Use this strategy to get students to relate to the text. Before reading look at the cover, ask students “What do you already know about caterpillars?” Have them share their knowledge of the content with an elbow buddy.

On p.5 pause and reflect, “Does this part of the story remind you of something we have read before?” (Information text).

P. 12 & 16 “Does what we already know about caterpillars help us understand this section? What is happening here?”

After viewing the cover and reading the blurb ask students if they think the author’s purpose is to entertain, inform or persuade? Ask students to look for clues to support this inference as you begin reading.

After reading pages with factual information (p.5, 9, 13, 16, 19) ask students “After reading this page do you still agree with your inference about why the author wrote this story? Why/ Why not? What evidence/text supports this new conclusion?”

This text is great to compare to simple information texts about the life cycle of a butterfly.

If strategy has not already been introduced: Compare two students – “What similarities can they see? What differences are there?” Record in a Venn diagram.

Create a Venn diagram comparing the two texts. Ask students “How are these books the same? How are they different?” Compare text type, author’s purpose, language, illustrations (realistic) etc.

Model using intonation as you read. 

Have students use their hands to monitor the ups and downs of your voice. As your voice goes up at the end of a question their hand moves upwards before dropping back down again (p. 2, 3, 16) 

Create a hand signal for when our voice needs to be stronger/ louder e.g. “It’s MY furry caterpillar. It hatched out of MY egg” (p. 5) – Explain that our voice needs to be louder here, ask “How do I know my voice needs to change?” 

Review this with ‘“It’s not!” says Beak, “It is!” says Bamboo’ (p. 7) – “This time there are no capitals but our voice is still stronger/louder because of the exclamation marks. The context also tells us they are arguing.”

When reading the factual text (p. 5, 9, 13, 16, 19) have students look for context clues to work out the unknown word – “What does the narrative say is happening? What can we see happening in the pictures?” Then reread the factual text with those clues in mind. Think aloud for students, modelling how to make connections between the clues and the meaning of the word.