Insect Unit

Goal

Students will investigate three different insects body parts and their purpose. Students will use this information to invent and construct a new insect.

Objectives Covered

• Access Prior Knowledge
• Questioning RT (Right There) and PHAT (Pretty hard and tough)
• Keywords
• Selecting best sources
• Citing sources
• Note taking strategies

21st Century Skills

Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Flexibility, Adaptability, Productivity, Initiative, and Leadership

My Prep Work

• Pull a variety non-fiction insect books
• Create pathfinder for online insect resources
• Copy Note taking sheet for partners
• Make sure materials are ready in makerspace for insects building

Day 1 and Day 2:

• Hook: Read book Roberto the Artchitect by Nina Laden. I like this book because it does a good job of introducing a variety of insects and at the same time it encourages creativity.
• Other ideas: go for a walk outside and eye spy insects, watch a video clip of insects
• Student Table Talk: List as many insects as you know.
  • What do you already know about insects?
  • Share and record
• Students find out they are going to get to create and invent an insect by combining three different insects together
• Class discussion: What will you need to know?

Day 3:

• Discuss how working with partners is helpful? How do you know if you are a good partner?
• Students are assigned to partner (classroom teacher input)
• Exploration: Students use Pebblego and Non-fiction books to explore all the different kinds of insects
• Read, view pictures, and discuss what they are noticing
  • Practice being a good partner

Day 4 and 5

• Pass out note-taking graphic organizer to partners
• Students task: choose three insects to focus on for this project: one for the head, one for the body and one for the legs.
• Model using the note-taking organizer: use heading to know where the information goes
• What do great note-takers do?
• Model researching the head of an insect and taking notes

Day 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

• The eyes and legs can be tricky in finding information at 2nd grade level: Take this opportunity to use websites or non-fiction books to model note-taking whole class. Students take notes with partners.
• Research begin with PebbleGo-Cite, Non-fiction books - Cite, Britannica - Cite

Day 9:

• When partners have completed research: Head, Body and Legs then it’s time to draw a picture (blue print) of their insect. We talk about beginning with the end in mind. I have used the short Phineas and Ferb video clip. Partners will need to draw and label the head, body and legs of newly invented insect. They should be showing what they know. They will also need to use part of each insect’s name to create a name for their new insect.
• One of my favorite things about this stage, is students begin to see holes in their research: if they just wrote down wings, but they don’t know how many wings - they have to go back and find out.

Day 10: Move into MakerSpace

• Why did we take notes and draw a picture or blueprint? How will they be helpful when you begin creating your insect?
• Students take a walk around Makerspace with partner to discuss what materials they could use for body parts and make a supply list
• Follow design process to make
• Mini lessons along the way: scissors uses, tape vs. glue guns, cleaning up
• Share what they know about their insect in one way or another:
  • Type outline to display
  • Use iPad apps (Chatterpix kids) to record students reflection or presentation