Books that Inspire Lesson Plans

       

This quote demonstrates how books can transport the reader into a different time, place and/or world. In my class whenever possible I base my lesson plans off of books. In this post I am going to share two lessons plans based off of two books: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
This lesson plan is based off of the book but with a different twist. My lesson is based off the story The Very Hungry Illinois Caterpillar. The Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom (IAITC) Department is an excellent resource that allows teachers to bring the agriculture of Illinois into the classroom as the name states. IAITC created The Very Hungry Illinois Caterpillar adapted by the popular book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to each students about the native crops in Illinois. Living in Illinois this story allows the students to learn about the following:

• Crops that are native to Illinois 
• Life cycle of the butterfly
• Compare and contrast of the two versions of the story 
• Language and Literacy skills 
• Creative Expressions skills
• Ordering the days of the week
• Facts about Illinois  

Below is a picture of a window that I created from student work 

              

The students wrote the what the Illinois caterpillar ate on teach day and they helped create the different crops that he ate. The students also counted sets 1-10 by creating a bar graph with corn kernels, which is a popular crop that is grown in Illinois. The students and parents loved the story of The Very Hungry Illinois Caterpillar so much that my co-teacher and I are binding the story into a book for the students as a holiday gift!

The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred 
This lesson is based off the above book by Samantha R. Vamos. I taught this lesson during the summer during Farm week when the students were able to take a field trip to The Cosley Zoo in Wheaton, IL. All of the animals that are characters in the book are at The Cosley Zoo so the students were able to use the Spanish vocabulary from the story on their field trip. As a class we also made rice pudding just as the Cazuela did in the story. This lesson allowed the students to learn the following:

• Spanish vocabulary 
• Putting events in sequential order 
• Language and Literacy skills
• Creative Expression skills
• Following multi-step directions
• Science and Social Studies skills 

Below is a picture of a window that I created using student work 

The students created the animals and ingredients from the book by using various materials. As a journal the students wrote the sight words in the sentences and wrote the Spanish vocabulary for the animals and the ingredients. The students as a class helped make rice pudding and then individually described and drew the steps needed to make rice pudding. Finally to end the week we took a field trip to Cosley Zoo and we able to see, hear, and touch all of the animals that are in the book.

What books have you used in your lessons?