The Hungry Caterpillar Lesson Plan

Before Reading:

Introduce The Hungry Caterpillar to your child by showing them the cover of the book.  Explain to them that this book is about how a caterpillar changes.

While Reading:

1. Read the first three pages then stop.  Ask the child to brainstorm what type of foods he/she might eat if hungry.  Then ask, "Would caterpillars eat those kinds of foods?"

2. As you finish reading each day of the week, see if your child can tell you the next day of the week.

3. Have your child make predictions about what the caterpillar might eat next.

After Reading: 

✔ What day of the week did the egg hatch into a small caterpillar?


✔ Why was the caterpillar so hungry?

✔ Was the caterpillar eating the right kind of food to help him grow?

✔ How many things did he eat on Monday?

✔ Did he eat more or less on Tuesday? How much more?

✔ How does that amount compare to what he ate on Wednesday and Thursday?

✔ How many things did he eat from Monday through Friday?

✔ How many things did he eat on Saturday?

✔ Why didn’t he feel well on Saturday?

✔For how many weeks was the caterpillar in the cocoon? How many days is that?

✔ What day of the week was it when the butterfly came out of the cocoon?

Language Arts

Compare and contrast butterflies and moths with this venn diagram.

Butterfly letter matching

Learn about real and make believe in the story with this worksheet

Handwriting

Practice writing the letter B with this B is for Butterfly worksheet.

My caterpillar is green handwriting worksheet

Science

Learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly with this craft:

Older kiddos can learn about the lifecycle of a butterfly with these two worksheets:

Lifecycle of a butterfly  (harder)

Lifecycle of a butterfly fill in the blank  (more challenging)

Art/Coloring Page:

Print out this adorable coloring page here.

Here is a butterfly template to make a butterfly craft.

Math

Practice addition with this butterfly addition dice game.

Butterfly addition worksheet

More butterfly math

Try this caterpillar number match file folder game


Listen/Watch the Very Hungry Caterpillar.


You can watch the story illustrated here on YouTube:

The Doorbell Rang Lesson Plan

The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchinson is a great way to introduce division.  Victoria and Sam are just sitting down to a plateful of Ma's cookies when the doorbell rings, and two of their friends arrive to share the feast. The doorbell rings again and again and each time the number of cookies per person dwindles until at last there is only one cookie per person and . . . the doorbell rings again! (Luckily, it's Grandma arriving with reinforcements.)

Before reading the story, have your child color in these cute little cookie manipulatives.

Show your child the cover of the book and have them make a prediction about what is going to happen in the story.  As you read the story, have the child use the cookie manipulatives to model the math problems in the book.


After reading the story, have your child complete this cookie math worksheet and mini-book report.

The Magic Pot Lesson Plan

Reading

Before Reading:

* Explain to your child that this author “retold” the story. The cover reads, “as told by.” Explain how tales are passed down from generation to generation.

* Ask your child to share ideas of what “magic” means to them.
* Ask your child  if he/she thinks that the story is real or make-believe. Ask what is another word for a story that is not real (fiction).
* Ask your child to predict what might happen in the story and what the story will be about.

After Reading:

Questions for Assessing  Comprehension:
1. Who are the characters in the story?
2. Where did the story take place?
3. What happened to the woodcutter?
4. What was the problem in the story?
5. How did the characters solve the problem?
6. Why was the pot magic?

Try this Magic Pot Phonics Worksheet to find words that start with the same beginning sound as pot.

Retell the story with this Magic Pot Sequencing Activity.

Here is a version of the story for older kiddos to read.

Vocabulary

* Introduce vocabulary words by saying them aloud while writing them on a board or piece of paper: woodcutter, pot, haunted, coins, savings, echo, elegant, fortunate, and magic. 
* Asks child to go through the book and locate the new words.
* Ask child to read aloud the sentences from the story that contain the new words.
* Print out the Magic Pot“Vocabulary” worksheet for your child to complete.

Writing Prompt:

Ask your  child what they would put into the magic pot? Why?  In their writing journal. have them draw something they would like to put into the magic pot. Then have child write a paragraph about why the object was chosen and what they would do after the object was doubled.

Here is an easier version for beginning writers.

Math

*Reminds your child that the pot in the story was magical because every time something was put into the pot, the something “doubled.” (When the woodcutter put in one ax, two axes came out.).

Try this activity with your child to practice doubling. 
 

Practice adding doubles with this Magic Pot worksheet.

For more practice try this worksheet


Practice multiplication with this worksheet

Math Journal Prompt:

Suppose you are given the choice between receiving a lump sum of 100 coins OR receiving only 5 coins with a Magic Doubling Pot that doubles everything that is put into it and that can be used exactly 10 times. Which option would get you the most coins? Explain how you determined your choice.


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Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes Lesson Plan

Wearing his brand new, white shoes, Pete the Cat sets off down the street to take a walk. Along the way, he begins singing,

I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes.

However, Pete's so busy singing, he doesn't realize he's come across a giant pile of strawberries... and his shoes are no longer white, they're red! Pete doesn't become upset though, and instead adjusts his song to fit his shoes. As the story continues, Pete runs into numerous other problems, all of which change the color of his shoes, but not his attitude!

This is a perfect story for children, as it deliberately states at the end of the book,

The moral of Pete's story is:
No matter what you step in,
keep walking along and
singing your song.

Reading

 Learn about shapes and colors with this emergent reader, Red Square, Red Square, what do you see?

  Practice reading color words with this car themed emergent reader. 

Writing

Books with repetitive story lines like this one make a great starting point for children to make take-off pages of their own. You can make a take-off book with this worksheet.

Watch the book being read here:



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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Lesson Plan

Reading

Introduce the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.  Ask the child what they think the story is going to be about based on the title.  As you are reading the story make note of words not known to be looked up in the dictionary.

Reading Comprehension Questions

A fun packet for completing after reading the story, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Includes a syllables worksheet, reading comprehension questions, creative writing worksheet, and multiplication worksheet.

Language Arts

Explain to your child that a noun names a person, place, or thing.  What nouns can they find in the book?

Writing 

Write about your own "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."

Geography

Locate Australia on a map or globe. Find out ten interesting facts about this country.

Art

Invisible Art 

Mrs. Dickens likes Paul’s picture of a sailboat better than Alexander’s picture of an invisible castle. On a white piece of paper, paint a picture using lemon juice. (As you paint you will be able to see the juice. When the juice dries, it will be invisible.) When your painting dries, have a parent press it with an iron. The heated lemon juice will turn brown, revealing your artwork. Mount your picture on construction paper.

You can watch the story being read here:


If you are interested in purchasing Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day please consider supporting Homeschool Parent by purchasing from the following Amazon link, thank you!

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash Lesson Plan

Reading

Introduce the book The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash. Point out that there are sometimes only a few words on the pages, so the child will have to pay close attention to the illustrations. 

While reading the story, ask child what is happening and why each event occurred. For example: Why did the farmer crash into the haystack? Why were the pigs on the bus? Why were they eating the lunches? Is the book fiction or nonfiction? How do they know?

  

After reading  the story, list some of the events in the story on a white board or piece of paper. For example: The children threw corn. The chicken got excited and laid an egg. The farmer's wife was screaming. Ask child what caused these events. (e.g., They ran out of eggs. Jimmy's boa scared the chickens. The boa was in the laundry.) Add these causes to the board or chart paper before the events. 

Introduce the vocabulary term cause and effect. Explain that a cause is what makes something happen, and label the first column causes. Explain that each cause has an effect, or what happened, and label the second column effects.

Give the child a blank paper and have child fold it in half and label  one side "cause" and the other side "effect." Ask the child to pick any event from the story and draw its cause and effect.

Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash Cause and Effect Flowchart
Students complete a flowchart with cause and effect from the story.

After  you read The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash, put the event boxes in the order that they are told in the story. Click and drag the event boxes to the numbered positions in the snake.
Boa constrictor comprehension story with questions.
Students read a short nonfiction story about boa constrictors and answer several questions.

Spelling/Vocabulary

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash Spelling Words

The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash Crossword Puzzle 

Farm Animal Word Find

Writing

The Day Jimmys Boa Ate the Wash Writing Prompt

Why do you think the snake caused problems on the bus.  Explain the reasons here in.My Writing Space.

Draw pieces of laundry and clothing, such as towels, tops, and dresses, on construction paper. Retell the story by writing on one side of the cut-outs.

 

 

Science

Natural History Notebooks: Boa Constrictors
Information and images of boa constrictors.  Use what you learn to write a book about snakes with this page.

If you are interested in purchasing The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash please consider supporting Homeschool Parent by purchasing from the following Amazon link, thank you!

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See Lesson Plan

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is one of our favorite books.  The boys love the predictable rhymes and the easy flow of the story.  Eric Carle said that he wrote it while on a train, and it is easy to see that inspiration in the flow of the words.                               

Before Reading: Show the child the cover of the book.  Ask them to think of what things the Brown Bear might see.

During Reading: When you come to the page with the blue horse, ask the child if they have ever seen a blue horse.  Do they think blue horses are real or make believe?

After Reading: Ask the child if they remember what animals the bear saw.

Reading:

Practice reading with this fun emergent reader based on Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

Learn about shapes and colors with this emergent reader, Red Square, Red Square, what do you see?

Practice color word recognition with this worksheet

Art:

Make a brown bear project with this template

Math:

Solve the word problem with this Brown Bear Addition worksheet.

Watch this video of Eric Carle reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

If you are interested in purchasing Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? please consider supporting Homeschool Parent by purchasing from the following Amazon link, thank you!

Guess How Much I Love You Lesson Plan

Little Nutbrown Hare wants to show Big Nutbrown Hare how very much he loves him - but love as big as his is very hard to measure!

Grade Level Equivalent:     3.7

Lexile® measure:  690L

DRA: 18-20

Guided Reading: J






Math

* Get out a tape measure and measure how wide your child’s arms reach and compare it to how wide your arms reach.  See how many other things you can  measure.  (Measurement)


*Carefully page through the book together after reading, count how many mushrooms there are. Count how many butterflies there are. (Counting)



* For older kids, have them write the ratio of the numbers above. Write as a fraction and a percentage. (ratios, fractions, percentages)

Science

*Talk about the moon. How it can be full and circle-shaped or slim and crescent-shaped. (And sometimes not there at all.)

Literacy

*Have your child describe his own going to sleep routine. Write a personal reader for your child to practice reading.

* Draw a simple tree shape and describe and label the simple parts of a tree—the trunk, branches, leaves, and roots.

*Tell your child just how much you love him and why.

* Older kids can write the comparisons from the story using this worksheet.

Games

Guess How Much I Love You Matching game

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