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A Color Of Their Own
Colors are what inspired Library Specialist Elizabeth Hamboussi to create an ultra-interactive lesson for JFK students in Taheera Mushatt’s multigrade class. Through the book “A Color of His Own" by Leo Leonni–an illustrator who first used collage and earthy tones in his books–Hamboussi talked to students about the different colors of animals–parrots are green, goldfish are orange, elephants are gray–and handed out different textured objects to match–green feathers, orange popsicle sticks, gray tinfoil.
“How does the feather feel?” asked Hamboussi.
“Achoo!” exclaimed Joshua Vasquez Perez. “It’s so soft!”
When she got to the chameleon, she read, “He has no color of his own. When the leaves change from red to green, so does the chameleon.”
Students were then handed different colored leaves–red, green, yellow–which they swept across their faces, dropped to watch fall, and tore off into little pieces.
“Just like a chameleon,” said Hamboussi, “we are going to have different foods to match the colors of the leaves. What foods are green?”
“Apples!” said Peter Constantino.
Hamboussi handed out green apples, yellow pineapples, and red strawberries.
“Our students love to come to the library for these interactive activities,” said teacher
Stephanie Velez-Goncalves, “there are just so many layers to these hands-on lessons.”
After that it was mixing colors, painting their very own chameleon, and enjoying a Sonic dance party–because he’s blue, and everyone loves to dance like Sonic.