Food words:  apple, pear, plum, strawberry, orange, chocolate cake, ice cream cone, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop

Students will:

• improve listening skills
• look at pictures
• identify food items
• identify story related vocabulary

One day – one hour session

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Pictures of story related foods; samples of story related foods; caterpillar puppet; leaf; drawing paper; crayons/markers.

Alternative Titles:  If You Give a Mouse A Cookie; If You Give a Moose A Muffin (These books are similar to The Very Hungry Caterpillar in that they all follow a sequence of events which can be used with young children to enhance memory, recall, and seriation)

Teacher:  "We are going to read a story called The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  Who can touch the front of the book? Who can touch the back of the book?  Can you show me the title of the book, where it says The Very Hungry Caterpillar?  Can anyone touch the author’s name?  Remember to follow along with my finger as I read each word."

The teacher reads the book, emphasizing the food vocabulary as presented. 

After reading aloud, teacher will ask children to recall foods they remember hearing in the story – presenting a corresponding picture and word label as each food is named. 

Activity 1:  Teacher – “Ok, children, I have some foods here for you to try.  Let’s play a game and see if you can guess the food from the story that I give you.  Close your eyes and I will give you a bite of food.  Can you tell me what it is?”  Have actual food items available for tasting; have the children take turns closing eyes, eating a pre-offered food item from the story, and guessing what they have eaten. 

Ask these questions after tasting the food samples: 

1.      Is it sweet or sour?

2.      Is it hard or soft?

3.      What did you eat?

Activity 2:  Teacher:  “Now, children, let’s make our own Very Hungry book.  I have lots of pictures we can use, or you can draw some of your own.  I will come around to each of you and write your words for your picture.”  Vocabulary pictures will be made available for each student to construct a “very hungry” book of their own.  After the children use invented spelling to write their own story the teacher will ask what they wrote and write it verbatim under the invented spelling.

Activity 3:  Teacher:  "Some of you may want to retell the story using my caterpillar puppet.  I have a caterpillar puppet and a leaf and lots of pictures of the foods we heard about in the story.  During work time let me know if you'd like to retell the story with me."

(1.6.2) The children will ask and answer relevant questions and share experiences individually and in groups by labeling pictures of the food vocabulary presented in the lesson.

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