{"id":1739,"date":"2009-09-13T23:27:57","date_gmt":"2009-09-14T04:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1739"},"modified":"2009-09-13T23:27:57","modified_gmt":"2009-09-14T04:27:57","slug":"teaching-life-science-with-childrens-literature-the-very-hungry-caterpillar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/09\/13\/teaching-life-science-with-childrens-literature-the-very-hungry-caterpillar\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Life Science with Children’s Literature: The Very Hungry Caterpillar"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar<\/a><\/em>, written and illustrated by Eric Carle, is easily one of the most beloved children’s books of all time. \u00a0Its story is well-known by adults and kids alike, but the great thing about the text is that it can easily be incorporated into the classroom. \u00a0The unique and beautiful illustrations, coupled with the simple phrasing make this book a classic choice for a life science lesson about metamorphosis.<\/p>\n

The Very Hungry Caterpillar <\/em>begins with—–what else?—–a newly-hatched caterpillar who is in search of something to eat.\u00a0 As he munches his way through the week, consuming fruit, as well as a smorgasbord of other treats, he grows bigger and bigger.\u00a0 The book ends when the caterpillar builds “a small house, called a cocoon, around himself.\u00a0 He stayed inside for more than two weeks.\u00a0 Then, he nibbled a hole in the cocoon, pushed his way out and… he was a beautiful butterfly!”\u00a0 It is the perfect way to introduce a lesson on metamorphosis, or even a simple art project to help students learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.\u00a0 Its layout is also conducive to emergent readers exploring the book on their own, since the text is large and easy to read, and the pages are different sizes with holes in the middle to show students just what the very hungry caterpillar consumed!<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book is perfect for launching a unit on life science, and even expanding upon the story with a caterpillar\/butterfly project in your classroom!\u00a0 It’s appropriate for many different SOLs in kindergarten, first, and second grade (K.6, K.8, K.9, 1.4, 1.5, 1.7, 2.4, just to name a few!) but also makes for a great read-aloud book because the illustrations are so colorful and exciting to see.\u00a0 Because the pages are different sizes and have holes to show where the caterpillar crawled, younger readers will love to simply turn the pages and follow along, even without reading the text.\u00a0 You can’t go wrong with this classic text—–students will love it no matter how it is presented.<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n