The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of those books that you never get tired of reading! With Eric Carle's amazing illustrations and memorable plot, it is always so fun to read aloud. Over the years, I have integrated this book into my classroom in a number of ways, but with its sequential text it's a perfect book to use to teach primary aged students how to retell a story by describing the beginning, middle, and ending of the story! Make sure to grab this Free Printable Worksheet for the activity.
When I start a new lesson, I love doing something to build anticipation and excitement! I've learned that putting an object in a bag or box and having students pull it out is a simple, yet effective way to grab students' attention. Before the lesson, I put Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar book into a bag. I also added The Very Hungry Caterpillar stuffed animal, since I already had it. Then, begin your lesson by telling your students that inside the bag is a very important friend who is going to help us learn about how to retell a story today! Pick one of your students to come up and pull out the items to reveal The Very Hungry Caterpillar!
Explain to your students that all stories have an order or sequence and that as readers we can retell a story by describing the beginning, middle, and end of a story! We can tell each part of the story by answering some key questions:
Beginning: Who are the characters? What is the setting?
Middle: What happens to the characters? What is the problem?
End: How are the characters different than they were at the beginning? What is the solution to the problem?
Tell students that to be looking for answers to the questions as we read the story. The repeatable text makes this book great for choral reading, so encourage your students to help you read the predictable text, "but he was still hungry," each time the caterpillar eats! After reading the story together use the beginning, middle, and end headings (download the headings for free HERE) and The Very Hungry Caterpillar Storytelling Magnets to answer the questions and see what happened in the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story. Model and practice how to retell the story together. Ask students which part of the story was the biggest and had the most events? This activity is a great visual for discussing that in the middle of the story, authors usually spend a lot of time identifying the problem and then having the character work to try to solve it.
Practice retelling the story by having students complete the beginning, middle, and end retelling graphic organizer (download the printable for free HERE.)
Give each student the graphic organizer and three pictures. Have them cut and glue the pictures into the right column. They can also write what happened in each part of the story.
For additional retelling practice you can make a retelling station for your centers. Put the following materials into a storage bin: Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar 3D Storybook and the beginning, middle, and end mats.
Students can then retell the story by putting the pieces onto the correct beginning, middle, and end mats.
