How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?, written by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page, and illustrated by Jenkins, is an eye-opening book that explores the adaptations of animals all around the word, and how they learn to survive with their interesting characteristics.
Each page is filled with beautiful pictures of animals portrayed as collages using different paper textures. The book is separated into 6 sections: How many ways can you… snare a fish? hatch an egg? use a leaf? catch a fly? dig a hole? and eat a clam? In each of these sections, Jenkins has depicted animals (many of which children may have never even heard of!) using their adaptations to survive in their environment. For example, in the “How many ways can you hatch an egg?” section, Jenkins and Page describe how “The ichneumon wasp lays its eggs inside a caterpillar. When the eggs hatch, the wasp larvae eat the caterpillar from the inside out.” At the end of the book, children can explore the additional information on each animal presented in the book. Your students are sure to find the large, detailed animal pictures and their crazy characteristics intriguing!
Curriculum Connections
How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly? would be great to use in grades 1-3 when learning about adaptations and animals’ characteristics that help them to survive. Specific Virginia SOLs that correlate to this topic would be 1.5, animals’ life needs and characteristics, 2.5a, that organisms are dependent on their living and nonliving surroundings, and 3.4, that animals have physical and behavioral adaptations that allow them to live in their environments.
Additional Resources
- Allow your students to play this fun and interactive game where they learn about some physical characteristics of beavers that allow them to survive in the wild.
- Students can learn about adaptations of the camel through this song found on YouTube.
- This National Geographic lesson plan will teach more about adaptations, then allow for students to create their own imaginary animal with specific adaptations.
Book: How Many Ways Can You Catch A Fly?
Author: Steve Jenkins and Robin Page
Illustrator: Steve Jenkins
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 1-3
ISBN-13: 978-0618966369