1. Literature Focus Unit Edu 315 Julie Mees
Eric Carle
Literature Focus Unit
Edu 315
Julie Mees

2. Literature Selection Does A Kangaroo Have a Mother, Too?
Papa, Pleas get the moon for me
The Secret Birthday Message
The Mixed-Up Chameleon
Mister Seahorse
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
From Head to Toe

3. Theme Study
Students will take part in learning about the writings of the author Eric Carle. They will learn about the animals and rhythm of his books. This unit will integrate reading and writing with social studies, science, mathematics, art, music, and physical education.
Students will develop the understanding of the habitats of different animals and their life cycles, the stages of the moon, rhyme and rhythm

4. Language Arts: Reading Activities
Students will read many different books written by Eric Carle. Students will read within groups, look through books individually, read aloud, and guided reading.
Students will share their scrapbooks to the class
Students will find additional information about the moon, kangaroos, fish, and chameleons. (See technology)
Teacher will read a loud the books listed in literature selection with the children having reading time in groups and individually to go back through the books.

5. Language Arts: Writing Activities
Students will create a scrapbook with cut out pictures, drawings, and personal ideas of each book read in class.
Students will also create a page of questions they may have about any animals we have read about.
After reading “Papa, please get the moon for me.” students will join in groups and create ideas why the moon is sometimes a quarter or a half or a full moon. They will write in groups their ideas.
Students will create a formula poem about the moon with the formula being “If I….”

6. Language Arts: Speaking Activities
Students will work be doing group projects by reading through the books together after the teacher has read them aloud.
Students will be discussing ideas of the moon with each other.
Students will be working together making it through a maze by following directions based on the book “The Secret Birthday Message.”
Students will be reading aloud and sharing their scrap books about their personal ideas of the books that were read aloud to the class.
Students will be creating fish creatures out of socks and coloring them. They will be working in groups and sharing their ideas while they create their fish creatures from the book “Mister Seahorse.”
Students will have a Grand Conversation with each of the books read.

7. Language Arts: Listening Activities
Students will listen as the teacher reads the books aloud.
Students will listen in their groups as they go back through the books during the Grand conversations.
Students will listen as each student presents their scrapbooks and poems to the classmates.
Students will listen to each others ideas while discussing the books and sharing additional information about animals presented in the classroom.
Students will listen as they share their ideas on why the moon is sometimes a quarter or a half or a full moon.

8. Language Arts: Viewing Activities
Students will take a field trip to a pet store to see various fish
Students will view videos of kangaroos and penguins.
Student’s will view the other classmates pictures in their scrapbooks.
Students will create a map on a bulletin board of the maze in “A Birthday Message.”
Students will add words to the word wall from the vocabulary words each book.

9. Language Arts: Visually Representing Activities
Students will create a picture of the formula poem to display their poetry in the classroom.
Students will create a maze.
Students will be adding words to the Word Wall of the different subjects and animals in each book.
Students will be creating scrap books to share with the classroom.
Students will create fish out of socks which will be displayed.
Students will watch the movie “The Very Hungry Catipillar.”

10. Science Activities
Students will learn information about the stages of the moon. (Look at technology) They will add entries into their science notebook about new information they found.
Students will look on maps to see where numerous animals live.
Students will research more about kangaroos and their habitats (Look at technology) They will add this information the their science notebooks and share information in small groups what they have learned.
Students will create a caterpillar cage to watch the cycle of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly and they will document their findings each day of the changes.
Students will research what a chameleon needs to survive and what type of habitat they live in.

11. Mathematics Activities
Students will create a maze of their own using measurements, shapes, and colors
Students will play the game Memory, matching numbers of animals.
Students will estimate different paper caterpillars sizes by inches and centimeters and measure to check how accurate their estimation was
Students will graph and list all the different types of animals and how many they saw on their nature walk
Students will have different activity centers which they will rotate playing math games; The Very Hungry Catapillar, Go Fish (counting and matching patterns), and Counting Kangroo’s

12. Social Studies Activities
Looking at maps of where penguins, giraffes, buffaloes, monkeys, seals, gorillas, crocodile, camels, elephants, and salt water fish live.
Students will create pictures and place them on a map in the area the animals are from.
Students will create a picture scrapbook of their favorite animal and share information they find on this animal.

13. Music and Art activities
Students will be drawing pictures for their scrapbooks from the things they read about in their books; ex a man climbing to the moon or a giraffe.
Students will create a background for their formula poems that they will be writing about.
Teacher will have nature music playing in the background with sounds of animals and fish as the children do their work.
Teacher will bring in guitar and sing made up songs by the children. (Songs will not be planned but will have to deal with any of the themes of their books.)
Students will sing and act out Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

14. Physical Education Activities
Students will act out the book “From Head to Toe.”
Students will participate in a obstacle course pretending to be an animal from one of the animals we have read about in the books.
Students will play Shark and Fish tag.
Students will take a nature walk observing the different types of bugs and animals that live around them

15. Technology
mammals/red-kangaroo.html
hameleonbasics_2.htm
Ti=1&sdn=exoticpets&cdn=homegarden&tm=42 9&gps=92_284_851_417&f=00&tt=2&bt=1&bts =1&zu=http%3A//
The movie “The Very Hungry Catipallar”
_phases_main.html

16. Language Arts Strategies
Activating background knowledge- Students will think about what they already know about the animals and the moon
Brainstorming- students will think of ideas while creating their scrapbooks
Connecting- Students will relate topics to the world around them. They will be mapping and learning about different habits around the world
Predicting- students will be predicting the measurements of caterpillars. They will also be predicting while playing the Memory Game and Go Fish. Students will also be predicting where animals live.
Playing with Language- Students will be creating poetry, a story, and scrapbooking
Revising- Students will make changes to their written activities
Visualizing- Students will be drawing and creating visual images. Student will also see a caterpillar turn into a butterfly and make home for a chameleon.

17. Language Arts Skills
Print: Students will recognize new words on the word wall
Comprehension: Students will learn formula poetry. Students will learn new things about different animals and what types of habitats they live in and be able to place them on a map.
Language: Students will be working together to make different games, working together to get through the maze and sharing their poetry and scrapbooks with the class
Reference: Students will make graphs and read articles with other students, older peers, or the teacher.

18. Grouping Patterns
Large groups: grand conversations, swimming and zoo field trips, reading as a class, finding new information about any questions the students have about the moon or different animals.
Small groups: reading through the books again and looking at pictures closer, helping each other with sight words they have already learned, adding new words to the word wall that they have learned from Eric Carle’s books, working on making fish out of socks or any other animal they may decide to create out of a sock.
Individual: writing poetry, scrapbooking, individual reading of the books.

19. Assessments
Participation in the grand conversations and group projects
Informal observations of authors chair and art projects
Portfolio of scrapbooks, poetry, animal collages and mazes
Checklist on graphs, maze measurements, measurement of caterpillars
Active participation in P.E. and music and art

20. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Language Arts Art/Music P.E.
-Grand Conversation
-Read aloud “Mister Seahorse”
-Students will write and illustrate a story about a fish to add to scrapbooks
-Read aloud “Papa, please get the moon for me.”
-Read with a partner from older student “The Secret Birthday Message.”
-Read does “A Kangaroo Have a Mother , Too?”
-Writers Workshop- Students will peer conference other students poems
- Read Aloud “The Very Hungary Caterpillar.”
-Students will make a list of new words from the books
-Authors Chair- Students will share their poems and scrapbooks
Art/Music
-Students create sock fish using colors, ribbons, glue, and paint
-Students will write a formula poem about the moon using the formula “If I…”
-Students will add poem to scrapbook
-Students will work in small groups creating Memory cards using cut outs of different animals
-Read aloud and act out “Head to Toe”
-Students will act out and Sing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
-Students will create animal collages to create a bulletin board
P.E.
Students will play shark and fish tag
- Students will follow a map the teacher made to get through a “maze” with a surprise at the end
-Play hockey with teams pretending to be Penguins or Kangaroos
-Sing and dance to Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes
-Students will take a nature walk and look at different animals and bugs that live around them
Math
-Students will be working in math activity center
-Students will create a maze of their own using measurements, shapes, and colors
-Students will play the game Memory in small groups matching numbers and counting the animals on their cards
-Students will estimate different paper caterpillars sizes by inches and centimeters and measure to check how accurate their estimate was
-Students will graph and list all the different types of animals and how many they saw on nature walk
Science
Students will write in their science notebooks KWL style
-Students work in small groups and use computers to research why the moon is not always a full moon-
-Students will read about different Kangaroos and their habitats using information from
-Students will learn how to take care of caterpillars so the students can watch the process of them turning into a butterfly
-Study what a chameleon eats and the atmosphere they live in
-Introduce the new classroom pet- a chameleon
Social Studies
-Students will work on scrapbooks
- Students will create a map of where oceans are located and where different fish live
-Students work in scrapbooks using pictures from websites, magazines, and drawings about the moon
Students will add to their maps in their scrapbooks showing where penguins, giraffe’s, gorilla's, crocodile, camels, and elephants live.
-Students will help create a home for the new classroom pet.