Today's Classroom Activities :

Celebrating with Eric Carle

Animal Moves
Reading/Exercise Read aloud From Head to Toe by Eric Carle (HarperCollins, 1997) while the children act out the motions illustrated in the story. Then challenge them to add more animals to the story along with motions appropriate to those animals.

Eric Carle was born on June 25, 1929. Celebrate his birth by having your students read their favorite books by Eric Carle. Then have the class make a graph of their favorites books.

Grouchy Ladybug Lesson Plan
Students will "sort and classify objects by color, shape, size, number, and other properties."

Carle's Collages
Art Display some of Eric Carle's books. Your students are sure to remember them from when they were younger. Then watch together the video, Eric Carle: Picture Writer (Philomel Books, 1993). Invite your students to paint tissue paper many wonderful colors and designs and use the painted papers to create collage pictures. Tie the topic of the pictures to whatever you are studying in science or use the pictures to illustrate books and stories that you're reading in literature circle.

Also visit Eric Carle's site at www.eric-carle.com and The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art at www.picturebookart.org.

Brown Bear Pudding Style!
After reading the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", children will paint a bear with chocolate pudding!

Eric Carle Collage
Students will gain appreciation for the work of Eric Carle - see book illustration as a career, speculate about a work of art, what materials, techniques and skills were used. In this lesson students will study Carle's work to determine how he did it. Students will also explore various water color techniques, create a variety textural effects, and finally, design and create a composition using the techniques of Eric Carle.

A'planting we will go
This lesson is based on the book, The Tiny Seed, by Eric Carle. This story will be used to introduce the children to the concept that seeds change and grow into plants when conditions in the environment including temperature, light, water and soil are appropriate. Children will learn that plants produce seeds that can become new plants. Through extended activities, the children will experience first-hand the germination of seeds. They will become familiar with the parts of a plant and learn how each part works to produce a healthy plant.

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle
Students will listen to this story about spiders and then make a spider and a web.