1-2-3 Come Do Some Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities With Me
My students absolutely love Eric Carle's story, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It's one of my favorites too, and is the inspiration behind the 6 caterpillar craftivities that I'm featuring today.
First up is The Very Hungry Caterpillar "Story Elements" Dangler.
The “smile” of the caterpillar says the title of the story. The circle "body segment" features the characters and setting, with an optional "problem-solution" circle.
Students write a brief description about the beginning of the story on the leaf, something about the middle on the apple, then concluding with the end of the story, which is written on the butterfly.
Add extra 3D pop & pizzazz by giving students two leaves and two butterflies. They fold the leaf in half and glue to one side, and attach the thorax of the top butterfly to the one on the bottom.
I also gave my kiddos a tiny white pom pom that they attached to the leaf with a glue dot, to represent an egg. This way I could also review the life cycle of a butterfly. The 3D options take just a few minutes and really add the “Wow! factor".
Completed projects look awesome dangling from the ceiling, or hung as a border along the top of a hallway wall.
Another way you can retell the story is with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Telling Slider craftivity.
There are 2 caterpillar options. Choose one, or give children a choice. Children color their caterpillar, then color, cut and glue their slider together.
As they pull on the end of the “slider” the various pictures go through the caterpillar’s “tummy window”, so that children can take turns retelling the story to a partner or reading buddy, then take their caterpillar home to share with their family, once again practicing these standards.
Storytelling sliders are also an easy & interesting way to assess comprehension.
Besides a slider, my students also enjoy practicing this standard with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Wheel.
It's a quick, easy & fun way to assess comprehension and practice sequencing, as well as retelling a story.
There are full color patterns to use for centers, as well as a sample to share, plus a black & white pattern, so your students can make their own.
As a comprehension-assessment tool, and for fine motor practice, another option is to have students cut up the picture sections, then glue them to the blank wheel in the appropriate order.
I've also included "Sequence the Story” Puzzles. Use the full-color versions for an independent center, and print the black and white pattern, so children can color, cut and arrange their own puzzle.
Besides the picture puzzles, I’ve also included “word slices” so you can practice recognizing the vocabulary for this story.
There are also 2 writing prompt worksheets, where students write what happened in the story, or explain why they’d rather be a butterfly or caterpillar.
Follow up checking comprehension with The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Elements worksheet, which can be completed as homework, or tucked in a sub-folder.
I've included a completed sample, so that you can quickly and easily make an example to share with your students.
You can also review the story while students practice their grammar skills, with the "Fix The Sentence" packet.
These 32, caterpillar/butterfly-themed, sentence cards, are also a quick, easy and fun way to review the life cycle of a butterfly.
Students practice rules for appropriate grammar for capitalization and end punctuation. Simply read the cards together as a whole group to practice a lot of sight words as well.
Choose a student to come up and using a dry erase marker, circle letters that should be capitalized and then add end punctuation. (period, question mark & exclamation point).
You can do this on a whiteboard, with a pocket chart or pass one card out to each child to correct. I've also included a set of mini-cards, so that students can work on the sentences independently.
Finally, The Very Hungry Caterpillar is perfect for a "Devouring Words & Books" challenge, which will build vocabulary, reading fluency and motivate students to read more.
Run off the caterpillar pattern on a variety of colors of construction paper or card stock, then give students a choice.
A word-apillar can be sight words, word wall words, seasonal vocabulary words, or specific to the life cycle or study of butterflies, with science vocabulary like metamorphosis, chrysalis, proboscis, etc.
It’s also a fun way for students to practice their spelling words, or complete their word work portion of Daily 5. I’ve provided 2 pattern pages of extra “body segments” so students can make a really long caterpillar.
Today's FREEBIE is a set of butterfly alphabet cards. There are 3 sets: one has both the upper and lowercase letters on them, as well as a set with each, so you can play Memory Match and "I Have; Who Has?" games.
Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. Gotta rush as it's my grandson's 6th birthday and we are off to a "Jump" party.
Wishing you a happy and carefree day.
