The Mixed Up Chameleon by Eric Carle

Teach colours and wild animals with this charming and thoughtful story that explores what it means to be yourself.

TOPIC: colours / wild animals

AGE GROUP: 6-10 years old

LANGUAGE SKILLS: speaking and listening

THINKING SKILLS LOTS: remembering

HOTS: sequencing, organizing, analyzing, creating, cross-curricular links (science)

SEL COMPONENT: self identity / confidence

VOCABULARY: colours / wild animals / pets / farm animals / insects / adjectives

STORY BOX: create a story box with animal finger puppets, coloured crayons (ensure you have the colours mentioned in the story), picture of a chameleon, wild animals flashcards.

PROCEDURE

Pre-reading

Draw a picture of a chameleon on the board (do not colour it in as yet).

Explain that it is a very special animal with amazing qualities:

• it can change its colour

• it has got a long, sticky tongue

• it can rotate its eyes independently from each other

• it has a 360 degree vision to scan for predators

Explain that the protagonist of the story is not particularly happy about himself because it feels small and dull, while other animals may be seen as more exciting and powerful.

Ask students to pay particular attention to the names of the animals that appear in the story.

Reading or watching a video

There is an amazing video of the story that can replace the reading, for once. Children love Eric Carle's drawings and animations and enjoy watching the chameleon as it transforms itself into a mix of animals.

You can stop the story every now and then to ask questions on what is being shown, so you still keep this part of the lesson interactive.

Skill 1 - Remembering

Ask students to copy the drawing of the chameleon from the board. Then ask them to remember where the chameleon goes at the beginning of the story, and what colour it was.

leaf	green
tree	brown
flower	red
desert (sand)	yellow
cold and hungry	grey

As you work through the places and the colours, students colour bits of the chameleon to create a multi coloured sequence (see picture).

Skill 2 - Sequencing information

Ask students to create a 3x3 table and number the boxes from 1 to 9.

In plenary, ask students to fill the table with the names of the animals the chameleon see in the zoo, in the order they appear in the story.

Once the table is completed, ask students to tell you which colour is each animal and colour the respective box accordingly. Encourage students to use full sentences, e.g. "The giraffe is yellow" or "It is yellow", not just "yellow".

Skill 3 - organizing information

Show students wild animal flashcards and elicit the name of the animals that appear on them. Ask students to create a mind map on their exercise book and add all new vocabulary to it. Make sure you list animals like fish or snake, on top of the most common ones. Ensure spelling is correct.

Next, ask students to divide the page in three parts:

Four legs

Two legs

No legs

Explain that they need to write the name of each animal under the correct column.

Check in plenary.

Skill 4 - analysing information

Show students flashcards of wild animals, pets and farm animals. Ask questions like:

• what animal is it?

• what colour is it?

• does it live on a farm? in the jungle? at home?

Ensure students answer with complete sentences: "it is a ...", "it is ...", "it lives ..."

Then, ask students to create a pie chart, divided in 3 parts. One part should contain the names of wild animals, another part should contain the names of pets and the third part should contain the names of farm animals.

Once the diagram is ready, start showing students the flashcards one by one. Students write the name of the animal shown under the correct heading.

Skill 5 - Create

Divide the class in two groups. Give each group a sheet of paper with the drawing of a chameleon. The paper goes from one student to another and each student has to add a feature from a different animal. When the picture is complete, groups exchange drawings and write down the names of the animals they recognize.

Students can also try and name the resulting animal and create a new species.

Skill 6 - Content Based Learning component

Divide students in groups of five.

Ask each group of students to draw five circles on a poster. Each circle is labelled with "birds", "mammals", "insects", "reptiles" and "fish". Each component of the group is in charge of collecting information on one of the following animal groups.

Explain what are the main characteristics of each animal group:

birds - have feathers and wings, have a beak, lay eggs, have warm blood

insects - have six legs, body is divided in three parts, have wings

mammals - have warm blood, have fur, babies drink milk

reptiles - have scales, have cold blood, are born from eggs

fish - have scales, have fins, lay eggs, have cold blood

Using erasable cards, write the names of different mammals, insects, reptiles, birds and fish and pass them to each group of students. They must decide what category the animal belongs to and the designed student has to write it on the poster. The poster is completed only when all students have done their specific task.

Animals could include: snake, ladybird, crocodile, lion, chicken, horse, duck, chameleon, lizard, spider, ant, butterfly, shark, goldfish, penguin and so on and so forth.

Try this lesson plan with your classrooms and let us know how it goes. Don't forget to like, share and save. Join our blog mailing list to receive updates straight in your inbox.