Purpose: To allow student to learn the parts of an insect but also to be able to demonstrate this knowledge through making a model. Students will also be able to recognize and decipher many different kinds of insects.

Description of Learners: Mrs. Harvey’s first grade class is an energetic group who likes to be involved in their learning process. While most of the students function at grade level, there are a few students who function well above level.

Learner Objectives:

By the end of this lesson, students should be able to:

• Identify parts of an insect
• Identify the characteristics of an insect which allow its basic needs to be met

Standards Addressed:

National Science Education Standard C

As a result of activities in grades K-4, all students should develop understanding of

·         The characteristics of organisms

Materials:

• Various candies divided equally into plastic baggies
• Toothpicks
• Wax paper
• Permanent Marker
• Toy/Stuffed Spider
• Large Photos/Pictures of a Bee, Ant, Butterfly, Mosquito, Ladybug

Procedure:

Attention Getting Opener- Introduce stuffed spider to the class

“This is my friend Sammy the spider. He’s a little confused and he needs our help. He can’t figure out if he’s an insect or not. So, today we’re going to talk about insects and then once we know all about them, well come back to him and be able to answer his question for him.”

Set Spider aside.

Group Discussion:

Today we’re going to learn about what an insect is, and what makes them different than other animals you may know.

Let’s look at the picture of the insect in your book on page 55. Does anyone know what kind of insect this is?

(Record the following information on the chalkboard as students discover it)

Let’s count how many legs there are together out loud. Trace each leg with your finger as we count.

How many body parts does this insect have?

Do ALL insects have 6 legs and three body parts?

Do some insects have parts that other insects don’t have? Can you give me an example? (wings)

We will have large pictures/photos of insects that the students may recognize. (Bee, Ladybug, Ant, Butterfly, Mosquito). We will hold up each photo and as the students a series of questions.

What type of insect is this?

What makes it an insect?

What parts make it special from other insects? (Why does the butterfly have wings? Why does the ladybug have a hard shell and wings? What is special about the ant? etc.)

So, now knowing what we know about spiders, let’s talk about our friend Sammy the spider again.

Is he an insect? Why?

Activity: Making Candy Insects

So if you know that Sammy the spider is not an insect, let’s see if you can make your own friends that ARE insects. You’ll each get a bag of candy. If you use your imaginations, each of these pieces of candy could represent a part of one of the insects we talked about. So, making sure that we are following all the rules about what makes an insect and insect, let’s get creative and make our own candy insects.

1)      Distribute the photos of the insects to pairs of students

2)      Each student will receive a baggie of candy, toothpicks, and a sheet of wax paper.

3)      Students will attempt to replicate the photo of their insect using the materials they have been given and the information that we have discussed. (Students will be given more materials if needed)

Assuming some students may struggle with this project, we will walk around to help and offer suggestions. Also, some students may finish this task very quickly. We will encourage them to help their classmates, or to use the rest of their supplies to try and create another insect. As students finish, dismiss them by group to wash their hands.

4)      As the students complete their insects we will walk around with a permanent marker to label their baggie with their insect’s name. Ex. Burt the Bee.

5)      After the students have all completed their insects. We will review the parts on an insect. In their pairs they will check to make sure that their partner’s insect has all the parts we’ve discussed.

Assessment:

We will know whether or not the students understand the parts of an insect by the results of their candy insects. We should be able to see all the information we’ve talked about represented in their creations.

We will be able to tell how well we’ve taught the lesson by how well the students are able to follow directions and complete the task. We should also be able to tell how well they comprehend the information we are teaching them by their ability to contribute to the class discussion.