Lesson Plans

Ideas and resources

Caterpillar Exchange

, by . Leave a Comment

Eric Carle is one of my very favorite children book authors.  I love his vibrant illustrations and simple story lines that include a life lesson.

Carle’s books are timeless and great to use in the classroom,  which is why I was so excited to find The Caterpillar Exchange, a website with dozens of ideas that have been submitted by teachers, parents and librarians for science, art, reading, and writing lessons.  Even entire theme units!!

Here are a couple of the submissions:

  • We use many Eric Carle books (Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar) to teach a unit on writing pattern books in second grade. Almost all of his books have a pattern or repeating lines. First, the children read the books in groups of 3 and find the pattern or repeating lines in each book. We use Eric Carle books as touchstone texts that the children can grab at anytime to help them write their own pattern book. Some children do their own version Brown Bear, Brown Bear but change the things he sees, some children write a different version like Black Cat, Black Cat and some children write completely original pattern books. It is a great way for teachers to differentiate and for children to work at their own level. During Writers’ Workshop the rest of the year they can go back to writing pattern books as they finish other projects. Their pattern/repeating line books get more sophisticated as the year goes on.

Submitted by Courtenay Garver

  • After reading Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle and Pancakes For Breakfast by Tommie DePoala we make pancakes using the recipes from both books. The children measure, mix, and watch as the batter turns into pancakes. We discuss the changes that occur during this process. After we make pancakes using both recipes, the children do a taste test and graph the pancakes they liked the best. Then we compare and contrast the recipes. The children conclude this activity by writing letters to the author of their favorite pancake recipe.

Submitted by Serena Buckner

Find many more lesson ideas here!

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Bunny Activities for Kids

Of course bunnies aren’t just for Easter, but this time of year is a great time to bring in some learning activities with a rabbit theme. Check out these fun bunny learning activities for kids and use them to bring a little springtime fun to the classroom or your learning at home.

These printable bunny shape mats from Fun a Day are great to use with playdough, or you can use little items like erasers or little pompoms to “trace” the shapes. Or check out all the Easter themed playdough mats from Printables Fairy if you want some different options, including decorating Easter eggs and adding ears to the bunny.

Happy Toddler Playtime’s bunny stick wall is a pretty quick and easy project that will keep kids entertained for a long time. This blog also has a great collection of Easter bunny crafts and activities if you’re looking for a project or two to try.

Play with bunnies and learn shapes with these bunny shape stick cards from A Blog from the Pond. Use craft sticks to make bunnies in the shapes shown on the cards. There are 52 cards with all kinds of different shapes, which you can see on the blog and purchase from Teachers Pay Teachers.

This bunny hop game from Teaching Littles is great for gross motor skill development (also known as getting kids up and moving through the day). The bunnies are numbered so it also includes counting. You could add a sequencing element like hop on one, step on two, or hop on one foot or both feet.

The Feed the Bunny ten frame activity from Stay at Home Educator is a fun way to work on counting. These bunnies have dots on the ten frame on their bellies and you match them to the carrot with the same number on it. This is a free printable activity.

And if you want to add a little STEM fun to your Easter bunny play, check out the cute jumping bunny cup experiment from MomBrite. Kids can decorate their cups to look like bunnies, then have a jumping contest!

Leave a Reply