An Easter lesson plan on Clifford the Dog books provide holiday ideas for fun learning activities. Clifford’s Happy Easter by Norman Bridwell, published by [Cartwheel, 1994], teaches about friendship, cooperation, teamwork, and Easter colors. This teacher lesson plan can be used as presented here or personalized to suit specific classes and standards. It is age appropriate for elementary classes.
Lesson Plan Objectives and Overview
Teaching this spring lesson plan takes 30 to 60 minutes. By the end of the Clifford the Big Red Dog lesson, children have worked on color recognition and gross motor skills development. They have heard and comprehend Clifford’s Easter story, and prereading skills are supported as the teacher points to the words as they are read aloud. A copy of the children’s book Clifford’s Happy Easter is needed for this lesson.
This lesson builds on prior knowledge of emergent reader skills such as identifying book titles, author's names, and illustrator's names. Primary colors such as red, blue, and yellow have been introduced in other teaching activities.
Easter Lesson Plan Teaching Method
Show the children the cover of the book, and read the title while pointing to the words. Read the Clifford the Dog story, and ask the children to predict the story based on the cover illustration. Coach the children to clap their hands whenever they hear the name of one of these colors mentioned in the story: green, sunshine yellow, purple, red, white, or blue. The teacher acknowledges their efforts when the children hear the name of a color and respond appropriately.
Another good activity to build prereading skills is to ask the children to identify the sound made by the first letter of the name of the color. For example, say something like this: "This is the color green. Green starts with the letter G. This is the color yellow. What letter does the color yellow start with?"
Read the Clifford the Dog Book
The teacher points to the picture of the color to help the children connect seeing and hearing with word recognition. Ask them about their favorite colors and have them predict whether or not that color is in the book. Planned repetition helps emergent readers build pre-reading skills.
Using the colors from the story in various teaching activities helps the children make the connection between hearing the words, recognizing the colors, and internalizing the meaning. Young children are concrete thinkers and providing visual cues bridges the learning gap.
Color Skill Development Activities
Use some multi-sensory learning activities to connect Clifford’s tale with other learning opportunities for skill development. Supply simple geometric shapes – circle, triangle, square – in the same colors found in the story. The children work independently or in pairs to create patterns, name colors, and shapes.
Children take turns calling out the names and colors of the shapes. Have the children to look for and name the story colors as they are playing with blocks or other construction type toys. The teacher praises them for their efforts.
Spring Gross Motor Activities
This gross motor skill developing exercise is fun and interactive. By using shapes in the colors found in the story, more reiteration is built into the learning process.
Place large color shapes on the floor; the children move as instructed to various shapes and colors. For instance, tell the children to hop to a green circle. After each child has hopped to the green circle, the teacher directs them to tiptoe to a yellow triangle. Continue in this manner rotating through the six colors found in Clifford’s story. Some other suggested large motor motions are:
- Jumping
- Stepping side to side
- Walking backward
- Slow motion
A fun way to end this Easter-theme lesson is by providing hard-boiled eggs and egg-dye in the story colors. Help the children dye an egg in a color of their choice and let them take it home as a visual reminder of the lesson.
Lesson Extension and Recommended Reading
Here are some other Easter themed books to support this teacher lesson plan and extend the learning experience for the children.
- The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, [Warne, 2002]
- The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies by Beatrix Potter, [Warne, 2002]
- Spot’s Easter Surprise by Eric Hill, [Putnam Juvenile, 2007]
- Spot’s First Easter by Eric Hill, [Puffin, 2004]
- Max’s Chocolate Chicken by Rosemary Wells, [Puffin, 2001]
This Easter teacher lesson plan uses multisensory learning, emergent reader, and color recognition activities. By the end of this lesson plan, the elementary children recognize six colors, and understand the concepts of friendship and teamwork. Gross motor skills have been been activated and exercised. These skills are reinforced by the spaced repetition of the various activities.
VRS101
Donna Cosmato - Donna is a Certified Image Consultant, author and public speaker, whose first book Buying Your First Home? will be available in bookstores ...
