- color
- mice
- mix
- mouse
- paint
- puddle
MA Standards:
Literature/RL.PK.MA.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about a story or a poem read aloud.
Literature/RL.PK.MA.2: With prompting and support, retell a sequence of events from a story read aloud.
Literature/RL.PK.MA.6: With prompting and support, “read” the illustrations in a picture book by describing a character or place depicted, or by telling how a sequence of events unfolds.
Head Start Outcomes:
Literacy Knowledge/Book Appreciation and Knowledge: Asks and answers questions and makes comments about print materials.
PreK Learning Guidelines:
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 6: Listen to a wide variety of age appropriate literature read aloud.
English Language Arts/Reading and Literature 10: Engage actively in read-aloud activities by asking questions, offering ideas, predicting or retelling important parts of a story or informational book.
Read Together: Mouse Paint #1
© Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Early Education and Care (Jennifer Waddell photographer). All rights reserved.
STEM Key Concepts: There are many different colors; Two or more colors can be combined to make a new color
ELA Focus Skills: Active Listening, Comprehension, Concepts of Print, Interpreting Illustrations
Hold up Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh and read the title and the name of the author/illustrator.
Before You Read
As you hold up the book, ask children to describe what they see on the cover. Draw attention to the illustration and say, Sometimes you can guess what a book will be about just by looking at the illustrations on the cover. Ask,
- What are the mice doing?
- What do you think this book will be about?
As You Read
Read slowly and with expression. Point to the red, yellow, and blue jars of paint and the red, yellow, and blue mice as you read about them in the text.
- Make connections to children's color mixing activities as you pause and have them tell you what colors they think the mice will mix with their feet. Ask, What color do you think the mouse’s red feet will make in a yellow puddle? What happens when red and yellow are mixed together?
- Be aware of opportunities when you can ask questions to help children comprehend the story events. For example, What happens to the mice when they jump in the jars of paint? What do the mice do with the puddles of paint?
After You Read
Point out the words mouse and mice.
- Explain how sometimes you use a different word to show more than one of something.
- Clarify that the word mouse refers to one mouse, but when there is more than one mouse, you use the word mice.
Adaptation: For groups with strong readers, you may want to challenge children to read the color words as you track each word.