LITERACY WORK YEAR 2 "THE VERY HUNGRY CARTEPILLAR"

We have selected two books for year two:

My cat likes to hide in boxes

The very hungry cartepillar

In this case, we are going to work with "The very hungry cartepillar". If you don't have the book, you can watch the video with your learners:

REASONS FOR CHOICE “THE VERY HUNGRY CARTEPILLAR”

—  The story may be interesting for children as its character is an animal, a caterpillar. The colours and the illustrations are attractive for children.

—  The story introduces grammar structures and vocabulary (fruits, food, days of the week…) at the same time it is easy to read.

• The story is a good link to natural science (the life cycle of a caterpillar) and also with healthy food habits. 

READING TARGETS

WORD LEVEL WORK

Pupils should be able to:

—  Recognize words by common spelling patterns

—  Learn new words from reading and linked to particular topics and make collection of personal interest or significant words.

SENTENCE LEVEL WORK

—  Pupils should be able to:

—  Predict words from preceding words in sentences and investigate sorts of words that fit in sentences.

TEXT LEVEL WORK

—  Pupils should be able to:

—  Use phonological, contextual, grammatical and graphic knowledge to work out, predict and check the meanings of unfamiliar words and to make sense of what they read. 

SEQUENCE OF ACTIVITIES

These activities are designed in order to achieve the reading targets that I have selected previously.

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES

—  Make predictions.  The children will look at the cover of the book and the teacher will ask them some questions: what do you see?/do you know this animal?/do you think he is happy?/what do you think the story will be about?...

—  Vocabulary review. The teacher will use flashcards to review vocabulary about fruits and food. Then, the children will have to decide what is their favourite fruit and share their opinions to the group.

DURING-READING ACTIVITIES

—  Guided reading. Children will sit on the carpet making a circle, and the teacher will read the story aloud, using appropriate gestures and intonation.  The children will be following the story looking at the pictures. Sometimes, the teacher will stop to ask some questions about what is going to happen next, so they are involved in the story. Also, the teacher will stop to explain some difficult vocabulary.

— Independent reading. They will read the story again, now each pupil will read aloud one page of the story, so they have an opportunity to improve their spoken performance.

AFTER-READING ACTIVITIES

—  Group work. In small groups, children will have to retell the story to their partners, using their own words. With this activity we want to check general understanding of the story, at the same time it provides an opportunity to talk and exchange opinions.

—  Independent work. Children will have to create their own word banks, that they will stick on their literacy notebooks. They will have to classify the vocabulary in the story related to fruits, sweets or meat. Each word will be joined with a small picture, that they will have to colour. 

—  Colour the caterpillar. The teacher will hand out a worksheet to each children with a picture of a caterpillar, whose body is divided in five parts (from Monday to Friday). They will have to write what the caterpillar eats each day, writing a full sentence (e.g. On Monday he ate through one apple, but he was still very hungry) 

—  Fill the gaps and order the events. This activity could be done in small groups, as it is more difficult. The teacher will hand out different pictures with shows the life cycle of the caterpillar, and children will have to put it in the right order. Each picture will have a small sentence describing what it shows, which children have to fill in.

Example:

“In the light of the ________ a little ______lay on a _______”