1-2-3 Come Figure Out Story Elements With Me

Making The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Dangler is a fun way to help students reinforce their understanding of content, as well as the following Common Core State Standards: L.K.2a, L.K.2b, RF.K.3a, RF.K.3d, RF.1.1a, RL.1.2,W.K.7,SL.K.2, RL.K.2, RL.K.3

The "craftivity" is an interesting way for students to show their ability to retell a story, as well as a gauge for the teacher to see if anyone needs help with comprehension.

The smile is the title of the story, and the circle is about characters and setting. The leaf with the egg on it = the beginning of the story, the apple = the middle of the story, and the 3D butterfly = the end of the story.

After reading the story, review concepts of print with your students. Discuss who the characters are, where the setting takes place, as well as what happens in the beginning, middle and end of the story.

When students can identify the important events from the beginning, middle and end of a story, their reading comprehension and writing ability improves.

This knowledge helps a reader understand how organization, sequence, and plot make a good story, so they hopefully will include it in their own writing.  (It's been said that "Good readers are also good writers.")

Here's How To Make The Hungry Caterpillar Dangler:

Cut lengths of yarn for each child. So they don’t get knotted, fasten them to a paper plate with a bottom and top slit cut out. Lay the yarn between the slits.

Make the eye, nose and antennae templates by cutting out the patterns and tracing them on an old file folder.

Older students can trace and cut out their own pieces, but it really expedites things for little ones, if these are already pre-cut by a room helper.

Run off the body parts on construction paper. To save paper, each child gets one body part. To hang them together simply run a piece of yarn across the back and tape each section to it.

I like the more finished 3D look of giving children two of each body section. To attach, they flip their pieces over and put them in a line with ½ an inch of space between them.

Children rub glue on the back, lay the yarn on top and then glue the other half over it. I wanted the leaf to be 3D, so I only glued half of the leaf together, and let the other half stick out.

To represent a butterfly egg, I fastened a mini white pom pom to the right side of the leaf with a glue dot. I also wanted to make the butterfly 3D, so I folded the wings up on either side of the thorax.

Rub glue on just the thorax area and press the other thorax over it. Fluff the wings and they will look like the butterfly is flying.

Pass out the pieces to the children. They fill in the information and assemble their Story Dangler. Punch a hole in the top of the head and make a yarn loop.

If you want to cover even more standards, have students add another circle or make a heart to tell why they liked or did not like the story, or compare this story to another caterpillar or butterfly story and state which one they liked better.

These look adorable hanging from the ceiling (if you have front and back pieces) or hung in a row on the wall if you used Scotch tape.

Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Dangler.  Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.

For another Very Hungry Caterpillar activity, scroll down to take a look at the next blog article.

"Garbage in, is garbage out! Pay attention to what you read, listen to, and watch." -Unknown

1-2-3 come Study Butterflies With Me!

One of my very favorite science units was butteflies.  There is so much interesting science involved.

To help you with assessing the life cycle of a butterfly, I made up some anchor chart-posters, as well as traceable butterfly life cycle word cards with matching pictures.

There are several different life cycle charts for the various levels of a student. 

PK kiddos can simply color their poster; older students can color, cut and glue to the matching template or label the blank chart.

Use the traceable word cards on your word wall and/or have students sequence them in the proper order and make an Itty Bitty booklet.

Make several sets of the cards and have students play Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?"

Click on the link to view/download the Life Cycle of a Butterfly cards, or the Life Cycle of a Butterfly anchor chart-posters.

Thanks for visiting.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others may find helpful.

"The aim of education should be to teach the child to think, not what to think." -John Dewey

1-2-3 Come Learn About 3D Shapes With Me

One of my Y5's favorite units was on butterflies.

We'd study them for the entire month of April, as we watched real larvae morph into fat caterpillars, spin their chrysallis and finally hatch as lovely Painted Lady Butterflies.

I worked hard at dreaming up butterfly lessons for all of the subjects, incorporating many of my standards.

Designing the 3D Shapes Butterfly book was especially enjoyable.

Because I like to incorporate several standards in every activity, this easy reader reinforces spatial directions, and is an interesting way to review/teach the 3D shapes. 

Students trace the words and shapes, as well as cut out butterflies and place them in the appropriate spatial direction - positions on the pages.

Click on the link to view/download the 3D Butterfly easy reader.

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything that you think others might find useful.

"Minds are like parachutes.  They only function when they are open." Thomas Dewar

1-2-3 Come Eat 100 Things With Me!

I LOVE Eric Carle, especially The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  I can teach all sorts of concepts with that story. 

It's a bit early to be posting butterfly "stuff" that teachers are usually working on in April here in the midwest, however, I thought I'd post it now as I had the caterpillar eating 100 things, that fits in perfect for 100-Day, which some of you still haven't celebrated.

I have 2 different "last" pages for you to choose from: 1 celebrates 100-Day, the other has an ending that fits in nicely no matter what day of the year it is.

I enjoy nailing at least 3-5 Common Core State Standards when I design a lesson.  This one covers quite a few CCSS: RF.K1a, RF.K.1c, RF.K.3a, RL.K.10, RF.K.4, L.K.2a, L.K.2b,L.K.5a, K.OA.1a, K.MD.3 K.CC.1a, K.CC.5, 1.NBT.2c, 1.NBT.5, 1.MD.3

Since the original Very Hungry Caterpillar goes through the days of the week, I decided to have this starving caterpillar eat through the hours in a day, so that I could cover telling time.

 The packet includes

• The Hungry Caterpillar Eats 100 Things easy reader, 
• 2 caterpillar craftivities,
• a food sorting idea,
• + 64 circle pictures of food

Students trace and write numbers & number words, as well as the time, drawing the appropriate hands on the clock. 

They also circle the capital letters and add end punctuation to the simple sentences.  I've used as many sight and Dolch words that I could fit in, that sounded appropriate.

Children cut and glue the groups of 10 pieces of food to their matching numbered boxes, as they count by 10's to 100.

I think you'll find this a fun addition to your day, no matter what you use it for.

Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats 100 Things.

 Thank you for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN anything you think others might find useful.

Do you have a caterpillar activity you could share with us?  I'd enjoy hearing from you: diane@teachwithme.com, or post a comment here.

"All I have learned, I learned from books." -Abraham Lincoln