July Fourth Sparkle Collage

Materials

• Independence Day by Willma Willis Gore and Michael P. French
• black construction paper
• glitter paint or glitter glue
• tissue paper scraps in a variety of bright colors
• white glue
• glitter in a variety of colors

Instructions

1. Read Independence Day by Willma Willis Gore and Micheal P. French. Ask the children what their families do to celebrate Independence Day. Ask them to describe how fireworks look and sound. Record their responses by writing them down.
2. Ask the children to draw pictures of firework displays they have seen in the past. If some of the children have never seen fireworks, ask them to imagine how they might look.
3. Give each child a piece of black construction paper. Provide bottles of brightly colored glitter paint or glitter glue, brightly colored scraps of tissue paper, white glue, and glitter.
4. Encourage the children to make a fireworks picture. Give them time to experiment with the materials. Encourage individuality and creativity. Make positive comments about what they are doing.
5. Create an Independence Day bulletin board display using the drawings. Title the display: "Sparkles in the Sky." Hang the pictures and post the children's comments (see step 1) on sentence strips underneath their drawings.

More to do

Group or Circle Time: After Independence Day, have a follow-up discussion. Ask the children if the fireworks were anything like what they thought they would be. Ask them to describe what they saw and heard at the fireworks displays. Compare their comments after seeing the fireworks with their comments from before.
Literacy: Post fireworks words (boom, crack, rocket, sparkle, zoom) in the Writing center for the children to print.