Mixed-Up Chameleon Lesson Plan

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Children love Eric Carle's colorful illustrations and animal characters. Students enjoy creating patterns using characters from The Mixed-Up Chameleon.

OBJECTIVE
Students will "identify, reproduce, describe, extend, and create color, rhythmic, shape, number, and letter repeating patterns with simple attributes." --Massachusetts Mathematics Curriculum Frameworks

MATERIALS

• The Mixed-Up Chameleon by Eric Carle
• glue sticks
• sentence strips or long strips of construction paper
• copies of the animals
  

SET UP AND PREPARE
Copy the animals in the book. To create these, turn to the page near the end of the book that displays all the animals on tabs. Use a copier to create strips of these illustrations. Some paperback editions feature the animals on the back of the book, as well. You will need enough copies for students to use a number of the same animals. Once copied, cut out the individual animals. You may choose to have students do the cutting and sorting.

DIRECTIONS
After introducing the copied animal squares to students, generate various patterns. For example, use bear, fish, bear, fish... to create an A,B pattern. Have students create patterns by arranging the animal squares on their paper strips.  Check to be certain they have created a pattern before giving them a glue stick to glue their pattern. When they are done, have students share their patterns before displaying them around the classroom.

LESSON EXTENSION

Try having students create another pattern strip. Copy the animals on construction paper or have students color the animals, then create new patterns based on color.

Related Resources
www.eric-carle.com
www.picturebookart.org

Jeremy Brunaccioni is a kindergarten teacher in Massachusetts.

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