The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Summary:

The very hungry caterpillar is tearing through any food he can find! He continues to eat and eat and eat and many children may think "why is he so greedy?" It turns out that surprise! The caterpillar is beginning the changes to become a butterfly! 

About the Author: Eric Carle

A Syracuse native, Eric Carle is also a famous illustrator. He has made contributions to Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See? and other Bill Martin Jr. books. Picking out an Eric Carle book is not hard, because of his unique type of artwork. His style is easy for children to relate to because it looks like a collage or cut out tissue paper. 

Theme/Skill: Colors, Foods, Fiction, Bugs, Science

Grade Level: Pre-K-2

Activities:

This book could be a short unit in itself. Emergent readers could be exposed to foods, their nutrition groups, sequencing the story and identifying new foods.

Reflection:
When I was working at a daycare a few years ago, so many classrooms based their room theme around an Eric Carle book. This book was by far my favorite. All the students had a different fruit and then they had a circle in a picture to connect and make the caterpillar. Great ideas!

Stellaluna

Summary: 
Stellaluna is a bat that is separated from her family and friends after an owl attack. She lands herself in a bird's nest and is welcomed and cared for by the Mama Bird. Stellaluna is brought up to act like a bird. Finally one day she is resting on a tree branch and is met by another bat. The new bat lets Stellaluna know that she is hanging the wrong way on the branch. Both of the bats fly away together and Stellaluna is taught the ways of being a bat, which include flying at night and eating fruit. Stellaluna then introduces her bird friends to the bat ways and remain friends. This book also includes some notes in the back of the book about bats and their characteristics.

About the Author: Jannell Cannon
Jannell Cannon currently resides in California. She has won several awards for creating summer reading programs for children as a librarian. She left her position as a librarian after Stellaluna was published. Her beginnings after college was as a graphic artist. To continue her art passion she creates pictures of unusual animals that would probably make people uncomfortable. This is a main reason why she wrote Stellaluna, to make children more aware of what fruit bats were like and how they shouldn't be afraid of them.

Theme/Skill: Fiction, Animals, Science

Grade Level: K-6

Pre-Reading Activity:
Create a K-W-L chart about bats. To continue Cannon's work, as a teacher you should use this time to talk about how not all bats are bad and bloodsucking.


Post-Reading Activity:
Revisit the K-W-L chart and fill in what they had learned. Also compare and contrast birds and bats. Let students know that truthfully, birds eat live things such as bugs and bats eat fruits.

Reflection:
I have used this book during my student teaching in a sixth grade class and the students loved it. Using picture books in class with older students allows you to focus more on plot and sequencing instead of tackling over vocabulary.

Diary of a Worm

Summary:
This is a daily diary of a little worm, to help children understand some simple facts about what worm life is all about. Diary of a Worm explains how worms like when it rains, dig in the dirt, and how to protect themselves from birds. This is a funny portrayal of what funny things worms would say if they could talk. The main worm character talks about what he also doesn't like about being a worm, such as not being able to have a pet dog and chewing gum. By the end of the diary entries the main character feels sad that sometimes he is ignored because he's small, but his mother reminds him that the world knows they are there, and needs them everyday. 


Author: Doreen Cronin
Doreen Cronin is also the author of the wonderful book Click Clack Moo, Cows That Type and other "Diary" books to give students a "real life" perspective about different animals. Cronin was grew up on Long Island and was guided early on in her childhood to be a writer. Some of her other career paths that she thought she would take were a lawyer, police officer or a FBI agent. Thank goodness she decided to write! Many of her books grace classrooms today. 


Theme/Skill: Science, Autobiography, Fiction
Grade Level: K-3


Pre-Reading Activity:
Discuss with students if they know what the jobs of worms are. This would be a great way to introduce a science unit about nature, plants, etc. Teachers could bring in worms for the class to observe their behaviors as well.


Post-Reading Activity:
Review with the students if this is a fiction or non-fiction book. Can worms really talk? No, but could their daily life experiences be similar to what happened in the book? Yes!


Reflection:
This is a cute book to get kids interested in science. The majority of the time students do enjoy non-fiction books to learn information, but emergent readers need a funny story and vivid pictures to go along with the information. Cronin does a great job of integrating what a worm's importance is to the world while adding a funny spin and life connections. I can imagine that some students may find some similarities with the worm!

The Lorax

Summary:

To follow in Dr. Suess's style The Lorax is written in his classic flow and terminology. With the hidden message of a "go green" attitude the Lorax is a character who is the defender of the trees. After his trees are used to make "Thneeds" he complains to the Once-lers about them ruining the trees. Their behavior continues and soon all the trees are gone, the Bar-ba-loots have no food and the air is polluted! The Lorax continues to make complaints against the Thneed making and no one will listen. Once all of the Truffula Trees have disappeared along with their animal friends, the Once-lers leave and their one final act is giving a Truffula seed to begin to grow trees again.

About the Author: Dr. Seuss

The famous Dr. Suess or Theodore Geisel has written many beloved classics for children. One theme that remains is that many of his books have a deeper meaning that adults would understand as well as children. The Lorax is one of these books as well as The Sneetches. Born in modern day Germany, Seuss began his career as a political cartoonist. He has written some of children's favorite books and critics need to look at why his books are still favorites after so many years. Seuss created new words and rhyming techniques that engage children and keep them wanting more. A child could never predict what would happen next in a Seuss book.  Many authors have tried to write like the famous Seuss, but few are able to even compete.

Theme/Skill: Rhyming, Poetry, Fantasy, Real Life Issues, Fiction, Science

Grade Level: All

Pre-Reading Activity:

Begin a discussion with students about what being "green" means. Ask them if they know about recycling and how everyone's behaviors affect the environment. You could introduce cause and effect with younger students and with older students you could begin to discuss political issues with the environment.

Post-Reading Activity:

After reading The Lorax  discuss the chain of events that occur in the story. Create a sequencing chart for what happened first, second, third, fourth and so on. Another lesson could be revisited to discuss how pollution can affect our environment in a horrible way.

Reflection:

While being a sixth grade teacher I would love to use this book to discuss poetry. Dr. Seuss books never get old to me and it keeps the students engaged. The plot may be hard to follow for some of my students now so using a story map and sequencing chart would be necessary. Its great that Dr. Seuss was before his time and was speaking out about environmental issues before there really were any.