The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar  

Author: Eric Carle

Genre: Fiction

Grade Level: Pre-K- Grade 2

Year Published: 1969

Summary

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a classic children's book that starts off with an egg on a leaf, and from it emerges an extremely famished caterpillar. The caterpillar proceeds through the days of the week, eating more and more each different day. He eats all types of food, including lollipops and ice cream. At the end of the week, he has a really severe stomachache. He eats a leaf to settle his stomach, and he then goes into a cocoon, and emerges at the end of the story a beautiful butterfly. 

About the Author

Eric Carle was born in Syracuse, New York in 1929. When he was about 6 years old, he moved to Germany with his parents. Germany is where he received his education, and he attended Akademie der bildenden Kunste, which is a famous art school. Eric had always wanted to return to the states, and he did so in 1952. By a chance, Bill Martin Jr. saw a red lobster that Eric had made for his advertising job, and their meeting resulted in the beginning of ERic's career as an author: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? One of the most interesting aspects of his books are that the illustrations are the result of collages, using colored tissue paper. Eric currently lives with his wife, Barbara, splitting their time between the Florida Keys and North Carolina.

Source: http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html

How to Use it

This book can be used for so many different purposes in the classroom, it's hard to narrow it down to just one! But using it to teach/reinforce the days of the week is a great one to start with. 

Pre-Reading: Sing a Days of the Week song. In general, talk about the different days of the week and aspects of the words (beginning/ending letters, sounds, etc).  

Post-Reading: Discuss: What did the caterpillar eat on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc? Assess students on their comprehension by listening to their responses. Introduce the post-reading activity: Making a Class Book about different days of the week. Every student would get a paper saying: On ___(day)____, ____(name)_____ ate __________! There would also be room for an illustration. The teacher would model an example: (On Tuesday, Mrs. Smith ate pizza!) Have a quick brainstorm session about children's ideas, and have them get to work. Bind all pages together with a cover, and you have a class book!

What do I Think?

This book is  staple in my classroom. I have actually done this class book with my kindergarten class two years ago, and it was a huge success. The kids learned to write the days of the week, and had so much fun coming up with silly foods that they love or that they wanted to eat! This book is a fun way to talk about the days of the week, and the students remember what foods the caterpillar ate on which day, and therefore they retain some knowledge about the days of the week. Another part of this book that I love are the illustrations. They absolutely superb, and are sure to engage any child.