We've gone buggy in Pre-K! We've been learning about bugs, insects, creepy crawlies and pond life. We found a lot of useful information with "kid friendly language" on the Scholastic Teacher webpage, Going Bug-gy! Facts and Fun About Insects. Ms. Frizzle from the Magic Schoolbus explains the difference between bugs and insects:
Question: What's the difference between bugs and insects?
Ms. Frizzle: Insects always have three body parts and six legs. They usually have four wings and two antennae. Now most people call spiders, bugs. But they are not insects, because they only have two body parts and eight legs with no wings or antennae. They are really arachnids. So bugs usually refer to anything that is creepy crawly. And "insects" is a more technical term.
We learned about the life cycle of the caterpillar.
One of our small group activities was to have the children trace, cut and glue circles with letters of their names to make a "Name Caterpillar".
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| Jake |
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| Mia W. |
We found this caterpillar drying, with a toy friend to keep him company. Jack didn't want him to be lonely!
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| Jack |
We also had a wonderful speaker come to talk about bugs. "Aba", Mia M.'s grandfather, owns a local exterminator service. He was so sweet and very patient, and answered all the questions the kids could muster. He also brought a few books to share with us and left one for our library!
Thank you Aba! It was wonderful of you to come! The children really enjoyed your visit!
Mia M.'s mom made "dirt cake" aka "dirt and worms" for us to enjoy for snack. It was delicious!!!!
Our final activity was to share bug facts we recalled from our unit. I recorded the responses on a black dot and we placed them on a ladybug!
note: During our unit, we made lots of creepy crawlies in our art center. Look for pictures in a separate post!
Whooaa! That dirt sure looks yummy! Thanks for sharing:)
ReplyDeleteLove the crafts! Ayn, I was wondering if I could use the first craft picture of the life cycle of a butterfly in my Butterfly Unit for Young Children article. The picture would link back to this post and also include a text link that links back here.
ReplyDelete~Maureen
scrappermo at yahoo dot com
Maureen, you certainly may use the picture. Sorry I didn't see this before--I hope it's not too late! I'm bookmarking your site and look forward to following it! :)
ReplyDeleteLove it! I did the same thing with my pre-k students with the life cycle of a butterfly! We used construction paper strips instead of paper plates, but I love that idea! We had a small yellow pom-pom for the egg (adding the green leaf is such a good idea!), the curly noodle for the caterpillar, the shell noodle for the cocoon, and the bowtie for the butterfly!
ReplyDeleteIn the future I think I might dye the butterfly noodles so the students can pick out a colored butterfly for their life cycle!