I teach first grade and we are not only wrapping up the end of the school year, but the end of our caterpillar / insect unit. We order caterpillars and raise them to the butterfly stage and then have a huge Butterfly Release Day complete with songs, poems and fingerplays. We make a Caterpillar Data book in which we put dittos, information, and drawings in (a folder) so that the students have something to take home that is full of actual information. Our caterpillar habitats are 2-liter Pepsi (or any clear bottle)....we place a paper towel in the bottom, a stick, a straw with a small plastic ketchup cup (from a fast food restaurant) with a sponge in it......we mix sugar and water in a bottle and feed the butterflies by squirting the liquid through the straw into the cup on the sponge...
I teach a summer class on bugs and insects and one thing I've done is talk about symmetry on butterflies. They we either have to color a butterfly so it's symmetrical or paint one side and fold it in half. Another thing I've done is we go to a local park close to school and look for insects. The kids love it. I also like to use The Very Hungry Caterpillar as a starting off point. I have also brought in bugs that I have caught (and killed with fingernail polish remover) and had the kids find out what kind of bug it is in bug books. This year we made click beetles out of clothes pins (a picture of a beetle, colored, glued on to the clothes pin) and had contests to see who's beetle could "jump" the farthest. Hope this helps!
insects
Posted by: emme #81927
Have you thought of raising butterflies from caterpillars in your room? It's usually very successful and interesting. Praying mantis are also very interesting - except that they do eat each other!!
There is a lot your kids can do in groups, like research unusual insects and present the info to the group. I found an interesting lesson on the 4 different mouth parts of insects; by using an eyedropper, straw, sponge and scissors you can demonstrate the specialized mouth parts of the mosquito, butterfly, housefly and grasshopper.
Would you like a song? To the tune of "Head and Shoulders"; Head and Thorax, Abdomen Abdomen Head and Thorax, Abdomen Abdomen. Six legs, two antennae and a pair of floppy wings, Head and thorax, abdomen.
I'm planning on doing this at some time too. First like Brian said, I think you should change it from time to time. At the K-2 level they definitely will get tired of the same thing. Here are a few of my ideas.
1. Will it float? Supply different objects and a basin of water so they can experiment to see what will float and what won't. Have them report their findings with a simple check off sheet. A take off on this is to have them construct their own boat or do the aluminum boat thing and see how many pennies, marbles, etc. it takes to sink it.
2. Insects. Great if you are doing a thematic unit on them. Have students bring in insects of their choice so they can look at them with a magnifying lens or even a microscope (yikes!). Have them draw a magnified picture of their ...
Like all things in nature, bees and flowers are full of variation. Humans standardize things, but the rest of nature doesn't work like that (you know the old standby about no two snowflakes being alike). This excerpt clarifies this in terms of bees and flowers:
"When foraging among the flowers the bees are gathering two things: pollen and nectar. Nectar constitutes the carbohydrates of the bees' diet and pollen provides the protein. To attract insects, plants secrete nectar which is a watery substance containing sugars. Some plants secrete a more concentrated mixture than others and are more attractive to the bees. The bees suck up the liquid, store it in their honey stomachs and return to the hive with it. It is then passed on to the other bees who will convert it into honey. ...
