2 pages.

Help students understand story elements for The Very Hungry Caterpillar with this fun graphic organizer.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities and Crafts With Me

My life seems to be flying by!  Can anyone else out there relate?  I had planned to get these cute little caterpillars done the first week of April, but the past few days filled up with so many other responsibilities, that the caterpillars had to stay in their "chrysalis state" 'til now. 

I hope you can still use them, or as the life of a pack-rat teacher goes, tuck these ideas away for next year.  Since so many people read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, I wanted to use Eric Carle's cute litter critter as a spring board to studying a variety of other things. 

I created the caterpillar template and made a list of all sorts of ways I could use it, then set about to design the details.   You can choose which one you want your students to do, or give them a choice.  A friend of mine liked them so much, that she plans to make 3 (a different one each week).

In The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats the Alphabet, students trace and write upper and lowercase letters.  I've also included a set where a bit of the butterfly's life cycle is also included with the letters. 

For example, for the Zz letter, I added:  Zzzzzz sleeping in a chrysalis, and then included a butterfly pattern with the letters all over her wings to be cut and glued on the last section.  

I glued just the thorax portion to the last "body" circle and bent the wings up so that the butterfly looks like she's flying.

Older students could also make a list of a food the caterpillar could eat that begins with that letter.  You may want to read Lois Ehlert's book Eating the Alphabet (Fruits and Vegetables from A to Z) to give students some ideas.  Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats the Alphabet packet. 

If you'd like to review just the life cycle of a butterfly, you'll want to take a look at The Life Cycle Of The Very Hungry Caterpillar packet.  Students trace and write the words, then color, cut and glue the pictures. 

If you look closely, you'll see that I glued down just the thorax with this butterfly too, so it looks 3 dimensional, like the larger one above.  Click on the link to view/download it. 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats a Rainbow, reinforces colors as well as the days of the week.  Before hand, brainstorm what kinds of things the caterpillar could eat that are the various colors.  Write these words on the board to help children with spelling.

Students trace and write the color words and complete the sentence with something the caterpillar ate that was that color.  Adding end punctuation reviews another standard.  

Children then draw and color a picture.  I've included my sample so that you can quickly make one to share with your students. Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats a Rainbow packet.

You may also want to read one of the following books for some great examples of rainbow-colorful food: I Eat A Rainbow, by Bobbie Kalman;  Can You Eat a Rainbow? by Anastasia Suen;  and/or  I Can Eat A Rainbow, by Annabel Karmel.   

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Numbers includes counting from zero to ten, where students trace and write the numbers as well as the number words.  I've  included a butterfly pattern to glue to the last section if you want.

There are also caterpillar "body" circles for skip counting by 2's 3's, 5's, and 10's. 

In all of the packets there are patterns for the caterpillar's head if you want it to be made out of construction paper, as well as a pattern that students can color, like the "Skip count by 10's" caterpillar in the photo.

Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Numbers.

Since I have many requests for shape craftivities, particulary 3D shapes, I thought I'd make The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Shapes. 

This is the largest packet, as I've included a caterpillar that reviews 2D shapes, as well as the days of the week.  For this caterpillar, students trace and write the shape words, as well as draw the shapes. 

I've included a butterfly pattern with the various shapes sprinkled on the wings, if you'd like to include that on the last "body" section.  For a cool 3D effect, fold the wings up and glue only the thorax portion down.

Another caterpillar, is a cut and glue the 2D shapes on the "body" circles.  Besides the standard 2D shapes, you can also choose to include the hexagon, pentagon, & octagon, and/or the pattern block shapes: rhombus and trapezoid. 

There's also a separate caterpillar that simply eats all of the 3D shapes. As with the above activity, students cut and glue the 3D shapes to the "body" circles.  Click on the link to view/download The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eats Some Shapes.

Finally, rather than make a caterpillar that covered story elements using this pattern, I made a graphic organizer - worksheet, to change things up a bit. 

To save you time, I included a template with the answers, so that you can make a quick sample to share with your students. Click on the link to view/download the graphic organizer for The Very Hungry Caterpillar's story elements. 

Thanks for visiting today.  As always, feel free to PIN away.   

 "Everyone is like a [caterpillar].  They start out ugly and awkward, and then morph into beautiful and graceful butterflies that everyone loves." -Drew Barrymore

8 pages.

Help your students learn simple ways of how they can make a difference.  Packet includes writing prompt, patterns and a checklist of things people can do to reduce their footprint on the earth. 

1-2-3 Come Learn About Reducing Your Environmental Footprint With Me

Since both my sons are Eagle Scouts, we were very into recycling while they were growing up.  From paper drives to cleaning up the parks and river projects, we enjoyed "going green" and trying to do our part to help conserve the earth's resources. 

Caring about conservation followed me into the classroom as well.  We collected paper trash in a box and I tried to do at least one recycled sort of craftivity each month. 

Even though Earth Day is celebrated only one day on April 22nd, I did a huge week-long unit about ways even a child can pitch in and do their part to help sustain the earth.  I can only hope that the information that they learned, became healthy habits for them. 

Reducing man's carbon footprint has been a much talked about topic lately, so I thought I'd design an Earth Day writing prompt and footprint craft with that in mind.

Start by explaining to students the fact that we’ve all seen our footprints on the beach or left in the mud.  When we step, we leave marks that can last even after we are long gone.

In the same way, all of us place pressure on the environment by the way we live our lives.  Scientists call this an “ecological or carbon footprint” one which can show how hard we tread on our earth’s resources.  

Leaving an environmental footprint means we have left things behind, that have not or can not be recycled, and the size of our footprint depends on how much biologically productive land and water we require to live our life. 

No matter what one knows about leaving a "carbon footprint" the fact is, that we all need to try to reduce them,  thereby impacting our world in a positive way.  I thought a good way to start, would be to make up a list of how to go about this. 

Hours of interesting research later, I comprised quite a long list, and was surprised at how simple many of these activities are to do.  Quite a few items are not difficult, expensive, or time intensive to perform, and merely easy behavioral changes.

Hopefully, just by sharing them, and making students aware of do-able things, via this checklist, they'll start implementing a few into their lives. 

After reviewing the information in the Reducing Your Environmental Footprint packet, (I've included a list of informative websites you may also want to visit) have students do the footprint writing prompt craftivity.  

To make things more personal and a keepsake, students can trace their own foot, or they can opt to use my flip flop template. 

After discussing things people can do to reduce their footprint and checking ones off the list that they can truly start doing, students write these down on their footprint. 

I've included several ways to go about this.  Students can write the prompt on their footprint, or they can write it on the back of the earth and simply glue their footprint on the globe. 

They can also make a smaller, 3 dimensional earth, by gluing 3 earth "circles" together, and then suspend their footprint from the sphere, or simply hang students' footprints from the ceiling and enlarge the earth and hang that in the middle of your display. 

A caption you could write on the large earth could be "Mr./Mrs. ____________'s class is stepping up to help the earth!"   Click on the link to view/download the Earth Day Footprint Writing Prompt Craftivity.  I hope your students enjoy it.

Every little bit truly does help and I find it comforting to know that many others are also on board, trying to make a difference one step at a time.  

If you're looking for a few more Earth Day recycling actvities and crafts, click on the link to pop on over to that section of my site. 

I also have a very "pinteresting" PIN board, entirely filled with more FREE Earth Day ideas, activities & crafts. I spend way too much time looking for free educational "stuff", but then you don't have to!

Thanks Stephanie, a librarian from Seattle,  who told me about a wonderful list of links to all sorts of recycling projects for children. (And a special thank you to Mary, her student, who shared it with her!)  If you have an educational website, craft or activity you'd like to share to help others, I'd enjoy hearing from you.  diane@teachwithme.com  or feel free to post a comment here.

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  Praise the Lord the sun is shining, especially since we had snow flurries yesterday (What? I's March 28th for pete's sake!) and it's only 27 degrees out.  Sigh... I guess this is just another cold Michigan spring.  Wishing you a clean and green weekend.

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed."  Mahatma Ghandi

5 pages.

Looking for an April writing prompt or cute craft for Earth Day?  Then I think you'll enjoy the "Don't be a litterbug" craftivity.

6 pages.

Review shapes on Earth Day with this sweet owl.  Packet includes the patterns to make the owl poster and a writing prompt to glue to the back, plus color or black and white Give a hoot owl bookmarks.

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Earth Day Craftivities With Me

Are you looking for a little something to give your students on Earth Day?  How about a bookmark?   The "Every day should be Earth Day!" bookmarks come in full color or black and white, so your kiddos can color their own.  Click on the link to grab them.

If you're into owls, then I think you'll enjoy the "Give a Hoot; Don't Pollute!" writing prompt craftivity.  Take a close look and you'll see that I used 2D shapes to design the owl. 

Take advantage of this teachable moment on Earth Day to review shapes as well as ways your students can take care of the earth. 

The packet includes the owl poster pattern pieces and a writing prompt for older students.  They can glue this to the back of their poster. 

Completed projects look wonderful suspended from the ceiling. 

I set this up as a listening and following directions-whole group activity, so that I could assess how my students were doing with that life skill. 

Everyone got a large sheet of blue construction paper at their desk, along with the owl body and caption to cut and glue to their poster. 

When everyone accomplished that, I passed out the shapely owl pieces. 

To expedite this, I had set all of them out in student piles a head of time.  From there I'd hold up a piece and glue it on my sample and my Y5's would do the same.  We continued "monkey see-monkey do" 'til everyone had their poster done.  If you have older students, they can simply get their supplies and work away. 

I've also included some "Give a hoot" bookmarks in full color as well as black and white so that your students can color them.  Click on the link to view/download the Give a Hoot Earth Day Owl packet.

Another cute "craftivity" perfect for Earth Day, involves a litterbug.  We don't see littering as much as I used to when I was a child.  Eons ago, people threw lots of trash out of their cars, and the countryside was looking like an awful garbage dump. 

Thanks to Lady Bird Johnson way back when, laws were passed and fines implemented for littering and "Keep America Beautiful" became a popular slogan. 

With that in mind, I nostalgically drew a grumpy old litterbug and designed a "craftivity" around him, that encourages kids to be litter leaders and not litterbugs. 

Your students can create their own ugly litterbug, or color and cut out mine. 

For some 3D pizzazz, staple a Dixie cup to the bug's belly and wad up a piece of trash paper to put inside. 

The packet includes a writing prompt that older students can complete and then glue to the back of their litterbug.

There's also a poster of a song-poem I wrote, plus a black and white "promise" version for students to color. 

I've also included some litterbug bookmarks in color as well as black and white.  Click on the link to view/download the Litterbug Earth Day Writing Prompt packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away.  For more Earth Day FREEBIES scroll down to take a look at the other blog articles with that theme, or click on the link to pop over to that section of my site.

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world." -John Muir

3 pages.

A little something to help your students celebrate Earth Day.

5 pages.

Celebrate Earth Day with this interesting writing prompt "craftivity."  Students can choose to dangle their "writing prompt" circles vertically under their hand, or they can glue them together to form a sphere (like the earth).

4 pages.

Help celebrate Earth Day by making this keepsake "Lend a Hand" poster-writing prompt.  Packet includes a poster and writing prompt template, plus a certificate of praise for helping out.