I read the book "Giraffes Can't Dance" by Giles Andrede to all of my kindergarten classes.  After reading the book we go back and we talk about things we noticed in the illustrations of the book (what color the sky is, what color Gerald the giraffe is, etc.).  I like for my kindergartners to feel successful at painting so we work big and take it slow!  The paper is 18"x24" and the paint is tempra.  We draw all together step by step with a big fat black crayon.  Reading the book and drawing Gerald takes a whole 50 minute class.  The next day we paint the sky.  I put all of the sky colors into one bowl so they touch but are not mixed.  Since this is there 1st time ever painting with me we go over all of the painting expectations the biggest one being that we do not use our paint brush like a spoon; there is no scooping or stirring of the paint!  This takes the whole time for most all of them and anyone that finishes early just gets to free draw (usually no more then 10 min.).  The next and final day we paint Gerald and his leafy snake.  Although we all draw the same thing I love the differences in each Gerald!