Who’s reading what? Be a book worm and find out. Creep your way into fascinating fiction (or nonfiction) with this giant caterpillar.

• 1.

  Ready to tell your classmates about a great book you read? Your 3-D book report is about to become part of a creepy, crawly caterpillar!

• 2.

  Sculpt a scene. What was the most fascinating character, place, or event in the book? Around a clean recycled plastic container, shape the scene with Crayola Model Magic®. For unique colors, knead color from a Crayola Washable Gel Marker into white Model Magic or mix modeling compound colors with white. Use Crayola School Glue to hold it on the cups. Air-dry your sculpture.

• 3.

  Label your sculpture. Draw a small flag on construction paper with Crayola Erasable Colored Pencils. Write the title and author of the book, plus your name, on the flag. Cut out the flag with Crayola Scissors. Glue it to your sculpture.

• 4.

  Write your wiggly worm report. On construction paper, draw a large wiggly worm and cut it out. Write your book report on the worm. Include your name, title, author, and comments to entice your friends to read the book.

• 5.

  Build a creepy caterpillar. With your classmates, create a caterpillar with your decorated recycled plastic containers. Attach Velcro® dots about 4 inches (5 cm) apart in a meandering line on a hard, flat surface. Stick a Velcro dot on the lip of each plastic container. Attach your sculpture to the caterpillar. Place your wiggly worm book report nearby.

• 6.

  Pick a book to read. Which books look interesting? As you read new books, decorate more cups and add them to your growing, creepy, crawly caterpillar.

Standards

• LA: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• LA: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
• LA: Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text.
• LA: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
• VA: Use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories.
• VA: Use visual structures of art to communicate ideas.

Adaptations

• Organize a Creepy Crawly family evening. Students present their books to visitors and explain their choice of scene, as well as its connection to the story.
• Students select a living creature other than a caterpillar to create a book report. An example of an insect that could work with this format is a lady bug.
• Students audio-tape their book summaries and use a class laptop or net book to play their tape when someone is visiting the book report. Book report visitors can be provided a comment card, developed by the class, on which they may leave their comments about the recording and/or the artwork.