ADAPTATIONS - AMAZING INSECTS

Focus: Insects share a basic structural design, while special adaptations, both physical and behavioral, allow each species to meet the demands of its specific habitat.

Puppets (Greg Grasshopper, Maria Monarch Butterfly, Aunt June - the Insect Fairy, Danny Dragonfly, Wendy Walking Stick, Wally Woolly Bear Caterpillar, Branch, Insect Field Guide)

Materials Checklist
Alike Yet Different (pictures of insects or dead insects in view boxes, anatomy chart)
Puppet Show (puppets, branch, insect field guide, script)
Insect Search (hand lenses, small jars or bug boxes, pieces of 2' x 3' white cloth, emergency sting kit, if necessary)
Inspect an Insect (hand lenses, small jars or bug boxes, pencils, clipboards, blank paper, questionnaires)
Make an Insect (egg cartons, pencils, pipe cleaners, glue, tape, assortment of leaves, grasses, flowers, seed heads, insect part cut-outs for felt board)
Insect Cousins (5/6 ELF) (24 insect photos or plastic insects, insect order chart, large photos from each insect order, bug jars, insect nets, large white cloth)

Supplementary Reference Materials (Parts of an Insect Diagrams, Inspect an Insect Questionnaire, Release Ceremony, Insect Anatomy felt board templates, ELF 5/6 Activity: Insect Cousins)

Additional Reading/Resources
Insects, by Ross E. Hutchins, Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1966.
Stokes Guide to Observing Insect Lives, by Donald W. Stokes, Little Brown and Co., 1984.
Insects: A Guide to Familiar American Insects, by Herbert Zim and Clarence Cottam, Golden Books, New York, 1987.
Insects.org

For Younger Children
Many of the activities in VINS's new Small Wonders book can be used in ELF, too. To find appropriate activities for children aged 3-6, click here.

Teaching suggestions
Alike Yet Different
Many children notice mainly color difference - be sure to focus on anatomical differences.

You might want to create a felt board for learning the parts of an insect - see template for a felt dragonfly in coordinator's materials.

Dress up a volunteer as an insect: cardboard cutout of two body parts (third is volunteer's own head), six old socks for legs, head band with pipe cleaners for antennae, egg carton for compound eyes, sticky dots for simple eyes, coat hangers covered in Saran Wrap for wings.

One school erased the labels from the ELF “Parts of an Insect” hand-out and then had older students fill in the labels as a review.

Younger children might color the different body parts different colors as directed by adult leader.

Puppet Show
It's fun to bring in a box of crickets for sound-effects during the puppet show.

Insect Search
Be sure to tell volunteers that if it looks like rain the next day, collect crickets and grasshoppers ahead. Throw a sheet out on the classroom floor. Have kids gather around with their bug jars. Then toss the insects onto the sheet and have the kids catch them. (almost like being outside)
View boxes work best with large insects like crickets or grasshoppers. Tiny ones are hard to get in focus.
Lay large white fabric square on ground outside and have group walk toward it, herding insects onto sheet - makes them easier to see.

Inspect an Insect
If drawing is to be an activity, EACH child needs paper, pencil, clipboard and insect!

Make an Insect
Explain how to create insect out of egg carton, but don't show example as then kids try to imitate model.
Pipe cleaners go further if cut in half.
Kids can make insects out of gum drops, licorice strips, etc.

Release Ceremony
The poem can be sung to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Extensions
"Bug Boogey" by H. Lange: With kids in groups of 3 joined together as 3-part bugs, ask "with six legs, how does an insect crawl?" Let groups practice coordinating left-foot leads for body members #1 & 3 while #2 steps forward with right foot. After a minute of practice, have bugs race to a tree and back.

For Older Students: One volunteer worked out the derivation of the insect order names, e.g., lepidoptera = “lepidote” (scaly) comes from the Greek “lepein” (to peel)(also the root of leprosy) and “Ptera” = (wing). You might have small groups do this kind of research on different orders and share their findings with the group.

Learning Goals
Focus: Insects share a basic structural design, while special adaptations, both behavioral and physical, allow each species to meet the demands of its specific habitat.

Concepts/Ideas:

• All insects have the same basic body structure.
• Physical and behavioral adaptations allow each kind of insect to meet the demands of its specific habitat.
• Insects are very adaptable and can be found and observed in a variety of habitats
• Insects collected for study should be carefully examined, then returned to their natural habitat.

Vocabulary:
Adaptation, Physical Adaptations, Behavioral Adaptations, Head, Thorax, Abdomen, Exoskeleton, Chitin, Antennae, Compound Eye, Simple Eye (Ocelli), Spiracle, Mandible, Ovipositor

Skills:

• Comparing and contrasting the body structure of different kinds of insects.
• Active listening and discussion to learn about behavioral and physical adaptations of various insects.
• Using a hand lens to observe live insects' body structure and physical adaptations.
• Using tools to collect and observe insects outdoors.

Grade Expectations:
Grades PK-K (S30, S38) Insects are living animals. They need food, water and air to survive.

Grades 1-2 (S30, S38) Insects are a group of animals that all have the same basic body structure. Insects have body parts that enable them to get the food, water and air they need to live and that make it possible for them to survive in the particular places they live.

Grades 3-4 (S30, S38, S39) Insects have physical and behavioral characteristics that help them to get what they need to survive in their environment. There are many different kinds of Insects; they are grouped according to similarities in body structure.

Grades 5-6 (S38) Insects are classified into basic groups; insects in each group share some distinguishing characteristics.

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