- glue
- markers
- paper
- pictures of yellow traffic signs, road print, traffic lights, etc. (at least one for each child)
- color
- communicate
- yellow
MA Standards:
Speaking and Listening/SL.PK.MA.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners during daily routines and play.
Foundational Skills/RF.PK.MA.3.c: Recognize one’s own name and familiar common signs and labels (e.g., STOP).
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Early Writing: Recognizes that writing is a way of communicating for a variety of purposes, such as giving information, sharing stories, or giving an opinion.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Composition 20: Generate questions and gather information to answer their questions in various ways.
Draw and Write Together: Yellow Means . . .
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: There are many different colors
ELA Focus Skills: Color Recognition, Vocabulary, Concepts of Print, Environmental Print
Hold up a picture of a yellow road sign. Ask children, Have you ever seen a yellow road sign like this before? Why do you think this road sign is the color yellow? What do you think it means?
- Explain that the color yellow is often used in road signs because it is a color that is easy to see.
- Review with children how letters are used to make words and that words communicate things to people. Then explain that, The sign communicates a warning, or tells people to be careful. The bright yellow color makes it easier for people to see the warning sign.
- Ask children to think of other places they have seen yellow signs. (street signs, traffic lights, etc.)
Then have each child choose a magazine picture and glue it to a sheet of paper. Ask children to talk about what their yellow sign might be communicating. Help children by giving them language such as “slow down,” "stop," and “be careful.”
- Give children the sentence stem: “Yellow means .” Have them dictate or write to complete. Allow time for children to share their pictures and captions.
Educator Tip: You may need to help children “read” their caption by tracking the words, offering beginning sounds, or silently forming the words for a child.
Social Emotional Tip: Help children share and discuss their work by asking specific questions about their work so that they practice following basic conversational rules, such as taking turns, staying on topic, and actively listening.