Summary: The Very Hungry Caterpillar is a book about a caterpillar who eats more and more pieces of food each day to eventually turn into a caterpillar.  This is a good book to relate to math curriculum, because the students are able to incorporate math concepts such as addition, estimation, measurements, and fractions through a series of questions and tasks given by the teacher.  Below is a suggested lesson plan to integrate The Very Hungry Caterpillar into a math curriculum.

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Grade Level: 1st Grade

Materials:
* scissors
* construction paper

Objectives:
* The students will be able to estimate the number of objects on a page by looking at the book while the teacher reads it aloud.

*  The students will be able to solve simple addition problems by adding the numbers of fruits that the caterpillar eats in the book.

*  The students will be able to apply the concept of fractions by cutting pages to match the format of the pages of the book.

Procedures:
Addition / Estimation
1.)  Read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the students as a class.  As the teacher reads the book, pause after each day that the caterpillar eats and ask the students how many pieces of fruit the caterpillar has had so far for the week.
For example:  By Tuesday, the caterpillar has had 1 apple on Monday and 2 pears on Tuesday.  Ask the students "How many pieces of fruit has the caterpillar had so far if he ate 1 apple on Monday and 2 pears on Tuesday?".  Continue this line of questioning through Friday.

2.)  Before reading the page about Saturday, ask the students to estimate the number of items in the picture that the caterpillar eats.

3.)  Lastly, ask the students how many pieces of fruit the caterpillar ate.  Do not forget that he ate one piece of watermelon on Saturday.

Fractions / Measurement:
1.)  After reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar ask the students how they could make a book with the same pattern and cut out pages.  Discuss the ways in which they could do this.

2.)  Provide students with scissors and construction paper to make the pattern of pages by working together in small groups.

Extensions:
*  The students could create a book in small groups using the pattern of pages they created by choosing an animal and the number of food that it eats.  The teacher could provide the prompt "On Monday (their animal) ate (their number) of (their food)" and so on.

*  Write about what happened to the caterpillar once it turns into a butterfly.

NCTM Standards:
*  Compute fluently and make reasonable estimates.
The students are computing fluently while they are adding the numbers of fruits that the caterpillar eats.  When the students estimate the number of foods that the caterpillar eats on Saturday, they are making reasonable estimates.

*  Apply appropriate techniques, tools, and formulas to determine measurements.
The students are exploring measurement when they make the cut-out pages on their own.  By using methods that they come up with, such as folding and comparing the pages, they are using measurement.

*  Understand measurable attributes of objects and the units, systems, and processes of measurement.
The students are able to compare the cut-out pages to one another and explore the reasons why they are different sizes.

*  Use visualization, spatial reasoning, and geometric modeling to solve problems.
The students use spatial reasoning while making the cut-out pages for their books.

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