Classroom Jr. » Book Guides

Mr. Popper’s Penguins Activity Worksheets

Wendy Piersall — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 14:42:16 +0000

I have a good family friend who homeschools her children. I asked for her advice on classroom materials to develop for Classroom Jr., and she immediately said that there is an ongoing need for worksheets and activities based on classic children’s literature. Not only was Mr. Popper’s Penguins at the top of her list, but it’s also being made into a movie with Jim Carrey this summer!

The 1938 classic book tells the story of Mr. Popper, the small-town housepainter who dreams of exploring Antarctic regions, and Captain Cook, the penguin who turns Mr. Popper’s world upside down. It was awarded with a Newberry Honor in 1939 and is appropriate for readers age 9-12.

Be sure to also check out the teacher favorite guide for using Mr. Popper’s Penguins in the classroom!

Mr. Popper's Penguins Word Search Activity	Mr. Popper's Penguins Word Search Answer Key	Mr. Popper's Penguins Vocabulary Word List
Mr. Popper's Penguins Comprehension Quiz #1	Mr. Popper's Penguins Comprehension Quiz #2	Mr. Popper's Penguins Vocabulary Worksheet
Mr. Popper's Penguins Comprehension Quiz #1 Answer Key	Mr. Popper's Penguins Comprehension Quiz #2 Answer Key	Mr. Popper's Penguins Vocabulary Worksheet Answer Key

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Activities and Lesson Plan

Wendy Piersall — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 14:41:57 +0000

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Background: Since it was written in 1969 by Eric Carle, The Very Hungry Caterpillar has been a very popular children’s title and has served as a wonderful springboard to many fun learning activities in the classroom or at home.

Below are some activities and lesson plan ideas to explore, a vocabulary list and worksheet, comprehension questions, and a list of resources all centered around The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Related Pages: Where the Wild Things Are Activities, Dr. Seuss Activities

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Worksheets

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Questions Worksheet

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Vocabulary List

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Vocabulary Worksheet

Classroom Activities for The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Science Activities

• The Life Cycle of the Butterfly: The story starts out with a little egg on a leaf then follows the caterpillar as it eats and grows, enters a cocoon (most caterpillars enter a chrysalis, but Eric Carle used the word “cocoon” as that’s what his father called it when he was a child) and emerges as a colorful butterfly.

You can simply talk about this process, illustrate it on blank paper or act it out this way -

Egg: have the children hold onto their ankles, bend down, and round their body into the shape of an egg
Larva: have the children “squirm like a worm”
Pupa: have them crawl into a sleeping bag or large pillow case with colorful handkerchiefs or pieces of cloth inside (they’ll probably have to take turns on this unless you have lots of sleeping bags)
Butterfly: have them emerge from the “cocoon,” swaying with the handkerchiefs in hand.

• Nutrition: The caterpillar in this story eats a lot of food – some of it is very nutritious (like the fruits and the leaf) and some is “junk food.” Take this opportunity to talk to your students about what foods are good for you and what happens when you eat too much! It’s also a good time to talk about each child’s favorite foods.

Look through magazines and cut out photos of food.
Each child could paste a series of foods on index cards, punch a hole through the picture and string a piece of green yard through a series of cards to represent the caterpillar eating through all the food.
Create a fruit salad with ingredients from the book:

Caterpillar Salad

1 apple

2 pears

3 plums

4 strawberries

5 oranges (Clementines would work best for this)

Mint leaves for garnish

• Insects: Use The Very Hungry Caterpillar as a springboard to study about insects and arachnids – particularly those featured in other Eric Carle books (The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Very Clumsy Clickbeetle, and The Very Lonely Firefly)

Math Activities

• Counting: The numbers 1-5 are illustrated with the fruits in this book and would give good practice in counting. Using gummi fruits for counting practice would be fun. Use the fruits to teach the concept of how you if you add one strawberry + one orange, you have two “pieces of fruit” – NOT two strawberries or two oranges.

• Days of the Week: This book is also great for teaching days of the week. It even illustrates the day of rest (eating the leaf) on Sunday. Talk about the days of the week with your students – what’s different about weekdays vs. the weekend, what day of the week is their favorite, etc.

Art Activities

The Very Hungry Caterpillar has illustrations that were originally done in painted tissue paper collage. This specific technique is appropriate for grade 3 and up, but can be adapted for younger children. Try making butterflies with your student using this technique. Have a shape of a butterfly drawn on cardstock for each child. Have the students use strips of colored tissue paper and glue to make the colorful wings. You might want to use this opportunity to teach your students about symmetry and how each wing is a mirror image of the other.

Another art activity appropriate for young children is to make caterpillars out of cardboard egg cartons. Paint them green and then add wiggly eyes and pipe cleaner antennae. You can also use paper towel rolls to make cocoons.

Language Arts Activities

Eric Carle wrote several children’s books about insects. Read them all – talk about what they have in common and what’s different in each. Have the children identify the main problem in each story (there’s a hint in each title) and how it’s resolved in the end. Have them make up their own story following the pattern: The Very _______________ _______________.

Worksheets for The Hobbit

Wendy Piersall — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:50:12 +0000

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit

I am a HUGE fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and his books. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy movies are some of my all time favorites. I’m beyond excited to know that in a few weeks, Peter Jackson is going to start filming The Hobbit, making it into 2 movies that I cannot wait to see! If you haven’t been following the news on the movie pre-production, Peter has managed to sign on nearly all of his original LOTR cast – squee!!

These Hobbit worksheets will get plenty of use as the movie opening gets closer. It is a great to be able to bring Hollywood into the classroom. There is a Hobbit vocabulary word list and worksheet, plus questions for every chapter in the book along with an answer key.

This is my first set of worksheets for older children in the middle school to high school age range. I’ve been lucky to find some incredibly talented and experienced educators who have helped me put them together. Please let me know what else you are seeking for these grades in your classes!

Related Pages: Printable Mad Libs, Printable Venn Diagrams

Hobbit Vocabulary Worksheet	Hobbit Vocabulary Words and Definitions
Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 1-10 Answer Key	Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 11-19 Answer Key	Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 1-3 Questions
Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 4-6 Questions	Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 7-9 Questions	Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 10-12 Questions
Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 13-15 Questions	Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 16-18 Questions	Hobbit Worksheets Chapter 19 Questions

You might also like these Harry Potter lesson plans and classroom activities!

Dr. Seuss Activities and Lesson Plans

Wendy Piersall — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 15:37:42 +0000

I simply can’t imagine an early childhood classroom without the magic of Dr. Seuss! I read Hop on Pop as a child until the pages fell out of the book. They are SO GREAT for reading practice for my kids, because they are so easy, yet so much fun to read.

Theodor Seuss Geisel was a fascinating man that was famous for more than children’s books during his career. He was also a political cartoonist and advertising illustrator, and ironically enough, has never won a Caldecott Medal or Newbery Medal. To which I say, WTH?! We can celebrate his achievements ourselves by making March 2 a fun Dr. Seuss day – that was his birthday.

Be sure to also check out our page for The Lorax activities, games and lesson plans, too!

Dr. Seuss Activities

Diffendoofer Song Lyrics for Singalong

Bake Many Colored Cookies

Play a Many Colored Game

I Did Something Good Today! (Printable certificate)

Dr. Seuss Crafts

The Lorax Dr. Seuss Craft

Truffula Trees Craft

Cat in the Hat Finger Puppets Craft

Cat in the Hat craft

Dr. Seuss Printables

Connect the Dots

Find The Cat’s Birthday Hat

Diffendoofer Word Search

Doorknob Hanger

Horton’s Coloring Page

The Lorax Printable Dominoes

Dr. Seuss Lesson Plans

Cat in the Hat Lesson Plans

Hop on Pop Lesson Plans

One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish Lesson Plans

10 Apples Up On Top Lesson Plans

The Lorax Lesson Plans

Dr. Seuss Teaching Ideas

Teaching With Favorite Dr. Seuss Books

Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! Teacher’s Guide

Seussville Teacher’s Guide

You might also like our Where the Wild Things Are activities and Harry Potter activities!

The Lorax Activities, Games and Lesson Plans

Wendy Piersall — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:12:42 +0000

The Lorax Activities

Truffula Trees Activity

Truffula Trees “Save the Earth Ideas” Activity

Classroom Activity Ideas from Seussville

The Lorax's Truffula Trees Craft

Truffula Trees Craft for Preschool / Kindergarten Kids

The Lorax Lesson Plans

The Lorax
Scroll down to a social studies lesson based on The Lorax and involving making wise choices.

The Lorax
After listening to the book, students think of ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Trees for Many Reasons
“Students examine the importance of conserving natural resources.”

The Lorax Games

The Lorax and Truffula Trees Printable Dominos Game

The Lorax Save the Trees Online Game

The Lorax & One Fish Two Fish Card Games

More Online Games at Lorax.Conservation.org

Be sure to also check out these great Dr. Seuss Activities and these Where the Wild Things Are Activities, and the rest of our Earth Day activities, too!

Harry Potter Activities, Printables and Lesson Plans

Wendy Piersall — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:31:06 +0000

We are huge Harry Potter fans in our house. We’ve even been to midnight book sale parties and always see the Harry Potter movies the weekend they are released. I’m so glad that my children get to grow up with such a rich fantasy world with the Harry Potter books like I was able to with the Narnia books when I was a kid.

Harry Potter Activites

You might also like our Where the Wild Things Are Activities and Lesson Plans post, especially because the movie is coming out this fall! We can’t wait!