Caterpillar Exchange

January 30, 2009 by beth 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!

Have you read?

Celebrating Mexican Independence Day

Lots of Americans seem to think that May 5 is Mexican Independence Day, but that holiday actually falls on Sept. 16.

May 5 is the celebration of the Battle of Puebla, in which the Mexicans defeated the French in 1862. Independence Day marks the beginning of their fight for independence from Spain in 1810. That was the day of what’s known as El Grito de Dolores, or the cry of Dolores, for when the Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang the church bells at his church in Dolores and declared that Mexico should be free from Spanish rule.

They would fight for their freedom until 1821 when they finally gained independence.

Fabulous Classroom has a little of the history and ideas for celebrating the holiday for all age groups. There’s also a link to a good video in that post about the real story of Mexican Independence Day.

Twinkl also has a good tops about the history and different activities, discussion ideas, crafts and foods that can be incorporated into lessons at school or used at home.

I also found a few pins that no longer link to a website but include good information on Mexican Independence Day, including some questions for students to answer based on the reading. You can find more printables and questions for kids from TX Homeschool Mama on Etsy (also available in Spanish).

You can find a lot more paid resources about Mexican Independence Day at Teachers Pay Teachers.

Mexican flag crafts are a fun option for celebrating Mexican Independence Day (though the current iteration of their flag has only been in use since 1968). Kids Activities Blog has a free Mexican flag printable and a few different ideas for decorating it including dot markers and torn tissue paper.

You can also find some great Mexican crafts at Red Ted Art. The post includes all sorts of Mexican inspired projects including Day of the Dead crafts, Frida Kahlo pinatas and upcycled musical instruments. I love the giant paper flowers they shared from Honestly WTF.

Have you read?

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