Insects:

Life Stages

MANCHESTER COLLEGE

LESSON PLAN by James Vincent

Lesson:  INSECTS:  Life stage Comparison             Length:  30 minutes                           Grade:  Kindergarten

Academic Standard:  K.1.1   Raise questions about the natural world.

Academic Standard:  K.2.2   Draw pictures and write words to describe objects and experiences.

Performance Objective:  Given a description of the process metamorphosis, the student will create an illustration representing the process.

Assessment:  Formative:  relative answers to the questions proposed in the motivation section

Assessment:  Summative:  picture of the comparison of insect growth to human growth

Advanced Preparation by Teacher:  begin raising mealworms at various times in order to provide examples of the stages of the mealworm

Materials:  jars with covers (clear plastic, if possible), mealworms (from pet store), bran or other cereal flakes, magnifying lenses, spoons, pictures

                   of people and insects at different growing stages.

Procedure

            Introduction/Motivation:  Ask: “What are the stages people go through as they grow and change? Do insects, like mealworms, go through

                                                         stages too?  How could we find out?”  Students respond (Linguistic; Knowledge).

            Step-by-Step Plan: 1. Obtain some mealworms from a pet store, granary, or commercial supplier.

                                               2. Introduce the mealworms and challenge the students to predict how the mealworms will grow (Intrapersonal;

                                                   Comprehension).

                                               3. Using spoons, you or the students can transfer several mealworms and some bran or cereal flakes into a jar or

                                                   other container with a lid. (Kinesthetic)

                                               4. Provide a container for each student or a group of two or three students.

                                               5. Punch several small holes in the lids for air (Kinesthetic).

                                               6. Have students observe the mealworms several times a week and record on a chart or log any observed changes

                                                   in appearance (color, length, stage, etc.) or behavior (Naturalist/Intrapersonal; Knowledge).

                                              *For this lesson, provide the students with various examples of the mealworms stages.  This will mean you have to

                                                begin raising worms at various times prior to this lesson.

            Closure:  Using pictures of people and insects at different stages of growth, discuss how these living things grow.  Help students make a

                            chart comparing the stages of insects’ lives with humans’ (Spatial; Application/Evaluation).

Enrichments:  Guide students to make a diagram, using pictures or drawings, to visualize the stages of mealworm (and other insect)

                          metamorphosis.  Make the same kind of diagram for stages of human life (infant, child, teenager, and adult) (Spatial/Intrapersonal;

                          Application).

Return to Self-Create Works: click here.