Classroom Close-Up
"I had the kids work in small groups—each group would paint a picture using a primary color to which they could add white and black paint to make different shades. The kids were happy to name the shades of the colors they were making. After mixing in some white, Nichelle decided, “That’s a peachy red.” I asked the group what they thought might happen when black was added to the red. Jason said, “It’s going to make a kind of brownish color!”"
—Caroline, Preschool Educator
Caroline describes what happened when she and her class did color sorting with crayons.
"I thought the color-sorting activity would be a straightforward, simple lesson for the children. To my surprise, the activity was an incredible learning experience on many different levels. The children used their language skills to describe the colors and explain why they chose to sort things a certain way. They had to negotiate and problem solve with their peers in order to come to consensus on how to sort the crayons. They also had to think beyond how the crayons were organized in the box in order to complete the task.
Instead of doing this activity with the whole group, we chose to make this a small group learning experience. We also made a conscious decision to keep Educator intervention to a minimum and to say as little as possible during the activity. We wanted the kids to make this experience their own. And they did!
The instruction given to the children was simply to sort the crayons. They were given the box of crayons and six clear plastic containers. One group that did this activity decided to take turns as they sorted the crayons. They passed the box of crayons around the circle and each child took out a crayon and put it in one of the containers. Here is how it went:
Zoe: We have lots of different shades of pink.
Sam: I’m picking silver.
Lexi (picks a mustard-colored crayon): I wonder where this goes. Maybe with the yellows.... (She then proceeds to put the crayon in a container with the purples.)
Sam: She put it with the purples ‘cause it is really a little purple.
(Sasha put a green crayon in the purple container.)
Emma: That doesn’t belong there. I want to switch it.
Sam: No, you can’t switch it!
Emma: How about on your turn you can either make a switch or take a new color?
The kids discussed and agreed on this new rule. As they continued to pass the box around the circle, kids either took a new crayon or switched a crayon to a new container.
When the group was done sorting, Lexi and Sasha stayed and did more switching. They discussed switching some of the reds to be with the browns. They couldn’t decide whether the maroon should be with the reds or the browns.
They then switched the game to sorting the “pretties” and the “not so pretties.” They continued sorting until they had two containers full of what they considered pretties and not pretties. Then Lexi said, “Let’s mix them up and start again.” They started to go through the process again, but in the end decided that all the crayons should go with the pretties, so none of them would feel bad."
—Caroline, Preschool Educator