Objectives  Learn colors in English and Spanish; cultural traditions and foreign

Teaching Guide
language; capital letters; ask and answer questions
Colores festivos/Party Colors
Materials  glitter, sand, or macaroni; glue, construction paper; scissors; holiday
magazines; ingredients/cooking utensils to make cookies or store-bought plain sugar cookies

30 minutes, Days 1–3

Build Background
Activate Prior Knowledge  Tell children: Today, you will learn about the
colors we use at the holidays./Hoy aprenderán sobre los colores que usamos durante los
días festivos. Tell the class that holidays are special, important days that we
celebrate. Ask them to think about their favorite holidays and how they
celebrate them. What’s your favorite holiday?/¿Cuál es su día festivo favorito?/What do
you do on that day?/¿Qué hacen en ese día?/Who do you celebrate it with?/¿Con quién(es)
lo celebran? Encourage children to share information about their own family
and/or cultural holidays and traditions.

Introduce the Focus Skill: Capital Letters  Tell children that capital or
uppercase letters are big letters that we use at the beginning of some words.
Explain that we use capital letters when writing holiday names. Point out the
holiday names and capital letters in the book. Then have children trace the
capital letters in the air with their index finger or on their desks. For example,
say: Christmas/Navidad. What’s the first letter in the word “Christmas?” (C)/¿Qué es la
primera letra de la palabra “Navidad”? (N)/Can you trace “C” with your finger?/¿Pueden
trazar la “N” con su dedo? Guide the hands of children who have difficulty.

Acquire New Vocabulary  Introduce the holiday names mentioned in the book. Reinforce that holiday words are capitalized
in both English and Spanish. Distribute construction paper, glue, and glitter, sand, or macaroni to the class. Assign each child a holiday.
Guide them to make the uppercase letter(s) in their holiday name by using the glitter, sand, or macaroni and gluing it to construction
paper. For instance, for Halloween/Noche de Brujas, children would glue the letter “H” for English and “D” and “B” for Spanish. Then
have children cut out pictures of a holiday from a magazine and glue them to construction paper. Encourage them to find the holiday
name and paste it as well. Point out the capital letters. Review all holiday names in both languages as a class.

Read and Respond  Display the book. Read the title and author name aloud as you track the print. Point out the objects
associated with each holiday as you read. Pause after reading the questions in English and Spanish and ask volunteers to make
predictions about the answer using picture clues. Then turn to the next page and see if the predictions were correct. Have children
repeat the color name on each page. When reading is complete, encourage children to look for objects and colors around the
classroom that match the holidays mentioned in the book.

60 minutes, Days 4–5

˛ Curricular Enrichment: Social Studies  Assign each child a holiday and tell them that they will bake and
decorate cookies for the holiday. Choose your favorite cookie recipe and write it on the board. Help children measure flour,
SOCIAL
STUDIES
sugar, and other ingredients in a bowl, and mix them together. Reinforce that paying close attention to the recipe is essential
when baking. Make sure that they wash their hands thoroughly before and after baking the cookies. If you do not have access
to an oven, pre-baked, plain sugar cookies may be purchased for children to decorate. Then have children decorate their
cookies with colors from their holiday (red for Christmas, green for St. Patrick’s Day, etc.). If they have trouble remembering
the color associated with their holiday, have them refer to the book. Encourage children to be creative when decorating their
cookies. Have fun eating them!

Home Connection  (Teacher, you may want to photocopy NATIONAL STANDARDS

this activity for children to complete with a family member.)
Talk with your child about holidays that are important to your
family and how and why you celebrate them. Encourage your
child to respond in English and/or Spanish and to use as many
color words as possible in his/her answer.
Language Arts: K-12.1, K-12.3—K-12.12
Mathematics: Numbers PK-2.1, PK-2.2; Algebra PK-2.1, PK-2.4; Geometry PK-2.1; Measurement
PK-2.1, PK-2.2; Connections PK-12.3
Science: K-4.1, K-4.2, K-4.5, K-4.6
Social Studies: Geography: K-12.1, K-12.2, K-12.4; U.S. History K-4.1, K-4.2, K-4.3, K-4.4
Visual Arts: K-4.1, K-4.2, K-4.3, K-4.5, K-4.6
Health: K-4.1, K-4.2, K-4.3, K-4.4, K-4.5, K-4.6, K-4.7
Foreign Language: K-12.1, K-12.2, K-12.3, K-12.4, K-12.5

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