Introduction

Mrs. Endo, the school librarian, needs your help! She was watering flowers in the flower bed outside her window when she noticed insects crawling on flowers. She quickly took pictures of the insects with her digital camera. Now, she'd like to have an insect guide book and kid pix slideshow to share information about these "flower bed friends" with her students. She's asked you and your classmates to assist her with this project.

"What makes these insects such amazing creatures?" Mrs. Endo asks.

You and your classmates will soon find out!

• Your teacher will read you a web book about insects. You will listen to the book and look at the pictures. You will talk about the book with your class.
• You will look at internet sites to find information about the butterfly, the bee, the praying mantis, and the mosquito.
• You will make a page for the Insect Guide Book to share this information with your class (and Mrs. Endo!).
• You will make a Kid Pix drawing for the Kid Pix Slideshow that you will share with your class and librarian.

 

The Process

1. Your teacher will help you to click on the insect book to listen to the Insect Book. You will discuss the book with students in your class. Click on the bee picture link to get to the web book.
2. Your teacher will divide your class into four groups. Each group will be given the name of one of the insects that Mrs. Endo needs to have information for. There will be a butterfly group, a bee group, a praying mantis group and a mosquito group. 
3. After you are assigned a group name, click on the link with the name of your group to read the letter from Mrs. Endo telling you what to do next!

Butterfly	Bee	Praying Mantis	Mosquito

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Butterfly

Butterfly Sites Click on this link to find out the parts of the butterfly. Click on the picture of the first movie clip to see the monarch dining. What does it eat?  In the Feeding links there is link to butterflies. Click on this link to get to a photo of a red butterfly. Click on the photo of the red butterfly to watch it feed. Click on the virtual tour link to see where butterflies live. Click on the link to see a Karner Blue Butterfly. Can you tell what it is doing? You can find out how about the life cycle of a butterfly here. You can see the life cycle of a butterfly here. Click on the Quicktime movie.

When you have finished filling in the form about the amazing butterfly, use this information to create a page for the Insect Guide. Your teacher will help you put your page into a book with your classmates pages. Finally you will create a drawing in Kid Pix to make into a slide. You can click on the link to see a sample.

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Bee

Bee Sites Click on this link to look at the parts of the bee. See if you can find the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. Click on this link to see a little movie about bees. Then scroll down to the anatomy of the hive to take a look at the hive. You may want to have an adult to help you to look at all of the little movies about bees. Click on this link to find some awesome photos of a bee. You can add some of the facts to your interesting facts part of the insect guide book sheet. Click on this link to find a really neat picture of a bee and bee facts to add to your insect guide sheet.   Click on this link to see a bee pollinating a flower.

When you have finished filling in the form about the bee, use a Insect Guide Page paper that your teacher will give you to create a page about your insect. Your teacher will help you put this into a book called the Insect Guide.   Finally you will create a drawing in Kid Pix to make into a slide. You can click on the link to see a sample.

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Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis Sites Click on this link to see a diagram of a praying mantis. Ask your teacher or helper to read the information to you. On your Insect Guide Sheet write down what the praying mantis likes to eat and where it lives.  Click on this link to see what a praying mantis eats, where it lives and what it looks like. Watch a movie of the praying mantis. Look carefully at it's 3 body parts. Click on this link to find out what the praying mantis eats! Click on this link to see some pictures of a praying mantis and to find out what it likes to eat! Then click on the drawing of the praying mantis to find out some more facts about this amazing insect!

When you have finished filling in the form about the praying mantis, use a Insect Guide Page paper that your teacher will give you to create a page about your insect. Your teacher will help you put this into a book called the Insect Guide.   Finally you will create a drawing in Kid Pix to make into a slide. You can click on the link to see a sample.

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Mosquito

Mosquito Sites Click on this link to see what a mosquito eats, what it looks like, and where it lives. Click on this link to see the life cycle of a mosquito. Click on this link to see some awesome photos of mosquitos. Notice the head, thorax and abdomen on each mosquito. Click on this link to watch a mosquito eat! Write what you found on your insect guide sheet page. Click on this link to get a mosquito rap sheet. It will have information about what it eats and where it lives.   Click on this link to see some movies about mosquitos.

When you have finished filling in the form about the mosquito, use a Insect Guide Page paper that your teacher will give you to create a page about your insect. Your teacher will help you put this into a book called the Insect Guide.     Finally you will create a drawing in Kid Pix to make into a slide. You can click on the link to see a sample.

Your teacher will watch you work with your partner. You will meet with your teacher to talk about how you worked. You and your teacher will decide if you get 1 point, 2 points, or three points for each of the tasks. You will help your teacher add up the points.

	Good : 1 Point	Better : 2 Points	Best: 3 points	Total Points
Listens and Responds to Literature	I listened to the stories.	I listened to the stories and asked one or two questions.	I listened to the stories, asked questions, and added comments to the discussions.
Finding Information on the Internet	I didn't help my partner find information on the internet.	I helped my partner gather information on the internet a little bit.	I helped my partner find information on the internet a lot.
Making an Insect Guide Page	I watched my partner make the Insect Guide Page.	I helped my partner make the Insect Guide Page a little.	I helped my partner make the page and drew a lot of the pictures.
Make an Insect Guide Page for Kid Pix	I watched my partner make the Insect Guide Page in Kid Pix.	I helped my partner make the Insect Guide Page in Kid Pix a little.	I helped my partner make the Insect Guide Page in Kid Pix a lot.
			Total Points

Insects certainly are amazing for many, many reasons! You have listened to a story about insects and looked on the internet to find information to create an Insect Web Guide for Mrs. Endo. You wrote down information about your insect and made a page for the insect web quide and the Kid Pix slideshow. Mrs. Endo is pleased to have these resources available to her students. I wonder what other insects might just land in her flower garden?

Web Resources

Enchanted Learning

The Butterfly Conservatory

Insects in Motion

Zoboomafoo Feature Creature

Metamorphisis

Monarch Butterflies from Egg to Adult

PBS Online

NOVA Dances with Bees

Pictures of Bees

Bee Facts

Bee movie: Pollinating flower

Praying Mantis

Praying Mantis Web page with links to others

Praying Mantis Slideshow (Scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page.)

Praying Mantis Information

Mosquito Movies

Suggested Reading List

The following books will provide additional information about insects.

It Could Still Be A Butterfly by Alan Fowler

Busy, Buzzy Bees by Alan Fowler.

Honey Bees by Lola M. Schaefer

We Can Read About Nature! Insect Detector by Anita Holmes

The Praying Mantis Adapted by Kathleen Pohl

Mosquito by Oxford Scientific Films

The Big Bug Book by Margery Facklam

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