The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Najla Clark Kindergarten/ Science/Language Arts

Common Core Standards: Strand: Life Science Topic: Explorations of Living Things With modeling and support, identify physical characteristics and simple behaviors of living things. With modeling and support, identify and explore the relationship between living things and their environments (e.g., habitats, food, eating habits, etc.). With modeling and support, demonstrate knowledge of body parts and bodily processes (e.g., eating, sleeping, breathing, walking) in humans and other animals. With modeling and support, demonstrate an understanding that living things change over time (e.g., life cycle). With modeling and support, recognize similarities and differences between people and other living things. Strand: Algebra Topic: Group and Categorize Notice differences between familiar and unfamiliar people, objects and places.

Match two objects that are the same and select similar objects from a group.

Sort objects into two or more groups by their properties and uses.

Sort and or more a shape).

Strand: Cognitive Skills Topic: Memory Infants (birth-8 months) Exhibit differentiated responses to familiar and unfamiliar people, events, objects and their features. Mirror simple actions and facial expressions of others previously experienced. Anticipates next steps in simple familiar routines and games.

Young Toddlers (6-18 months) Recall information over a period of time with contextual cues. Mirror and repeat something seen at an earlier time. Anticipate the beginning and ending of activities, songs and stories.

Older Toddlers (16-36 months) Recall information over a longer period of time without contextual cues. Reenact a sequence of events accomplished or observed at an earlier time. Anticipate routines. Link past and present activities.

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Lesson Summary: To make the children aware of what healthy food choices are and to learn about the life cycle of caterpillars. The Very Hungry Caterpillar will serve as the theme of the lesson. Estimated Duration: This lesson will take 120 minutes. I plan to spend the week working on the concepts. We will have 4 sessions by spending 30 minutes per day on the lesson.

Comementary: My approach to healthy foods will be using the Very Hungry Caterpillar to get children interested in making healthy food choices. The vibrant colors of the story are very eye catching and the holes in the pages help children imagine the caterpillar actually eating through the food. I anticipate there being some confusion in deciphering the concept of just because it tastes good doesnt mean its good for you. Also you can still enjoy certain not so health foods in moderation.

Instructional Procedures: Day 1: First 10 minutes: Introductory activity- Students will gather around the carpet for story time. Before reading the book we will talk about what everyones favorite food is. Every student will have a chance to talk about their favorite food. 20 minutes: I will introduce the book we are about to read as a story about a very hungry caterpillar. After reading the story we will discuss what the students think about it.

Day 2: First ten minutes we will talk again about what everyone likes to eat. This time writing each childs answer on

the board. 20 minutes: Each student will work with their iPad. Each iPad has a folder titled Healthy food apps students will open this folder and choose the app and explore with it for 15 minutes. In the next 10 minutes we will talk about what they discovered. Day 3: We will begin by visiting http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids.php on the smart board and continue the healthy food discussion. We will then revisit the students favorite food list and this time put their choices in a category of healthy or not so healthy. Day 4: Revisit the story and talk about what they think the caterpillar should have eaten. Which foods were good choices and which ones were not? Children will have a chance to place cut out felt foods on the felt board in categories of good and bad choices. Ask children their preferred food choices to see if there was any change. We will complete the lesson by making our very own very hungry caterpillar using construction paper, pipe cleaner, and googly eyes.

Pre-Assessment: Pre-Assessment will be discussing our favorite foods and if something tastes good does it mean its good for you? Scoring Guidelines: Scoring will be based on student participation and their observations. Post-Assessment: Post assessment will be based on how well they retained the information in the story. Did their food choice change by the end of the week. Scoring Guidelines: Scoring is based on participation and retention of the information covered. Caterpillar craft will also be considered.

Differentiated Instructional Support For students struggling with the concepts more time can be spent on discussing food groups and the nutritional plate.

Extension

For More information about the standards covered in this lesson visit: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Early-Learning/Early-Learning-Content-Standards

Homework Options and Home Connections The only homework is for students to talk to their parents about healthy food choices and share with the class any feedback

Interdisciplinary Connections This lesson can be connected to math as we will be counting the numbers of food items the caterpillar eats and paying attention to the patterns. Also there is a science connection in discussing the life cycle of a caterpillar specifically how it forms a cocoon and turns into a butterfly. Because we are reading the story together this is a language arts lesson. Materials and Resources:

For teachers Hard copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Website http://www.nutritionexplorations.org/kids.php on the Smart Board nutrition online game for kids to play. Felt Board what should the caterpillar have eaten?

For students

iPad with healthy food apps, construction paper, glue, pipe cleaner, googly eyes.

Key Vocabulary Healthy, Nutrition, 5 food groups, nutrition pyramid/plate. Additional Notes