The following are ideas for using
The Grouchy Ladybug in the classroom.

• Submitted by Marlene S. Romero

  I have used The Grouchy Ladybug in connection with the Californa State Standards for telling time. I am a first grade teacher and have found the book to be a great source for teaching time. I have the students each make a small clock at the beginning of the year. They are time keepers for the rest of the year, taking note of our assembly or special occasion times. The book lends itself to telling time by the half hour which is perfect for our needs.

• Submitted by Memory Anderson

  Another teacher and I made this lesson together to teach elapsed time to our groups of second graders. Before the lesson, I wrote the times from The Grouchy Ladybug on a set of 8 1/2 x 11 inch cards. I gave each child a card and asked them to write down the activity that happened at the time on their card. As we read the story a second time, I let each child read his or her card aloud, lining up the cards across the front of the room after reading. Soon we had the whole story on display. We then discussed how many hours passed between the ladybug’s activities. When we were finished with the cards, each child illustrated his or her page and we had a class book to treasure!

• Submitted by Betty Clark

  For a phonemic awareness activity with kindergarten and first grades, make a large red ladybug with a black line down the middle. Give each student a black dot. Say a word that begins or ends with the letter “g.” If they hear the /g/ in the beginning of the word, they put their dot on one half of the ladybug. If they hear the /g/ at the end of the word, they put the dot on the other half of the ladybug. When each child has had a turn, they can remove the dots when they hear the /g/ at the beginning or the end of a word. The ladybug and the dots can later be used when listening for more beginning and ending sounds.

• Submitted by Eileen

  I used the book with my second grade class. After reading it, I gave each student a piece of paper and asked them to draw a picture of the grouchy ladybug meeting an animal of their choice. They then had to draw a clock and show the time the two animals met. I asked the students to think carefully about where to place the sun in the drawings, depending on the time of day they chose.

• Submitted by Angie Spells

  After reading the book, children can make their own insects. You will need empty soda cans, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, felt pieces, googly eyes, and a hot glue gun. Have a parent spray the cans green with spray paint. Crush the cans in the center to make different sections. Use the opening as mouth and the tab for the nose. Put all the materials into large zip lock bags for easy distribution. Students can twist pipe cleaners around pencils to make curly antennae, use pom-poms for feelers, and felt for legs or other body decorations. You will have to attach the pieces with hot glue. The insect is fun to make and is extremely adorable!

• Submitted by Christy Baker

  In my kindergarten classroom, we love to do many ladybug activities after reading The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle. One of our favorite art projects is to make a ladybug costume. I make a vest out of red butcher paper for each student and then give them black paper to add spots and legs. We also make headband antennae to go with our costumes. When our costumes are completed, we take our ladybug parade around the school. The students love to show off their beautiful ladybugs.

• Submitted by Jen Hart

  I read The Grouchy Ladybug to a third grade ESL class. They loved it! We then rewrote the story using new animals, describing the animals with our vocabulary adjectives. The students performed a play, costumes and all, based on their story. They enjoyed it, and it was great for their oral language and vocabulary development.

• Submitted by Deb Bosle

  Another cute idea for a ladybug puppet is to use a black film canister, glueing two half circles of foam for the wings, black felt or paper for the spots, google eyes, and pipe cleaners for the legs and antennae. Children can put a finger in the canister to make their ladybugs fly!!

• Submitted by Patty

  I made a large clock with movable hands. As we read The Grouchy Ladubug, each child had a chance to move the hands on the clock one time as the Grouchy Ladybug landed. It kept the children involved in the story.

• Submitted by Dale

  After reading The Grouchy Ladybug, brainstorm a list of things that make us grouchy with your class. Then have your students write about what makes them grouchy. The students can then create a collage illustration using tissue paper or construction paper on the same page as their writing. Bind the pages into a class book and enjoy!

• Submitted by Kimberly Severino

  One of the ways in which I use The Grouchy Ladybug is with a language experience chart. I have my students write what they would be doing at the times given in the story. We then compare and contrast each other’s schedules with the schedule of the ladybug.

• Submitted by Kate Hagelin

  My first and second graders made Grouchy Ladybug puppets using regular paper plates. Staple two plates together (bottoms out), leaving room for a hand to fit in one side. Then color or paint and decorate with black paper spots and legs, pipe cleaner antenna and googly eyes. These are fun for sharing and not all of them have to be grouchy!

  Another idea is to make ladybugs using the red SOLO plastic plates. If you use black felt for the spots, the puppets look very striking. Again, use pipe cleaners and googly eyes. These are great in a math center. You can make the puppets with different numbers of spots on each wing and write addition problems or fact families. Kids LOVE them because they are both smooth and furry.

• Submitted by Suzanne

  I used The Grouchy Ladybug in nursery school to kick off our ladybug unit. I also used it to talk about feelings, and kind words. Our school had an auction to raise money, and each classroom was asked to make a part of a quilt. This is a tough request for many reasons. I insisted on keeping with our ladybug theme, and had each child cut out a red cloth circle. Then I gave them black puff paint to make the dots. I cut out little black circles, and had the kids glue them as heads. Our director commented that the bugs didn’t have eyes. I said, “Shhh they’re sleeping.” It was a real kid made project.

• Submitted by Marilyn Theresa

  With first or second graders, I use The Grouchy Ladybug to teach quotation marks. We read the story and discuss the purpose of quotation marks in texts. Then using large note cards the students work in pairs. They are assigned one page and are to write only the dialogue found between the two quotation marks. When all pages have been completed, they put themselves in order by page number, and we have a reader’s theater reading of the story. The class loves the activity and want to reread the text over and over as a play. They really get the concept of quotation marks after this lesson.

• Submitted by Shannon Banderman

  This is a song I made up and taught my early childhood special education students. It is sung to the tune of “If You’re Happy and You Know It.”

  Oh, I wish I were a little ladybug.
  Oh, I wish I were a little ladybug.
  I’d be red and black.
  I’d eat aphids for my snack.
  Oh, I wish I were a little ladybug.

• Submitted by Amber Shelkett

  After reading The Grouchy Ladybug to my students, I pass out a sheet with ladybug facts on it. I teach the importance of ladybugs to our environment. I ask the students why ladybugs eat aphids and have them describe what damage aphids can do without the help of ladybugs. To end the lesson, I pass around a container with live ladybugs inside. For the rest of the week I have the students observe the ladybugs that are in the container. They write down what they see. At the end of the week we share our results with the class.

• Submitted by Christine McCallum

  I read The Grouchy Ladybug to my kindergarten class in the spring. I find it is wonderful to discuss all of the insects and animals that the grouchy ladybug encounters. Discussing the book is also a wonderful way to help children understand sequencing (e.g.Who did the grouchy ladybug meet first, second, etc.). Size order can be discussed as the ladybug’s encounters grow in size! I also find that it is an adorable roll playing book! The children just love to play the ladybug, and especially the whale! Have fun!

• Submitted by Dottie Zygadlo

  I used The Grouchy Ladybug to discuss behavior and feelings. We talk about the importance of being able to express our feelings yet at the same time being careful not to take out what we’re feeling on another person. We also make collages that describe how my students feel that day.

• Submitted by Lynn Buranasiri

  After reading The Grouchy Ladybug to my ESL grade one, we did an art activity using finger prints. First, I asked them to draw some leaves and then gave them red ink pads. Let them use their fingers to make a finger print then add the black dots, head, legs and antena. They really enjoyed it, but watch that they don’t get carried away printing!

• Submitted by Elizabeth Hurley

  I used The Grouchy Ladybug in my student teaching with a second grade class. First we read the story, then had a discussion about angry feelings. We came up with ideas of things to do instead of being angry and fighting. Each student was then given a sheet of paper with a grouchy little ladybug asking, “Hey you, want to fight?” They were asked to draw any animal of their choice (or a person if they wanted) and they had to come up with a response to the ladybug that was not angry and not about fighting. This gave them an opportunity to think about alternatives to fighting. The responses were great and very creative, they did very well with the activity.

• Submitted by Marlene

  I read The Grouchy Ladybug to my preschool daughter when she is having a bad day.

• Submitted by Cindy

  I spend the last two months of school using Eric Carle’s books as my classroom theme. After reading The Grouchy Ladybug, my kindergartners learned about how important ladybugs are to the orange crops. We made larger-than-life size ladybugs. The body and cover wings were from construction paper and the flight wings were made from tissue or waxed paper. We made an orange orchard in the hall and added our ladybugs. In cooperative groups, we played ladybug bingo using dots and dominoes. We also made giant ladybugs that we stuffed with paper. These were sent home with a lucky student at the end of the year.

• Submitted by Natasha Vimahi

  I read The Grouchy Ladybug to my kindergartners and they simply loved it. Afterwards, we discussed the physical characteristics of a ladybug.

  As an art activity, I provided copies of a ladybug with a plain shell. The assignment was to color the shell red-one of the physical characteristics they noticed- and to cut it out. Next, they punched holes in the shell with a hole puncher. They then pasted the ladybug on a piece of black construction paper. This created the black spots on the ladybug. A few students had a hard time cutting out the legs and so I allowed them to cut out the body and head. They drew in the legs with white chalk. It was a fun activity and the students loved it.

• Submitted by Karen

  After reading The Grouchy Ladybug, we made clocks out of construction paper. We used paper fasteners so the hands could move. The students decorated the clocks with ladybugs, and other things from the book. They also put the numbers on the clock themselves. We then read the story a second time, when I read out the time, the students had to show me on their clock. They quickly learned the basics for telling time.

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