The Very Impatient Caterpillar

As a veteran teacher, I used the same books about insects over and over again for years and thought everything was going well. Then I saw the book The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach. I literally laughed and smiled while reading this through myself. When I read this title to my class; joy and laughter filled the room. You must check out this book asap.

Lacking Patience in Kindergarten

I can’t stop laughing about the connection in this book, The Very Impatient Caterpillar, about patience. Kinders typically lack patience and when you read this book, you will notice that the caterpillar also lacks patience. I can not believe that I missed the idea of waiting for two weeks for so many years. Kindergarten students identify with the main character instantly. Waiting is hard. Waiting to turn into a butterfly is super hard.

Sequencing the Story

After we read the book, The Very Impatient Caterpillar, we sequence the story using large sequencing cards. We love to do this on a pocket chart together. Then we can use the printable sequencing activity independently.

Making Connections to Writing

One of my favorite ways to encourage my learners to want to write (and to try their best to write) is to write about something that brings them JOY… like a hilarious story all about this impatient caterpillar. Because this book includes some bigger words like caterpillar and migration, a word wall is a must.

Reading Comprehension Game

This reading comprehension game remains on the class favorites. Students literally run to this small group. To play, students in a group put a unifix cube on the start space. Then, they take turns answering reading comprehension questions about the story. If they answer correctly, they can roll a die and move that many spaces. If they do not answer correctly, they do not get to roll the die. Little do my learners know, but I am using a class list with check marks and Xs to keep data.

Word Work Options

We are carrying this caterpillar theme over to word work as well. Although most of my little learners have mastered CVC words, we are still reviewing CVC words for word work so we don’t forget. I have found that once we move on to long vowels, students tend to forget the short vowel sound unless we constantly review it.

It is a teacher win when the book you are learning about can connect to word work skills. The Very Impatient Caterpillar book can. Let me show you. You can see the CVC pupa matching game above. It has a matching printable activity that is shown below. In fact, you get CVC pupa matching activities for all the short vowels and printable to match.

Blends Word Work

One skill we are constantly working on is blends. We understand blends, but we simply do not have fluency in reading just yet. This process seems to take learners time to master; therefore I work to create fun ways for them to practice these activities with our theme and book. To play this blend game, we see the picture on the left side and build it with the letter pieces. Can you see how they create a caterpillar in the background?!

You can grab this pack of activities and printables by clicking HERE or below for integrated fun using the book The Very Impatient Caterpillar.