The book Red: A Crayon's Story is an inspiring book about identify and being true to yourself. For teachers that want to encourage their students to be themselves and feel confident being different, this is a great read aloud. This is a book that will add diversity to your classroom library and allow teachers to talk about diversity with students. - Jodi and the Starts With a Story Team
SUMMARY
Red is a crayon who has a very hard time drawing red pictures. His label says red, so even though he only draws in blue, everyone in the story tries to get him to draw red pictures. Some people think he needs more practice, and some people think he is just being lazy. No matter how hard he tries though, his red pictures always come out as blue.
One day Red meets Berry. She asks him to draw her an ocean for her boat. When he makes a beautiful ocean, he discovers that he is really blue. Everyone is amazed by the blue pictures that he draws.
Students will learn about identity and diversity as they hear a story about a crayon who was always supposed to be blue.
USE THIS BOOK TO TEACH:
While this book is great for social emotional learning, we encourage teachers to use it for academics as well. Here are some ways you can do that:
- Discuss the importance of illustrations and how they help readers to construct meaning.
- Teach students to retell a story by thinking about the beginning, middle and end.
- Ask students to write about their opinions on the way the character in this story was treated.
- Help students learn about the author of the book and write what they've learned about him.
- Identify the different types of sentences used throughout the book.
- Practice using adjectives and contractions.
- Discuss the importance of diversity and friendship.
NO-PREP PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES:
If you are looking for “ready to go” activities for the first day of school, be sure to check out the book companion. With it you’ll receive all of the following resources to align with this specific book:
- comprehension questions
- 30 writing prompts with themed paper
- vocabulary activities
- word study print & go activities
- ideas for grammar lessons with focus sentence printables
- social emotional learning discussion topics
- graphic organizers to target specific comprehension skills and strategies
As teachers, it can sometimes feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done. Our goal is that these activities will save you time planning so you can focus on teaching.
GET THE PRINTABLE ACTIVITIES
ADDITIONAL BOOK SUGGESTIONS
You and your students will also love these similar books:
- Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer
- My Brother Charlie by Denene Millner, Holly Robinson Peete, and Ryan Elizabeth Peete
- Just Ask by Sonia Sotomayor
- The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
TRY OUT A SAMPLE COMPANION
It's hard to explain how amazing the Starts with a Story book companions are because there is just so much goodness included in each one. It's best if you experience using one for yourself. Sign up below & we'll send you an entire book companion to try out for FREE!
