Harold and the Purple Crayon
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
"One night, after thinking it over for some time, Harold decided to go for a walk in the moonlight." So begins this gentle story that shows just how far your imagination can take you. Armed only with an oversized purple crayon, young Harold draws himself a landscape full of beauty and excitement. But this is no hare-brained, impulsive flight of fantasy. Cherubic, round-headed Harold conducts his adventure with the utmost prudence, letting his imagination run free, but keeping his wits about him all the while. He takes the necessary purple-crayon precautions: drawing landmarks to ensure he won't get lost; sketching a boat when he finds himself in deep water; and creating a purple pie picnic when he feels the first pangs of hunger.
Crockett Johnson's understated tribute to the imagination was first published in 1955, and has been inspiring readers of all ages ever since. Harold's quiet but magical journey reminds us of the marvels the mind can create, and also gives us the wondrous sense that anything is possible. (Ages 4 to 8)(amazon.com review)
Why are we featuring this book?
Harold and the Purple Crayon is a book featured in Five in a Row, a literature-based unit study curriculum. Many families use FIAR for all but the Grammar / Reading and Math, and others use it in conjunction with other resources. Below you will find information about the author and illustrator, story summaries, and links to lesson plans and websites that are great go-alongs for Harold and the Purple Crayon. Please note that these resources are meant to complement, not replace, the Five in a Row units. The Five in a Row volumes are inexpensive and well worth the investment.
|
Author page
Other books by Crockett Johnson
Illustrator Page
The author is also the illustrator.
Go-Alongs:
Online Units and Resources for Harold and the Purple Crayon
Literature resources for younger children
A large number of FIAR resource for specific books as well as general resources that can be used with any literature. Requires Adobe Acrobat reader. (Y,M)
Harold and the Purple Crayon Lapbook
lapbook (Y)
Harold Lapbook - 2006
Harold and the Purple Crayon lapbook (Y)
Purple Crayon resources
Vocabulary cards, fraction pies, memory game, and more (Y)
Crayon Creation
Using Harold and the Purple Crayon as inspiration, the students will tap into their imagination to create their own crayon drawing. Then, they will use their crayon drawing to a write story. (Grade 1-7)
(Y,M)
Harold and the Purple Crayon
This unit for emerging readers uses Crockett Johnson's Harold and the Purple Crayon as a jumping off point for an exploration of neighborhoods, principles of color, and map reading. (Grades K-4) (Y)
KinderArt® Lesson/Activity
Students will use shapes to stimulate their imaginations and create a unique image, practice correct gluing skills, use crayons to draw details that will complete their images. (Grade: K-3) (Y)
Learning about Maps and Colors
Students will develop basic geography skills by reading neighborhood maps. They will learn how to interpret map symbols and identify the specific colors used for each. Students will learn to identify primary and secondary colors, then use them to create their own map, map symbols, and colored map key. (Grades K-4) (Y)
Creative Nature
Harold and the Purple Crayon (Grades PreK-1) (Y)
Go-alongs about
The Energy Story - Comprehensive description of electricity with 15 chapters detailing the many sources of electricity. Includes: Geothermal Energy, Fossil Fuels -- Coal, Oil and Natural Gas, Hydro Power and Ocean Energy, Nuclear Energy, Solar Energy, Wind Energy, and Transportation Energy.
(Y, M, O, T)
Transportation Activities - From Teaching with Primary Sources (TPS) funded by the Library of Congress. (Y, M)
Zoom Inventors and Inventions - From Enchanted Learning; indexed alphabetically, by date, and by category (Clothing, Communication, Food, Fun, Medicine, Science/Industry, Transportation, Undersea)
(Y, M, O, T)
Go-alongs about Astronomy
A Solar System Coloring Book--Beginner - (Y)
A Trip Through Our Solar System An Internet Scavenger Hunt - (Y, M)
A Trip Through the Solar System - PPT presentation from Mrs. Frederick's
6th Grade Class in 2004
(Y, M)
Amazing Space - Web-based space activities for classroom use. This site is full of excellent lesson plans and activities, but be aware this site does present the Big Bang Theory in an understated way. (Y, M, O, T)
Apollo 11 - From NASA. (Y, M, O, T)
Apollo 11 Story - On July 20, 1969, the human race accomplished its single greatest technological achievement of all time when a human first set foot on another celestial body. Get the Apollo 11 story from launch to splashdown. (Y,M)
Astronomy Picture of the Day - Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. (Y, M, O, T)
Astronomy Picture of the Day - Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
(Y, M, O, T)
Astronomy: Our Place in Space - From Ology - American Museum of Natural History. (Y, M, O, T)
Auroras - Find out more about the mysterious phenomenon also called the Northern Lights. Beautiful photography and a teacher's guide with a few ideas for using the site in the classroom.
(Y, M, O, T)
Blast Off Boutique - (Y)
Build your own comet - From the National Optical Astronomy Observatory. Active Learning Exercises in Planetary and Solar Astronomy for grades K-3. (Y)
Discovering Uranus - from thinkquest.org (Y, M, O, T)
Earth science & Astronomy science projects - (Y, M)
Exploring Planets in the Classroom - Hands on activity guide introduces scientific concepts involving space. (Y, M, O, T)
Google Earth - Want to know more about a specific location? Dive right in -- Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips. (Y, M, O, T)
Interplanetary Virtual Tour - This is an awesome collection of almost 100 pages of photos and information that can be explored systematically through the tour or overviewed through the "Express Tour". The images of the planets and their satellites will entertain the youngest students (Y, M, O, T)
Journey Through the Solar System - A ThinkQuest Junior project. (Y)
Kennedy Space Center Educator Resources - The NASA Educator Resource Center (ERC) at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex provides educational resources available include videos, slides, lesson plans, publications and lunar & meteorite samples. (Y, M, O, T)
Make a comet - From the Lunar and Planetary Institute. This activity introduces kids to the structure of comets and the interactions between comets and our Sun. Activity for space unit. (Y,M) (Y,M)
NASA Kids Club - Space science for kids! (Y M)
Nasa News for Kids - Science fun, Games, Art & Stories, Activities and Kids club. (Y, M, O, T)
Nasa Quest - Connection K-12 classrooms with people, research and science through mission based interactions and activities. (Y, M, O, T)
NASA Teaching Materials - Extensive database of downloadable educational materials searchable by subject, grade level and product type (Y, M, O, T)
NASA's Kids Science News Network™ - (Y, M, O, T)
National Science Foundation - NSF - Where discoveries begin. (Y, M, O, T)
Ology - American Museum of Natural History in NYC. Science-rich Website for Kids. (Y, M, O, T)
On the Moon Activity Guide - Six activities that bring engineering and NASA's moon missions to life. Two activities--Launch It and Touchdown--are for grades 3-8 (and work well at events). Three activities--Roving on the Moon, Heavy Lifting, and On Target--are for grades 6-12. One activity--Feel the Heat--is for grades 9-12. (Y, O, M, T)
Outer Space Crafts - Great hands on crafts for younger students studying space. (Y,M)
Soaring Through Our Solar System - Reading Comprehension worksheets for solar system unit. (Grades 2-4) (Y)
Solar System Wordsearch - From ABC.teach (Y, M, O, T)
Space Science Institute - The Space Science Institute (SSI) is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation formed in 1992. Our purpose is to create and maintain an environment where scientific research and education programs can flourish in an integrated fashion. (Y, M, O, T)
Space Shuttle Launch Simulation - From NASA; this simulation requires students to complete pre-launch steps in order to actually launch the space shuttle. If an error message occurs, the all systems will shut down and the student must restart the launch process. Good practice for real life. (Y, M, O, T)
Space Weather Center - With games, Activities and E-Cards. (Y, M, O, T)
SpaceWeather.com - For the skywatchers among us, SpaceWeather.com is a wonderful site for predicting space events such as meteor showers, auroras (northern lights), falling asteroids, and more. (Y, M, O, T)
Star Journey - This site from National Geographic contains star charts, start attractions, and views from the Hubble telescope. (Y, M, O, T)
StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers - The StarChild site is a service of the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC), Dr. Alan Smale (Director), within the Astrophysics Science Division (ASD) at NASA. (Y M)
Styrofoam Planets - You guessed it: make styrofoam planets. (Y,M)
The Animated Virtual Planetarium - (Y, M, O, T)
The Aurora Page - A source for Information, links and images about the "Northern Lights" on-line since the Web began (Y, M, O, T)
The Comet's Tale - From the Science Engineering Gateway for Berkeley education. A look at all aspects of comet's from history to predicting future killer comets. Instructions for making a comet. (Y, M, O, T)
The Nine Planetss - A Multimedia Tour of the Solar System:
one star, eight planets, and more (Y, M, O, T)
The Space Place - Games, animations, projects, and fun facts about Earth, space and technology. (Y)
The Virtual Sun - (Y, M, O, T)
Trip Through the Solar System - Language Arts Grade Level - 1 (Y)
Uranus - from solarviews.com (Y, M, O, T)
Uranus - from EnchantedLearning.com (Y, M, O, T)
Who discovered Uranus? - from coolcosmos (Y, M, O, T)
WorldWide Telescope - WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope. (Y, M, O, T)
Zoom Astronomy - A comprehensive on-line site about space and astronomy (Y)
Go-alongs about Art
