Happy Birthday Eric Carle!

Happy Birthday to one of my favorite author/illustrators!

 It is just amazing how many ways I can find to use what some "untrained eyes" (AKA NOT primary teachers... :)  may see as such simple books. 

One of my favorite Eric Carle stories was when I taught a Summer School class called "Reading and Writing with Eric Carle" or something like that.  A mom stayed around after all of the children were dropped off and in the classes.  My sister was helping me with the class, and she asked her if she needed anything.  The mom said, "No, I am just waiting around to see who this Eric Carle guy is."  Bless her heart if she thought our school could afford to have Eric Carle come teach a K-1 summer school class! But I think it was not really until that moment that I realized what  a bubble I live in teaching Kindergarten.  Everybody out in the "real world" does NOT know Eric Carle, Tooty Ta, or the magic powers of a sticker! :)  I am just thankful that I do!

Today my Eric Carle Prezi is on sale at my TPT store.

 Since I use so many of his books throughout the year,   I  searched the internet for the best videos, activities, ideas, and links to go with 21 of Eric Carle's books. The books include: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Busy Spider, The Mixed Up Chameleon, The Tiny Seed, The Little Cloud, Draw Me a Star, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, A House for Hermit Crab, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Very Quiet Cricket, Mister Seahorse, Pancakes, Pancakes, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?(with Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?), 10 Little Rubber Ducks, Hello, Red Fox, Today is Monday, From Head to Toe, My Apron, and The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.

This was a labor of love for Eric Carle lovers out there! Each book you click on will include a read aloud of that book (which I was able to find for most of the books), interviews, book talks, or songs about the book if available, links to the Pinterest boards/pins for the book, the link to the book site on the Caterpillar Exchange (Eric Carle's official site), and many science videos/charts/ posters to go with the book because so many of his books lend themselves so beautifully to science lessons. Below the book cover, I put pictures of related books that work well to use with the book. I do an Eric Carle unit each year and have always wanted these resources together and finally did it!

I hope you enjoy it, and Happy Birthday, Eric.  Thank you for making the world a better place for my Kindergarteners with your gifts!

Carolyn

Eric Carle's The Very Lonely Firefly

Today we read Eric Carle's The Very Lonely Firefly. This book is worth reading, just for the ooohs and aaahs on that last page where it starts blinking!  I always leave one side of the lights off when I read this book for an extra big effect. :)

I  like to make a quick graph to see how many children call these "fireflies" and how many call them "lightning bugs."  I am usually always in the minority with "lightning bugs," except for the few who then feel sorry for me and try to switch their answer to make me feel better. :)   I love any excuse to make a quick graph so we can practice "how many more."  My kids are always very good at most, least, more, less, but "how many more" is sometimes tricky for them.  Just a couple weeks ago, everyone finally got it!  We match up the ones we can, and whatever votes are left without matches are the "how many more." 

My kids LOVE to know things they think maybe even grown-ups might not know- so today I taught them that the male, or boy, fireflies fly around and blink up in the sky, but the female, or girl, fireflies blink in down in the grass and don't fly.  I had the children turn and teach each other this fun fact, and we acted it out with our hands  up high blinking for the boys- and down low blinking for the girls.  I bet lots of moms and dads learned something new at dinner tonight!

We watched the lifecycle of a firefly on my Eric Carle Prezi, and the children were excited to learn that they are called "glowworms" before they are fireflies.  Another fun fact!

We made some of our own fireflies to hang up in our bedrooms. First, the children colored the fireflies beautifully- all except the back end. Then, with a cotton swab, the children paint the back end of the firefly with glow-in-the-dark paint.  The paint needs to be quite thick on the back, and then it will really glow great!

I also printed this sheet on cardstock, and  cut out some of the bigger fireflies so the children could make a firefly to clip on something in their bedroom.  For the back end, we dipped the cotton ball into the glow in the dark paint, then glued it onto the firefly.  I just used Elmer's glue to glue the firefly onto the clothespin.  You could also use hot glue, but Elmer's worked fine.

This is them actually glowing! :)

I have also made the garden bug fireflies, like my grouchy ladybug stones, and painted the back end with glow-in-the-dark paint, and they have worked well glowing outside in the garden!

During Writing Centers, we talked about times we felt lonely and then wrote about them.

I got a kick out of the clever way the children spelled "nobody."  I had never seen this way before:

When I handed back the dried firefly pictures to take home, I had the shades pulled and I turned off the lights at the count of three, so everybody's paper glowed.  I loved the sound of eighteen  "ooooohhhhs!"  



Finally, before buses were called, we played the firefly word wall game.  The lights were off, and my laser pointer was my firefly. The children had to read the word it landed on as fast as they could!  I have also done this with a flashlight.



Thank you for visiting!

Happy Teaching,

Carolyn

Eric Carle's House for Hermit Crab

I always like to read Eric Carle's House for Hermit Crab near the end of the year, as my children get ready to move on to their new "home" in first grade. 

We have great talks about making new friends and learning new things in first grade, but always knowing that our kindergarten friends are there for  us all the time. 

I also have two boys moving at the end of this year, so they were able to share all about that with the class as well.

The other thing my children pick up on in this book is that it follows the hermit crab through the months of the year.  My class loves the  Macarena Months song, so we sang this after we read the book. 

I show the class some video clips of actual hermit crabs.   I put several (as well as Macarena Months, or course!)  on my Eric Carle Prezi.  One of the favorites is this one where the hermit crab decides he wants to live in a Lego shell! 

I found an adorable hermit crab craft at Tippytoe Crafts!  I love the handprint idea and the eyes on the pipe cleaners! I am going to do this next year! 

 

 

We didn't have time for much of a craft, but during free choice time, I made some shells and had lots of sea stickers and blue paper to cut like water, so the children got creative!

 

 

 

 Our favorite activity was our Hermit Crab Game. The children sat in a circle on the rug. I chose one name stick to be the child who closed his/her eyes in our back section of the room (behind a book shelf).  I chose another  name stick to be the crab and hide in the shell. We practiced this game before we actually played.  I had one child peek- so he knew who was under the "shell," and we saw how it really took the fun away from the game.  I also had the children practice being completely quiet and not giving away any hints about who was the crab.  They got very good at this, and were actually annoyed if anyone made a peep! (I LOVED this game.  :)  One child was the "clue giver," if the child guessing needed a hint.  This was great practice for noticing details about friends and describing each other. (For example, "It is a girl."  "This person has red hair." "This person's name starts with a B."  "This person wears glasses.")  Here, the boy in the green was "clue giver" while the one in the orange shirt was guessing!  (The funny thing I just noticed is that these are both my boys who are moving this year!) 

Sometimes I divide the name sticks in half, and we play one round where half get to guess and half get to be the crab, then later, we switch, so that everyone has a chance to do both.

When the crab was under the "shell" and we were ready for our guesser to come out, we all sang, "The crab is in the shell. The crab is in the shell. Hi ho the derry-o, the crab is in the shell."  That just happened.  Not planned.  But so precious!

This is a very versatile game.  We also like to play it  around Christmas- when the person under the blanket is the present, and we say, "The present is wrapped!"

The first time we played it, I got under the blanket as the last child guessed.  The kids said, "This is a HUGE present."   Well... I wasn't thrilled to be HUGE, but it was funny!


This is one of my favorite creations of the year that I use all the time. I just hot glued one plastic cup inside a larger clear plastic cup. 



After I draw a name stick, I put the used name sticks on the outside part, so I know that name has been called.  Cheap, easy, and really useful!

Thank you for visiting!
Happy Teaching,
Carolyn

Eric Carle's My Apron

This week we did one of my favorite Eric Carle book activities with his book, My Apron.

It is a really fun activity that the children love and it gets the families involved as well! I sent home a note to parents telling them  that we would be reading this book.  I explained that it was a story about Eric Carle working for his uncle at his job as a plasterer when he was eight years old. He loved the workman's apron with a pocket so much that  his aunt made him an apron of his own, and he spent a few days as his Uncle Adam's assistant.

I asked the parents to send in something with their child that represents the job that the parents do- a "tool of their trade," sort of like the apron was for the plasterer.

I always have a wonderful response to this.  One of my all time favorites was a mother of three busy boys who sent this in:

I read the story right after lunch and planned on having a few children share and taking a break- but everyone was so interested  that we were able to let everyone share right straight through.  Here were some "tools of the trade" that were shared:

Daddy works for the cable company.

 

Mommy is a nurse.



Mommy is a great cook and daddy builds houses.

Grammy is a seamstress, who can EVEN sew on buttons! :)  and Poppy is a golfer.

Daddy works at a quarry.

Daddy works on helicopter engines.

Her mom wrote me a little note with this heart that said that she had wanted it to say, "My mom and dad's job is to make love in the house," but mom thought it may be better to say, "My mom and dad's job is to love us."  :)    

Not really sure about this one!   She brought balls in and said daddy juggled for the circus.  I am going to check this one out!  She also said, "So I guess, if you are at the circus and you see my daddy, maybe, um... don't wave. "   That made my day. :)

One of my favorite things about the book is a handwritten letter in the back from Eric Carle explaining that this is a true story that happened to him when he was eight years old.  The children really see first hand how "real" authors use real life events as ideas for stories. 

We have been watching some great Eric Carle interviews, so the children know a lot about him as an author and illustrator.  I added several more interviews to my Eric Carle Prezi. 

Thank you for visiting! 

Happy Teaching,

Carolyn



Eric Carle's The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse

I just updated my Eric Carle Prezi! It is available at my TPT Store.

We have been studying Eric Carle this week and enjoying his books and so many activities to go with them.  The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse is a simple story, but so inspirational for fostering the children's natural creativity and imagination.

Eric Carle lets children see that it is OK - even WONDERFUL to paint a red crocodile, a purple fox, and a polka-dotted donkey!   I think next year I will use this story early in the year as a great illustration lesson for Writer's Workshop.   Here is a review of the book:
The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse is a joyous celebration of art and creativity. As a young man, Carle was influenced by the work of Franz Marc, an Expressionist artist famous for his paintings of blue horses, and this book is a fitting tribute to his legacy. Carle’s brilliant, unusual, color pairings--a red crocodile, a polka-dotted donkey--capture the limitless imagination of children and the brief text is simple, yet memorable. The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse is destined to become a well-worn classic, inspiring readers of all ages to embrace their inner artist.--Seira Wilson

I love Eric Carle's interview about writing the book. 

 This Prezi is all about Eric Carle!  I have searched the internet for the best videos, activities, ideas, and links to go with 21 of Eric Carle's books. The books include: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Busy Spider, The Mixed Up Chameleon, The Tiny Seed, The Little Cloud, Draw Me a Star, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, A House for Hermit Crab, The Very Lonely Firefly, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, The Very Quiet Cricket, Mister Seahorse, Pancakes, Pancakes, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?(with Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?), 10 Little Rubber Ducks, Hello, Red Fox, Today is Monday, From Head to Toe, My Apron, and The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.
This was a labor of love for Eric Carle lovers out there! Each book you click on will include a read aloud of that book (which I was able to find for most of the books), interviews, book talks, or songs about the book if available, links to the Pinterest boards/pins for the book, the link to the book site on the Caterpillar Exchange (Eric Carle's official site), and many science videos/charts/ posters to go with the book because so many of his books lend themselves so beautifully to science lessons. Below the book cover, I put pictures of related books that work well to use with the book. I do an Eric Carle unit each year and have always wanted these resources together and finally did it! Whenever I find anything else I love to do with Eric Carle, I add it onto the Prezi.

I hope you enjoy it.  :)
Thank you for visiting!
Happy Teaching,

Carolyn

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Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug

I introduced my class to The Grouchy Ladybug this week.  

I always use The Grouchy Ladybug as an introduction to telling time.  It is great for so many activities!
Here is a free ladybug clock download that is cute.  I just add two construction paper half circles with a brad so they open over  the clock when it is made, and the children can dab on black spots. The children picked up telling time to the hour and half hour very quickly this year.  We also have been practicing counting by 5's, so this made that very relevant for them.

After reading the story and practicing on my big clock for a while, we went outside to see just how big the blue whale was compared to the ladybug.  I had a piece of rope 45 feet long (the length of a average whale) and a red button. 

One child held our "ladybug" where another child held one end of the rope. 



Then, we s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out that rope to see how long a whale was.

The children were amazed- but THEN I told them that the blue whale was twice that long or about 90 feet long! So we stretched all the way down the side walk.  That button looked pretty small!

When we came inside and sat back on the rug, we turned and talked about what made us grouchy.  I learned that LOTS of things make five and six year olds grouchy!   Each child wrote what made him or her grouchy on a speech bubble.   Later that day, we cut out ladybugs, glued on our grouchy face picture, six legs and two antennas, and made dots with a cotton swab.  I love this activity.  Here are some favorite grouchy faces:

Big Dipper is the "famous"  ice cream store at the bottom of our hill by the school.  We take our ice cream trips very seriously here in Apalachin, and we LOVE our Big Dipper!  The kids write about it a lot in the spring.  They actually count down days until it opens in the spring. :)

This one may be my very favorite, because he said he was grouchy when his mom goes to work. When I asked him why, he said, "because my mom works like a million whale lengths away from home!"  <3 

 I also love this one because I can so relate to it.  She is a character! I love how it looks like her one leg is kicking.  :)
During free choice time, I had the children come to my table to paint ladybug rocks for their gardens.  We had talked about how good ladybugs are for the garden- and  they knew that ladybugs loved eating aphids! 

First, I drew the outline on the stone.  OK- backing up, very first, my husband and I went to the creek to find many beautiful oval stones, perfect for bug-making! Then, I drew the outline:

The children picked their favorite bug stone. I had  lots of different sizes, so this was fun for them.

They drew  a little face on the front part and wrote their name on the bottom with a Sharpie.  Then, they painted the sides red and the back section black.  They put the black dots on right then with a cotton swab.  I thought they would have to wait until it dried, but it worked just fine to do it all at the same time. 

When they were all dry, I shellacked them so they would be more weatherproof outside in a garden. 

My own children made these when they were young, and they lasted for years outside once they were sprayed.  We also made "Lonely Fireflies" with glow in the dark paint on the back end!  Yes- they glowed in the garden! 

For our Science lesson, we watched the videos on my Eric Carle Prezi about the ladybug lifecycle and the different types of ladybugs like this one:

  And who doesn't love the Ladybug Picnic song?

Thank you for visiting!
Happy Teaching,
Carolyn