Pre-Reading Activity

1. On a bulletin board, hang up a good-sized photo or rendering of a cat. Introduce cat to students. "Class, this is Scrumptious, for example. He is here to help us think about cats. What we want to find out is what does Scrumptious like to eat?
    
   
2. Pass out two different-colored index cards to each student. Explain that on the yellow index card (for example) each student should write or draw something they think Scrumptious would like to eat. On the pink index card (for example) they should write or draw something they think Scrumptious would not like to eat.
    
   
3. Students share their drawing and/or writing. Hang all the would-like-to-eats on one side of Scrumptious. Hang all the would-not-like-to-eats on the other side of Scrumptious.
    
   
4. Tell students that you are going to read a story about a cat who makes meals for her owner. "Do you think the cat makes the kind of food a person would want to eat?" "I wonder if we will see any of the food from our bulletin board."

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Read Together

1. Show the class the cover of book. "The title of this book is Never Let Your Cat Make Lunch for You. How do you think the girl in this book feels about her cat making lunch for her?"
    
   
2. Read the book aloud. Ask the class to point out things that Pebbles makes that they would like. What things does she make that they wouldn't like? Is there any food Pebbles likes that the girl likes too?

Create A Venn Diagram

1. On a piece of chart paper, draw a large Venn Diagram. At the top of one circle write "What Cats Eat." At the top of the other circle write "What People Eat."
    
   
2. If necessary, explain what a Venn Diagram is to your students. "A Venn Diagram is a way of organizing information so that we can understand data quickly." Show students the different areas of the diagram, including the intersection, the mutually exclusive circles, and the area outside the circles.
    
   
3. Explain that this Venn Diagram is going to show what people eat and what cats eat.
    
   
4. As students name different foods, ask them if it is something that people eat, that cats eat, that both people and cats eat, or that neither people nor cats eat. Then ask them to describe ("Tell me with your words") where on the diagram you should write the word. (If a contribution belongs in the intersection and a student says "the middle" acknowledge their correct answer and remind them of the right word: "You're right! It does go in the middle. And the mathematical name for that is the "intersection.")
    
   
5. Fill in as much information as the students contribute. Remind them of the examples from the book.

Design a Menu

1. Split the class into groups of 4 or 5. Each group must come up with an animal name. (No two groups should have the same name.)
    
   
2. Explain that each group is going to open a restaurant designed for the animal the group is named after. For example, if the group is named the Gorillas, their restaurant will be for gorillas.
    
   
3. Each group must come up with a breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu for their animal. The menu can certainly be silly, but it should also reflect some knowledge of what that particular animal would eat. (Have nonfiction books about a variety of animals available for student perusal.)
    
   
4. Pass out the menu reproducible to each group:
    
   
5. Pass out one piece of 14x11 poster board to each group. Each group should decorate the back of the poster board. Explain that this is the menu. Students can cut out pictures from magazines to form a collage, or they can decorate with crayons, pencils, and magic markers.
    
   
6. Affix the above completed reproducible to the un-decorated side of the menu.

Follow-up Activity: Presentations/What's My Animal?

1. Invite another class in for a second reading of Never Let Your Cat Make Lunch For You.
    
   
2. After reading book, explain to guests that your class has designed menus for different animals. Each group will present their menu without telling the name of the animal it is intended for. (It may be necessary to put a clipboard in front of the menus as students present so that visiting class doesn't guess the animal based on the decorated menu.) When they have finished reading their menu, visiting class can try to guess what animal the food is intended for.
    
   
3. After the presentations, serve "bug" juice (any red juice) and animal crackers.