retell literacy center activity - The Very Quiet Cricket

Reading literacy can be built directly into literacy center time without cutting and laminating new materials every two weeks. Here's one way how. We have active literacy centers in our classroom like the retell center. This is how I created a ' The Very Quiet Cricket' retell activity to go in our retell center as an option for my kindergarten students. It was a combination collecting items from my classroom and inexpensive purchases! My kinders get to choose the book(s) they want to retell while they are at this literacy center. They read, the act, they use lots or great vocabulary and are developing fantastic reading habits all while continuing to build their love of reading.

 The Very Quiet Cricket Retell (Literacy Center Activity)

It's one of my favorite literacy centers and we usually introduce The Very Quiet Cricket during an insect themed week or when working on enjoying Eric Carle books. This book goes over the best with my students when they are learning to recognize patterns in a story since this one is very prominent. Plus, we learn lots of insect names which is a vocabulary plus. They are mesmerized by the sound at the end of the book and most haven't read this book before so they love it!

Here are the props I gathered rather inexpensively (and you can too) to bring the book alive once we knew it by heart. Each item came from the dollar store, like when you can purchase a set of plastic insects by the bundle! The large wings were in the dress-up section of the same store and are for the silent Luna Moth. The large grasshopper is a beautiful hand puppet that was donated to my classroom. I love that they are building their reading literacy skills without me teaching a brand new set of literacy center games and materials. We retell this story as part of our normal weekly routine and then it's released to them. Simple as that!


Go back to read the Retell Literacy Center Directions {in case you missed it}

You can make this kindergarten activity yourself! Here are the materials you'll need...

Materials:

• The Very Quiet Cricket Sequencing Cards {Free download}
• Various Insects (Stuffed Animal or Plastic) Cicada, Moth, Grasshopper,Cricket, Praying Mantis
• The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

More Retell Literacy Center Book Activities for Kindergarten

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Fresh Fall Leaves
Big Pumpkin
Cinderella
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly
The Little Red Hen
The Very Quiet Cricket
Red Riding Hood
Peanut Butter and Jelly
Hansel and Gretel
The Gingerbread Man
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Fat Cat
Cookie's Week
The Doorbell Rang
The Three Little Pigs
Swimmy
See All

More Eric Carle Ideas

Injecting Rhyming into Your Day

Seeing Eric Carle's Influence Show Up in Student Writing

When do you like to read The Very Quiet Cricket with your class? Any other "Very" books that are your favorite?

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- Leslie

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