Understanding the author's purpose for writing a book is key to comprehension and engagement. Leo Lionni's story of a little chameleon who just wants to fit in is the perfect springboard for a minilesson focused on identifying the author's purpose.

Use this set of teaching resources to help students understand the author's message and identify his purpose for writing A Color of His Own.

The story of a little chameleon who feels left out is highly relatable for young children.

Use this minilesson and set of teaching resources to show students how they can use their experiences to make meaningful connections to the chameleon's story. With a little luck, your students will draw upon their connections to better understand the messages of self-appreciation and acceptance found within this classic picture book.

What happens when a chameleon looks for a color of his own? Can he stand on a green leaf and remain green forever? These are just some of the questions students will enjoy pondering as they learn to make predictions with A Color of His Own.

Use the text-specific questions included in this set of teaching resources to give beginning readers practice making predictions. Students will also practice explaining whether or not the predictions they make are logical.

With this set of teaching resources you can easily discuss the characters, problems, solutions, and important events in the story with your students. By learning to notice key story elements, students will be able to summarize the book and answer questions about the beginning, middle, and end of the book.

Teaching young readers to synthesize is all about teaching them to think about their thinking.

Use this minilesson and set of student activities to help your students track the ways in which their opinion of the little chameleon changes as they read A Color of His Own. The included graphic organizer and reader's notebook prompt provide additional practice for students learning how to synthesize and connect with the books they read.

This word work lesson plan and set of teaching resources use A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni as a springboard for instruction focused on digraphs and diphthongs.

By anchoring word study to the text, students will benefit from seeing how digraphs and diphthongs are used inside of the text before engaging in both guided and independent practice with words.