Unit Title:            Caring and Sharing with Eric Carle

Lesson Title:          Are You Hungry to Help?   (Kindness)

Grade Level:        Pre-Kindergarten/Preschool/Kindergarten

Duration:                 Two Weeks including:

                                    Four Twenty Minute Whole Group Sessions

Two Twenty Minute Small Group Sessions for each Center group

Open-Ended Time for hanging posters, making announcements, collecting food, field trip to deliver donations and assessment

Purpose:

The students will participate in a Read Aloud, discussion of what it means to be hungry, brainstorming ways that they can assist those who are in need of food, constructing materials to launch a successful food drive, and collecting and distributing food donations to a local food pantry and reflect on this project while focusing on the concepts of kindness, helpfulness, friendship, caring and sharing presented in The Very Hungry Caterpillar.   

Objectives:

The learners will:

• Listen with interest to The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
• Utilize prior knowledge and experiences to construct meaning.
• Discuss what it means to be hungry.
• Analyze and discuss the feelings of those who might be in need of food.
• Predict and reflect on how they might feel in the place of those who are hungry.
• Identify ways in which they could assist those in need of food.
• Brainstorm a class list of ways that they can assist those in need of food.
• Identify groups, organizations or charities that are in need of food donations.
• Participate in a decision-making process that will result in the selection of a group, organization or charity to receive the food donations.
• Create and construct materials such as flyers, posters and announcements to be used to conduct a successful food drive.
• Participate in a successful food drive.
• Participate in a field trip to deliver the donated food items to the chosen recipient.
• Reflect on their acts of kindness and caring during this project.
• Create writings and illustrations to convey and share their feelings regarding this concrete act of philanthropy.

Service Experience:

The students will collect food items from their own families and the larger school community.  The class will then donate these food items to a local food bank or similar food collection and distribution site.

Materials:

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Philomel Books 1969, ISBN #0-399-20853-4
• Tray of cut fruit including apples, pears, plums, strawberries and oranges
• Chart paper for brainstorming
• 9” x 12” white construction paper for food drive flyers and announcements
• Posterboard for food drive posters
• Markers
• Boxes for food collection
• Field trip permission slips
• Appropriate transportation arrangements
• Lined paper, pencils and crayons or markers for reflecting

Instructional Procedure:

Anticipatory Set:  Say, “Boys and girls, I’d like to offer you a piece of fruit before we read our story today.”  Move around the group inviting children to select a piece of fruit.  As the children enjoy their snack, say, “ Today, we are going to be reading a story about a caterpillar who is very hungry and wants to look for some food.   Do you think that he would like to eat any of the fruits we are enjoying now?   What do you think will happen if he doesn’t find something good to eat?”  Following this discussion, move into the Day One activities.

• Day One
  Read aloud The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the whole group.  While reading, invite discussion and predictions focusing on kindness, friendship, caring/sharing, helpfulness and feelings.  Utilize dialogue such as, “How do you think the caterpillar felt?  What do you think might have been a better choice for the caterpillar to eat?  How would you feel if you were the caterpillar?  Have you ever felt hungry?  How do you think the caterpillar felt at the end of the story?”  
• Day Two
  With the whole group, conduct a brainstorming session focusing on what it means to be hungry.  Say, “Yesterday, we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and decided that we do not like it when we feel hungry.  We are all very lucky to have a lot of good food to eat.  But, there are some people in our community who are sometimes hungry because they do not have enough food to eat.”  Ask, “What are some ways that we could help those who are hungry?”  On the top of the chart paper, write “We Can Help Those Who Are Hungry.”  As the children add ideas, they are listed on the paper.  The child’s name can be noted next to his or her suggestion if desired.  When the brainstorming list is completed, it can be posted in the group area. 
• Day Three
  As a whole group, review the brainstorming list of ways in which the children can assist those in need of food.  Say, “There are many groups in our community that collect food and share it with those in need.  One of the ways that we said we could help others would be to collect food for those who need it.  Perhaps, we could collect food by having a food drive in our school and giving the food to one of those community groups.  I know of several local groups that woulod be glad to take our food donations and share them with those who need it.”  Share information about these groups with the children discussing the merits of each.  Lead the children through the process of deciding on the group that will receive the food donations. 
• Day Four
  During small group or Center Time, review discussion from the previous days saying, “We’ve been talking about collecting food for people who are in need of food. Yesterday, we decided to collect food for (name of selected group).  Today, we are going to make posters and flyers to let everyone in our school know about our food drive.  Each of you will make a poster to display around the school hallways.”  Invite each child to create a flyer or poster.  Provide posterboard, construction paper and markers for the children to utilize to construct their flyers and posters using illustrations and temporary spelling and dictation to record their message.  When all of the flyers and posters are completed, the children can move around the school to hang them in strategic locations and place collection boxes below them.
• Days Four - Nine
  Make sure that the food drive is featured during daily announcements and in school communications such as newsletters and online websites.  If possible, involve children in daily activities such as a simple daily announcement to the student body.  Children can construct a simple statement such as, “Remember that our preschool classes are collecting food for (name of selected group).  Please help us help others by putting your donations in the hallway boxes.  Thanks you!”
• Day Nine
  As a class, collect donations from throughout the school and, during a class field trip, transport them to the chosen recipient.  While at the food donation site, encourage children to tour the facility and ask questions about how their food donations will be distributed.
• Day Ten
  With the entire class, discuss the outcome of the project saying, “Yesterday, we took our food donations to (name of selected group).   They will make sure that this food goes to people who need it.” Ask, “How did you feel about helping those who are in need of food?  How do you think the people who receive the food will feel?  What did you like about this activity?  Is there something that you think we could have done differently?  What?”  Then, in small groups, invite children to record their individual reflections utilizing illustrations and temporary spelling or dictation.  These reflections can be displayed in the classroom or even bound into a class book.  

Assessment:

Assessment of lesson objectives will be accomplished through teacher observations of student participation, interaction and communication between students, behavior, extension of the learning into other areas of the classroom curriculum and children’s own written and drawn reflections on their feelings about completing this project. 

School/Home Connection:

“Copy-and-Paste” Class/School Newsletter Information Insert:
Next week, the children will be reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.  This story focuses on a caterpillar who makes some inappropriate choices in what to eat because he is so hungry. Following our group reading, we will discuss what it means to be hungry and brainstorm ways that we can assist those who are in need of food.  We will ultimately be constructing materials to launch a food drive and collecting and distributing food donations to a local food pantry.  Your family can assist us in making this project a success by talking with your child about foods that you might be able to donate and others that you could ask for donations.  Following our project, we will be asking the children to reflect on how they felt about helping others in this way.  Please look for our writings and accompanying illustrations outside of our classroom door. 

Extension:

The following Eric Carle books can be utilized to extend the concepts, objectives, and foundations of this lesson:

• Helpfulness – The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, ISBN #0-399-23201-X
• Kindness -  The Grouchy Ladybug, ISBN#0-064-43450-8
• Friendship – The Very Lonely Firefly, ISBN #0-399-22774-1
• Friendship – The Lamb and the Butterfly, ISBN #0-531-08379-9
• Friendship – Do You Want to be My Friend?, ISBN #0-399-21598-0
• Friendship – The Very Quiet Cricket, ISBN #0-399-21885-8
• Caring/Sharing – A House for Hermit Crab, ISBN #0-689-84894-3

Bibliographical References:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Philomel Books 1969, ISBN #0-399-20853-4