Concept Books

Godwin, P. (story), & Macaulay, K. (art). (2000).  I Feel Orange Today.  Toronto: Annick Press Ltd.

ISBN- 1-55037-640-3

      This book guides the reader through a series of days represented by a colour.  Each colour is related to particular feelings, experiences and senses.  The text creates lovely poetic images that describe feelings and emotions using colour.  It provides a wonderfully different way to describe emotions and experiences, as well as giving depth to and enhancing the meaning of colour.  It is beautifully written and a joy to read.
      This book relates to 3-5 year olds by describing feelings and events from the perspectives of someone that age.  It also explains colours using a different yet simple concept that can teach children about colours and how to interpret them, while at the same time giving new meaning to how one would decribe their feelings.
      The illustrations are whimsical, fluid, and playful.  Each picture reflects the colour and events being described.  There are multiple characters that reappear in each image which makes it fun to turn the page and see where they are next, and also creates multiple layers of stories for the reader.

Provocations:

• Each day you could hang a different coloured piece of paper or fabric on a board, the wall, or even in the window to see how the children react to it.  See if it makes them feel or act any different.
• Provide photographs or drawings of different emotions and experiences and ask the children to match those pictures with a particular coloured card.  For example, "What colour card would you put this angry face on?" Or "When you are eating a popsicle what colour does that make you feel?" Or "When you look at the colour orange what does it make you think of?"

Presenting the book:

• The first time reading the story, choose to pause on two or three of the colours.  You can read the first sentence, for example - "gray days are slow".  Then ask the children how they relate to the colour gray, or what a gray day means to them... or a blue day, an orange day, etc.
• Use a hand puppet of either a little boy or girl, who could tell the story in first person (which is the way the book is written).  Have a different coloured prop ready which the puppet wears (a hat, scarf, etc.) or holds (a popsicle, a green leaf, etc.) that reflects what is being described in the srory as the puppet reads.  
• Use either a felt or magnet board to build a rainbow as you read the story.  Have an arch made for each colour, and as the colour is descirbed in the book, add that part to the rainbow.  Note that the story is not told in the order that the rainbow appears, so when constructing it on the board be conscious of where each colour needs to lie to make up the final complete rainbow (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple - white, grey, and black in the shape of clouds).  

Extensions:

• Make colour-themed artwork, this could be done in a series of projects.  Children can create a piece of art that might tell a story, an experience, or a feeling (or it might just be an exploration of materials) using a variety of mediums all in one colour.  For example it might be purple today, in which case there will be a selection of various shades of purple paint, purple pastels, purple paper, purple fabric, purple buttons... etc. - whatever types of materials are around that are purple!
• Create a song and dance.  Give each child a shaker and get them to dance around and make sounds and movements that relflect what an orange day is, or a yellow day, or a blue day etc.
• Make mood masks out of paper plates that convey different feelings.  Each child can make several different masks, and when they are feeling one of those moods they can wear the mask to communicate that feeling.  They can also do a performance where they put on one of their masks and act out how that mood would look with their whole body.