Very Hungry Caterpillar GIVEAWAY!

It's GIVEAWAY time !!!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pack is now available in my new Teachers Pay Teachers store.

To purchase click the link below, or try to WIN it in this giveaway !

See all that is included in the Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Unit:

-3 Pages of Lesson Plans in an easy to navigate format.
-Materials List
-Vocabulary List and Vocabulary Cards (featuring items from the book).
-Helpful Hints
-Popcorn Words (sight words) 3 popcorn words found often in the book.
-Before Reading Activity to prepare your child for concepts found in the book.
-List of questions to ask your little one before, during and after reading.
-Retelling the Story Activity: to encourage recalling what was just read.
-Response Activity: a way for your child to respond personally to the book.
-2 activities in each of these developmental areas:
Fun: Handprint Trees, Search and Find
Motor: Name Tree, Missing Letters
Cognitive: Coconut Counting, Chicka ABC Match.
Language: Boom Boom Bingo, Alphabet Book
3 pages of lesson plans and 28 pages of printables

Digital Images created by Ashley Rives and www.scrappindoodles.com Please respect my time and work.

To enter, simply follow me (RSS feed or e-mail subscription works too) and tell me how you follow in the comments below :)


Two lucky winners will be chosen on Monday, July 4th. Giveaway ends on Sunday July 3rd at 11:59 CST.
Be sure to leave your e-mail so that I can contact you when you win!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Day #3

Take a peek at these FAB ideas I found in blog land for the Very Hungry Caterpillar !

** Counting Number Puzzles from Storytime and More

** Crafts and Things has a fun 'Feeding the Caterpillar' activity to check out.

** Look at this ADORABLE bulliten board idea from Creating and Teaching.

 

Creating and Teaching also shared this egg carton caterpillar!

 ** The Masked Mommy has an AMAZING Muffin Tin Monday post- Very Hungry Caterpillar Style !

** Head on over to Stay and Play for a free Very Hungry Caterpillar Pack.

 

Carisa at 1+1+1=1 has a great VHC tot pack !

Hope you enjoy these ideas!  Join us tomorrow for a GIVEAWAY !!!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Day #2

Ooo!  This is my favorite book to add story props too! 

One of my great friends gave me these AWESOME story props.  They are so cool!  I use them to re-tell the story.  I start with a caterpillar puppet on my hand.  Then, the caterpillar 'eats' through the foods and the foods then hang on my arm.  Of course I make a munching sound while he eats :)

Then, when it is time for him to go into his cocoon I put the butterfly puppet into a brown paper sack.  We count to 14 (14 days = 2 weeks).  While the caterpillar is inside sack I flip him inside out where the butterfly puppet is waiting.  The kids go CRAZY when they see a butterfly emerge!

Before my great friend gave me this awesome puppet I was using a sock I had created.  I used one of my dad's old greenish socks.  I added eyes and details to the caterpillar.  For the butterfly portion I added felt wings.  Sorry, I don't have a picture, I got rid of it when I got the cool new one :)

This is a lesson I did while I was a Parent Educator (before budget layoffs- boo).  In addition to reading the book and re-telling with props we also...

* Traced and cut on butterfly trails

* Made coffee filter butterflies

*Worked the Very Hungry Caterpillar Puzzle (found below)

*Practiced mixing colors in an ice cube tray.  We put water in the tray and added food coloring to a couple of the cube wells.  Using a dropper the kids would practice transferring water and mixing it to create new colors.  A great lesson in color mixing with fine motor thrown in - bonus!

My preschool class last year also focused on this book while I was on Maternity Leave.  I had my sub create this butterfly life cycle diagram.  Isn't her sample adorable!  I had suggested using a spiral pasta dyed green for the caterpillar, but she came up with using the pom poms.  I totally love that idea better!

Join us the rest of the week for more Very Hungry Caterpillar FUN!

Wednesday: Ideas from blog world

Thursday: GIVEAWAY

Friday: Linky Party!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Welcome to the second week of the Summer Story Workshop Series!

This week is all about that hungry caterpillar we all love!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

This is probably the most well-known book written by Eric Carle.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a wonderful book that focuses on the life cycle of one caterpillar with a big appetite!

Let's break down this book into skills for different grade-levels.  Much like this Brown Bear Post.

Pre-K

* Healthy and non-healthy foods

* Letters C (caterpillar & cacoon) and B (butterfly)

* Sequencing story events

* Counting

Kindergarten

*Days of the Week

* Transformations (baby to adult, water to ice, ect.)

* Sequencing story events

First/Second Grade

*animal life cycles

* adjectives (big green leaf, red juicy apple, big fat caterpillar, etc.)

* Symmetry (butterfly)

* Favorite food bar or picture graph (using foods from the book).

I know the list could go on and on! If you have a SKILL for one or more of these grade-levels (not activity- save that for the Linky Party!) please leave a comment and I will add it to the list!

BROWN BEAR STORY UNIT WINNERS:

1- Mrs. Olson

2- Kari

(winners chosen through Random.org)

Brown Bear Linky Party!

To end our Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?  week, we are celebrating with a linky party!

Share your ideas, activities or printables by using the link below.

Don't forget to come back next Monday for our next Summer Story Workshop :)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? GIVEAWAY!

Check out this Brown Bear Story Unit I created a while back.  It is available to purchase at http://www.meandmarielearning.com/ under the Story Unit category.  I plan on moving some of my items from the Me & Marie Learning Store to Teachers Pay Teachers.  But, for the last several days I have tried uploading this unit to TpT with no luck!  Frustrating for sure :(  Anyone else having problems? 

Anyway--  on with GIVEAWAY!

 

Here is what you will find in this Story Unit:


-3 Pages of Lesson Plans in an easy to navigate format.

-Materials List

-Vocabulary List and Vocabulary Cards (featuring characters from the book).

-Helpful Hints

-Popcorn Words (sight words) 3 popcorn words found often in the book.

-Before Reading Activity to prepare your child for concepts found in the book.

-List of questions to ask your little one before, during and after reading.

-Retelling the Story Activity: to encourage recalling what was just read.

-Response Activity: a way for your child to respond personally to the book.

-2 activities in each of these developmental areas:

Fine Motor: Lick and Stick Marshmallow picture, Cutting and writing practice.

Gross Motor: Teddy Bear Movement Song, Move like me activity cards

Cognitive: Teddy Bear Counting Mats, Match and Memory Game

Language: Create your own book, Animal to sound match

3 pages of lesson plans and 23 printables

Digital Images created by Ashley Rives and http://www.scrappindoodles.com/

We are almost to the end of a fun week full of brown bears :)  Therefore, I am GIVING AWAY this pack to TWO lucky readers!

To enter, simply follow me (RSS feed or e-mail subscription works too) and tell me how you follow in the comments below :)

Two lucky winners will be chosen on Monday June 27th.  Giveaway ends on Sunday June 26th at 11:59 CST.

Be sure to leave your e-mail so that I can contact you when you win!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Day # 3

I found LOTS of fun ideas on the web for the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?, but I narrowed it down to some great sites and ideas.

Check them out below!

Hubbards Cupboard
  -This site has LOTS great ideas for bringing Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See? into many different subject areas.

Look at this great Animal Sounds wheel from Chasing Marcus.  I love how she used real pictures of animals on this wheel!

Carisa at 1+1+1=1 created this Brown Bear tot pack.  It is full of fun goodies!

Brown Bear Clank Can

   -Another clever way to sequence the story, identify animals/colors or thier sounds!

Brown Bear Brown Bear Pack from Stay and Play

-Holly, another Teaching Blog Addict author, created this free pack- love the search for the animal page at the end of the pack. Thanks for sharing Holly!

Brown Bear Powerpoint at Kinder Friends
  -Scroll down and click on the Brown Bear link.  This powerpoint uses real photos of animals.

Brown Bear Brown Bear Companion Book
 -Katey over at Having Fun at Home creates the coolest board books!  Check out this one based off the Brown Bear Brown Bear book- ADORABLE!



Sight Word Search: The Brown Bear book lends itself well to the Dolch Sight Words: see (pre-primer list), what (primer list), do (primer list), a (pre-primer list) and you (pre-primer list). Go on a sight word hunt for one or more of these words. Find one? Mark it with highlighter tape, a wikki stick or a Post-it Flag!


Don't own the book?  Watch and listen as Bill Martin Jr. reads it.

  

Brown Bear Day #2

Check out these fun story props I created using my Cricut Cutter ! 

I laminated them and added magnetic pieces to the back.  That way they can be used on a cookie sheet or on the fridge.  Other ways these story props could have been used include, adding velcro to the back to be used on a felt board or attach them to sticks as mini puppets!

We will be using these story props to re-tell the story and help sequence events.  We may also use them to sort the animals by different attributes (example: animals that have teeth vs. animals that don't).  Another way that the story props could be used is to review colors.  Collect paint samples in every color of every animal.  Have your child match the colored paint chip to correct animal.  My little C is past learning colors, but would be great for those who are learning them!

I also created this felt board story set several years back (picture only shows part of the set).  I just traced around a cut out of the animal to create the felt pieces and used a thin tipped Sharpie to create the details.  Just another fun way to bring the story alive!

Join us the rest of the week for more Brown Bear Fun!

Wednesday: Ideas from blog world

Thursday: GIVEAWAY

Friday: Linky Party!

 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?

Welcome to the first week in the Summer Story Workshop Series!

First up:  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?

This book is a favorite among teachers, parents and kids alike!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? is a wonderful read aloud book that contains rhymes and predictable text.

But, how can the story of a brown bear and his colorful friends ignite learning?

Join us this week for fun ideas, a giveaway and a Linky PaRty!

Let's Get STARTED!!!

I know that this Story typically draws a younger crowd, but I wanted to explore how this book might be used in other grade levels as well.  Below are some skills that could be covered as a part of a Brown Bear, Brown Bear story unit:

Pre-K

*Color recognition

*Sequencing

*Animal Identification and sounds

*Use shakers when telling the story.  Keep the rhythm of the story with the shaker.

*Guess the Animal: describe an animal by it's attributes, guess which animal it might be.

*rhyming

Kindergarten

*Sequencing story events

* Sight words

*Sorting: animals that can fly vs. animals that can't fly or animals that walk on 4 legs vs. animals that walk on 2 legs (etc.)

*Reading color words

*rhyming

First Grade/Second Grade

* Work on creating bar or picture graphs by graphing favorite animals from the book.

* Verbs:  create a new book using verbs.  Sample: Crawling Crab, Crawling Crab, what do you see?  I see a jumping frog looking at me.

*Sight words

*Question Mark/Period (Question vs. Answer)

*Reader's Theatre

*Spelling color words

* Create a class book at the beginning of the year to learn classmates names.  Sample: 'First Grader, First Grader, Who do you See?  I see Camden looking at me.'

I know the list could go on and on!  If you have a SKILL for one or more of these grade-levels (not activity- save that for the Linky Party!) please leave a comment and I will add it to the list!

  by Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr.

Summer Story Workshops

I am in the planning stages for next year and I wanted to make sure I shared some wonderful literacy with my children and the children in my care.  So, I started thinking... wouldn't this be a great Summer Workshop Series?!? 

Much like the Summer Workshop Linky Parties on Teaching Blog Addict, these workshops will include a place to link up and showcase your great ideas!

Summer Story Workshops 2011

June 20-24: Brown Bear Brown Bear What do you See?

by: Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr.

  June 27- July 1: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

by:Eric Carle

  July 4-8:  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

by: Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault and Lois Ehlert

July 11-15: If you Give a Mouse a Cookie

by: Laura Numeroff

Each week in the Summer Story Workshop Series will include:

* Fun hands-on ideas to focus on the story

* A linky party to showcase and share all YOUR great ideas to help make these stories come alive!

* An introduction to a Story Unit for each of these amazing books!

Want to join the FUN!?!?

Come back next week!

ROAD TRIP!

Is your family heading on a road trip this summer?  Will you be traveling with a chorus of "Are we there yet?" children in your backseat?

If so, then you need this free download!

On the Go I Spy Cards
{click link above to download from Google Docs}

Just print, laminate and add a dry erase marker or crayon.

There are 3 different games within this printable.  Each game includes 3 different game boards (great for playing with siblings).

Game 1: Cars- be on the look out for different colored cars that are on your board.

Game 2: Road Signs- Keep your eyes peeled for the roadsigns on your board.

Game 3: Travel- Locate the different vehicles that you might see while traveling.

Shapes for ALL! Grab these freebies!

FREEBIE ALERT!!!
*Links Updated*

These Shape Packs are perfect for teaching or reviewing shapes!

 

 Circle

Oval

Square

 Triangle

 Rectangle

 MEGA Pack

Or, review them all with the Shapes MEGA Pack!

 If you snag this pack, please leave a comment :)

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