World Photo by Jolene Guzman Educare class students line up to go back into class after a play break following a tea party and video presentation of the students’ “The Hungry Caterpillar” project on Friday at the Family Center at Southwestern Oregon Community College.

COOS BAY — Caterpillars and literacy? They are not a commonly matched pair. But for the Educare class at Southwestern Oregon Community College, the two go hand in hand.

The class of children, ranging from 2 to 5 years old, spent four weeks learning the book “The Hungry Caterpillar,” by Eric Carle. The lesson ended in dramatic fashion. The class of 40 performed a play about the ravenous caterpillar that eats its way through a book of treats.

On Friday, the class held a dress-up tea party with family, complete with scones and hats, to watch a video of the whole process.

“We do the story in four different ways,” said early literacy specialist LeAnna Olson.

First the class goes through a story with an emphasis on expanding vocabulary. A second reading focuses on comprehension. After that, the kids have the opportunity to sound out words and read phonetically. Finally, the group of youngsters dramatizes the story.

Sometimes the dramatic flare is just wearing hats for a final read through, or having students read the lines of certain characters, Olson said. But with “The Hungry Caterpillar,” the class put a little something extra into it. The kids made the props. They memorized lines to perform “The Hungry Caterpillar” for friends and family.

Six-year-old Julia Salathe had the responsibility of making the caterpillar’s pizza for the play. She said her favorite part of fashioning the prop was “coloring it with paint.”

Julia said she had fun reading the book and doing the play, but there is one story she likes better, “The Cat in a Hat,” she said.

Madeline Deleno, who just turned 5, narrated the play.

A blur of pink and turquoise on the playground after the tea party, Madeline was a bit busy to put too much consideration into her role in the play. While bouncing from one playground toy to another, she said she enjoyed her job of reading the story while her classmates acted it out.

Her favorite part?

“It was the chocolate cake,” she said.

Just like the caterpillar.

Being narrator was a fitting role for the avid reader.

“We always read to her as a little kid,” Adrian Deleno, Madeline’s father, said. “Next thing you know, she’s wanting to read by herself.”