What Did Your Mind's Eye See?

 

 

Have you ever wanted something and wished you could just draw it so you would have it right in front of you? We all wish we could do that at times, but Harold in Harold and the Purple Crayon gets overwhelmed with all of the endless things he created with his purple crayon! One day, Harold intended to go on a walk, but this wasn't any ordinary walk. First, Harold needed a moon so he could see. After drawing his moon, he needed a path so he would know where he was going for his walk. This walk led him to drawing apple trees, buildings, cities, police officers, mountains, and much more! Harold's purple crayon leads him to draw so many outlandish things that he forgot where his bedroom window was. In the end, Harold draws his own window, crawls in, draws a bed and some covers, and falls fast asleep with the crayon lying on the floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is much visualizing and imagination when reading Harold and the Purple Crayon  by Crockett Johnson. This book would be an excellent story to use to teach students how to visualize what is going on in the text.

 

 

 

 

 

This visualizing, activity worksheet would be fun to do while reading Harold and the Purple Crayon. It was found on teacherspayteachers.com, and it can be used with any story to teach visualizing. The teacher can have the students write on the worksheet during or after the story that is read aloud or independently. For example, during a read aloud story, the teacher would simply pause at various points in the story and ask the students to write in the specified section. If the activity was done after reading the story, students could recall what their thoughts were, or what their mind's eye saw, when the teacher was reading.

 

We like this activity because, even though so many things are going on throughout the story, students can still visualize numerous things that happen, and write or illustrate them in the blocks on this worksheet. The students are guided to recreate the images in their minds at the beginning, middle, and end of the story, and they also describe how the images helped them better understand the text.