Picture Book: Ten Little Caterpillars (by Bill Martin Jr.)

Spring has sprung in most parts of the country!  My state barely had a winter this year (but I am not complaining).   The weather has been perfect this week—warm, sunny, cool breeze.  Today, we enjoyed an afternoon in the park and a visit to our favorite frozen yogurt place.  With all this warm weather, caterpillars will be emerging and soon after, beautiful butterflies.   

Ten Little Caterpillars (by Bill Martin Jr.) is a celebration of spring and new life.   One little caterpillar crawls up the stem of a wild rose bush.   Next, a second caterpillar wriggles up some flowers in the garden.  Then, a third little one climbs a cabbage head.  The narrative continues until the number 10 is reached.   The tenth caterpillar is seen transformed into a chrysalis and emerging as a tiger swallowtail butterfly.  The final pages revisit each caterpillar.  Brief information is offered on their feeding habits and the type of butterfly or moth they transform into is illustrated. 

The pictures (by Lois Ehlert) are watercolor collages against a white background to focus on the flowers, the vegetation, and most importantly, the caterpillars.   The illustrations have remarkable texture and vibrant colors.  Occasionally, creatures commonly in the habitats are included like ants, spiders, frogs, birds, and beetles.    Each item in the pictures is labeled to build vocabulary and sight word recognition. 

Ten Little Caterpillars is ideal for youngsters 2-6.    It is the perfect springtime read! 

Teaching Opportunities:

• Spring:  discuss spring activities outside
• Ordinal numbers:  practice the concept of first, second, third, and so forth
• Counting: count the caterpillars as well as items on the page, like leaves, ladybugs, and flowers
• Life Cycles:  learn about the life cycle of the caterpillar and other creatures
• Verbs:  for younger children, point out the strong verbs used (wriggled, crawled, climbed, sailed) and act them out; for older students, introduced them as the parts of speech that shows action and brainstorm other verbs
• Science:  distinguish between predators and prey; teach what preys on butterflies (ants, birds, toads, dragon flies) and caterpillars (birds, wasps, small mammals, lizards) as well as point them out in the pictures

This post is linked up with Read Aloud Thursday at Hope is the Word. 

Picture Book: The Doghouse (by Jan Thomas)

Summary of The Doghouse: 

Who is brave enough to go into THE DOGHOUSE?  A group of animals will soon be put to the test!  As the story opens, a cow, a pig, a duck, and a mouse are playing a game.  The ball bounces into the doghouse.  The foursome cowers at the bottom of the page with only the tops of their heads peeking out and showing terror in their eyes.  Who will go in?  Mouse replies:

Cow will!

Cow is BIG.

Cow is BRAVE.

Cow is STRONG.

Cow responds “Moo?”  Despite his apprehension, Cow goes into the doghouse…but he does not come out.  Following the same framework, this cumulative narrative builds up a playful scary scenario as each animal enters and does not return!  Mouse, now all alone outside the doghouse, asks, “Can’t you come out, Duck?”  A fearsome dog yells, “No! Because I AM HAVING DUCK FOR DINNER.”  Mouse panics!  Suddenly, the illustrations shift to reveal what is really going on inside the doghouse—a friendly dinner with all the animals. 

Evaluation:

I LOVE narratives that follow a consistent framework, promoting opportunities for student participation and anticipation.  The Doghouse is an ideal example of this story type.  I fell in love with it on my first read through.  The author/illustrator Jan Thomas does a brilliant job with simple text and lively illustrations to build up suspense.  A brief summary cannot convey the charm and excitement because it needs to be experienced firsthand. The playful ironic ending is satisfying and thought provoking.  This story is one children will want to return to over and over again.   I highly recommend it for ages 2-8. 

Teaching Opportunities:

·         Onomatopoeia:  Younger children can identify the animal sounds in the book and share other ones they know.

·         Language:  Using the “Cow will” stanza structure (recorded above), children can create their own stanza with other animals or characters.  Use it as an opportunity to learn or reinforce parts of speech--nouns, verbs, and adjectives. 

·         Illustrations: Point out how the illustrator begins and concludes the story in the end pages.  Chat about why an author might begin there and how the pictures in those places add to the text narrative.  In addition, identify ways that the author/illustrator conveys the emotions (especially fear) in the story.

·         Word Meaning:  The dog states that he is “having DUCK for dinner.”  This phrase can mean he is eating duck/Duck or that he is having Duck over to share dinner with.  Brainstorm other common words and phrases that have multiple meanings that might be misunderstood.  

·         Irony:  I don’t think it is ever too young to discuss irony.  Most children recognize it, but do not necessarily have a word to describe it.  If you begin to casually identify it with your children/students, you will likely be amazed when they start using the word themselves!  Irony is the source of much of the humor children encounter in books and in TV/movies.  Point out irony in the the story.

·         Character Education:  Children often have lots of fears, especially of the unknown.  Talk about common fears, how the characters deal with their fears, and how people can cope and overcome their own. 

This post is linked up with Book Talk Tuesday at Lemme Library.   Click on the title to check out other fantastic books to share with your children or students. 

Picture Book: Where is Catkin? (by Janet Lord)

Summary of Where is Catkin? 

Catkin roguishly flees his owner’s lap to hunt out the sights and sounds in his backyard habitat.  The golden kitty comes upon a cricket in the grass, a frog in a pond, a mouse near the shed, and a snake in a rock pile, but each creature easily eludes capture.   The story follows a pattern (parts in bold change with each new encounter):

Catkin creeps by the pond.

He sees something green and spotted.

Garrump. Garrump.

Catkin leaps…(turn page)

Frog leaps into the pond.

Where is Frog?

Then, Catkin hears a rustle in the tree—a bird.  Feathers fly.  The bird gets away.  The sneaky cat climbs up, up, up the tree in search of it.  Catkin looks down to realize he is high, high, high.  He lets out a loud “Meeeow,” prompting his owner, Amy, to search for him in the grass, in the pond, near the shed, and in the rock pile.   She looks up and finds her mischievous kitty.  Rescued and back on land, Catkin is purrfectly content in Amy’s arms. 

Evaluation:

Janet Lord skillfully uses repetition in this interactive tale.  Using textual and visual clues, children will enjoy guessing and finding the hunted creatures in a tapestry of leaves, flowers, and rocks created by illustrator Julie Paschkis.  Stylized borders in vibrant colors maintain the rollicking hunting action.  Children ages 2-6 are sure to adore reading Where is Catkin?

Teaching Opportunities 

·         Choral Reading—Practice saying one or more of the repetitive parts together or take turns with them. 

·         Vocabulary—Children can learn to identify places and animals in a backyard habitat.

·         Parts of Speech—Identify the various actions that Catkin depicts, such as creeps, tiptoes, explores, hears, races, and so forth.   With older children, discuss the differences between the action words (verbs) and the visual/seeing words (nouns).

·         Onomatopoeia—Practice saying the animal sounds and matching it with the correct animal.

·         Science—Explore a  backyard habitat together.

·         Creative Movement—Move like Catkin.  First, teach how to creep, tiptoe, race, and other actions like Catkin demonstrates in the book.  Then, play “Catkin Says” by directing the child (children) to do the action directed. 

·         Predicting Skills—Guess which animal Catkin is hunting based on the context clues.  Anticipate after multiple readings which one is next.  Childrent can, also, relate back the sequence of events in the story.

Picture Book: Not All Animals are Blue by Beatrice Boutignon

Overview Not All Animals are Blue:  

On the left side there are five sentences.  Here is a sample:

Does she catch a lot of flies?

Watch out!  She has a black belt!

Those two do everything together.

She sees everything clearly.

She loves to sunbathe.

On the right side is a descriptive title (usually incorporating alliteration) and five pictures.  Here is a sample:   Five Frogs Floating By.   The illustrations depict the first frog with glasses, the second frog in a black belt kicking, the third frog laying out on her lily pad, the fourth two frogs peering over a lily pad, and the fifth frog is a fat one catching a fly.  The same formula is used throughout the book. 

Evaluation:

Beatrice Boutignon’s Not All Animals are Blue is a smart, educational read out loud for preschoolers.  I would suggest it for one-on-one or small group interaction because the book and illustrations are relatively small.   Though the concept is great for whole class learning if the teacher can adapt it using her own examples or with an overhead.  I love that there are numerous teaching opportunities on each two-page layout!  Do something different each time you read it. 

Teaching Opportunities: 

• Alliteration—identify the alliterative words in each title
• Parts of speech—each sentence has 1-2 words bolded, discuss the types of words—action, descriptive, or thing
• Matching—match the sentence to the picture
• Types of Sentences—declarative, exclamatory, and interrogative sentences are used; discuss the differences using simple vocabulary (like statement and question) as well as the punctuation marks used for them
• Descriptive words—connect the descriptive words to synonyms and antonyms
• Art—instruct children to make (use die cuts, shapes, or other identical materials) two or more pictures of the same thing but slightly different; help them write a sentence to describe each one
• Animals—identify the animals on each page and connect them to their habitats or type

Picture Book: My Heart Is Like a Zoo by Michael Hall

I was immediately endeared to My Heart Is Like a Zoo (ages 3-10) by Michael Hall.  Each lovable animal in the "zoo" expresses a different aspect of the speaker’s love.  The book begins with the following poetic verse: 

My heart is like a zoo—

eager as a beaver,

steady as a yak

hopeful as a hungry heron

fishing for a snack…

The same framework is used until the end when the tired zookeeper (small boy) cuddles up in bed with all his animals surrounding him.  Using die cut shapes (primarily hearts), a menagerie of animals is created---from the sea, the land, and the air.  My Heart Is Like a Zoo is versatile enough that it can be used for teachable moments from early childhood to elementary school.  

Lesson Plan and Learning Extension Ideas

Younger children can…

• identify circles, rectangles, triangles, and squares  
• count the number of hearts (or other shapes) that make up each animal
• name colors
• identify animals
• connect to a zoo or animal unit

Older children can…

• recognize sound devices like rhyme and alliteration
• recognize similes (and practice creating their own)
• identify adjectives and nouns (parts of speech)
• classify animals into groups—sea, land, and air
• distinguish fantasy from fact
• create animals using various shapes similar to the illustrations

Lesson Plan & Activities: Animals Strike at the Zoo & Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo by Karma Wilson

I am revisiting one of my favorite picture book authors, Karma Wilson.  I love just about everything she has written!  Both books today are about trips to the zoo. 

Animals Strike at the Zoo: It’s True!  (ages 3-8)
Using lyrical and rhyming text as well as vibrant pictures, an animal strike is whimsically illustrated.  The animals all stop doing what they are made to do, such as prowling, howling, swimming, and climbing.  They make humorous demands like for a pool in their pen or for root-beer floats.  Some protest by painting themselves a different color or knitting scarves to hide their trademark feature.  The zookeeper tries to appease the animals, but they are still discontented and refuse to move.  Fortunately, one little girl’s love and appreciation changes everything! 

Use this book to accompany a unit on animals or a trip to the zoo (See Extension Activities).  It can also be utilized to identify attributes of personification or pick out rhyming words.  Discuss life lessons about being content and showing appreciation for others.  Or just enjoy this entertaining read-out-loud picture book with your class or kids. 

Never, EVER Shout in a Zoo (ages 5-9)
Despite a firm warning to the contrary, a little girl shouts in the zoo after an unfortunate mishap.  Thus, a chain of zany events is set off, involving a charging bear, a dreadful moose, a mischievous ape, and other animals.  All the animals eventually get loose, and the people are caged. This cautionary tale is highlighted further with bright animal and human characters (illustrated with watercolor paints and colored pencil) against a white back drop. There is also an unexpected, comical ending. 

Like Animals Strike, this book goes well with a study of animals. The pictures are more realistic, so they appeal to an older audience. This book can be included in a lesson on cause and effect during language arts.  The best part of the story is the language though.  Using repetitive phrasing, rhyme, and rhythm, the manic mood and animal tomfoolery is magnified.  The use of adjectives and alliteration begs to be used in a lesson plan, so I wrote one J:  Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo Lesson Plan and Alliterative Animal Handout.   

Extension Activities

• Animal Strike at the Zoo Activity from the Writing Site
• Zoo-Themed Activities
• Zoo Animal Theme Unit
• Early Childhood Zoo Activities, Arts & Crafts, and Snacks
• Never Shout at the Zoo Actitivites from Karma Wilson’s Site
• Never Shout at the Zoo Lesson Ideas and Background Knowledge
• Weekly Long Extension Activities for Never, Ever Shout in a Zoo