Eric Carle kindergarten thematic unit — Photo Source: hicks-thealphabetgarden.blogspot.com

The works of Eric Carle {and the activities they inspire!} are a fabulous way to herald in the spring season! We found this great thematic unit at The Alphabet Garden, a blog created by kindergarten teacher, Julie Hicks. Her teaching partner, Susan Johnson, brought the lesson to their classroom a few years back and it's become a spring staple! Here's a rundown of literature selections, learning objectives/goals and/or activities {you'll have to visit her site for the full workup though!}.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Create a fact page listing information learned about butterflies - their habitat, what they eat, etc.
Learn the stages of the butterfly life cycle as well as explore the circular nature of a life cycle through drawing, illustration, and manipulative play.
Practice telling time with a word problem timelines of when the hungry caterpillar ate each item in the book.
Learn about symmetry using butterfly wings as examples.
Practice storytelling, sequencing, and identifying the basic parts of a story (beginning, middle, and end) by having students retell the story using a story board.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Learn to identify colors and color words.
Practice storytelling, sequencing, and identifying the basic parts of a story (beginning, middle, and end) by having students retell the story as they place character cards in the correct order on a story poster.

The Grouchy Ladybug

Create a fact page listing information learned about beetles.
Learn the stages of the ladybug life cycle, as well as explore the circular nature of a life cycle, through drawing and illustration.
Build fine motor skills and simple addition skills by having students use a hole punch to make the correct number of 'bite marks' in leaf cutouts.
Practice storytelling, sequencing, and identifying the basic parts of a story (beginning, middle, and end) by having students retell the story with puppets.
Practice problem solving skills and visual discrimination by putting together puzzles of the book cover.
Build measuring skills (with non-standard units) by using ladybug manipulatives measure how big/long/tall classroom objects are in ladybug units.

The Very Busy Spider

Create a fact page listing information learned about spiders.
Compare/contrast spiders with insects.
Practice simple addition skills by having students draw the correct number of legs on spider bodies.

The Tiny Seed

Create a fact page about the parts of a plant.
Learn the stages of the plant life cycle, as well as explore the circular nature of a life cycle, through drawing and illustration.
Build measuring skills (with non-standard units) by using ladybug manipulatives to measure how many ladybugs tall student flower crafts are.

There are many, many more project ideas - crafts, geography studies, author studies, etc - at The Alphabet Garden so be sure to head on over there for activity write-ups and pictures!

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