloring and greatly enjoying it during reading or math centers. Color by numbers sheets were hard to find for me but they were a huge hit when I did find them! While the teacher in me started thinking math equations, the mom in me started thinking about colors and numbers and vocabulary. (I guess the teacher in me really took over this entire thought process!)

One morning, while Cooper napped and Penelope was wearing her patch, we took out the markers to color. I was making her pictures when I decided to put numbers in the different shapes or objects. I grabbed her big die (It is a block that I put painters tape on and drew my own dots with Sharpe) I could use the smaller dice, but with her age and especially while she is wearing her patch, this should be fun, not stressful!

Penelope rolled the die and whatever number she rolled she found and colored. I let her decide on her colors. I did not give her a color key, but probably would in the classroom. Although, now that I think about it, isn't it so interesting to see what kids come up with on their own?

                  (I helped with the blue planet!)


                     Classroom Connections
*Use two dice and have students add up the numbers on their dice, find the answer on the sheet and color it in. I would include an equations sheet so that students write down the math they are working on. For example: If a student rolls a 4 and 3 they would write the equation 4+3=7 (having space for the flip of that would be great too! 3+4=7)Then they would go to their picture, find the number 7 and color that shape or design in.
*Write equations in the pictures! No need for dice. Students can answer the equations in each picture and then color in the pictures using a special color key that you create ahead of time.
(Just a few standards you can approach with this activity- I know you could find others!)
CCSS.Math.Content.1.NBT.C.4
CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.2
CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.5
CCSS.Math.Content.K.OA.A.4
CCSS.Math.Content.1.OA.B.3

I will draw some examples and post them on my Lesson Plan Store!