WEAVING TECHNOLOGY
          INTO THEMATIC UNITS
           

          THEME: Living in Groups - Insects
          TEACHER:  Kaye McKinley
          SCHOOL:  Longwood Elementary
          GRADE: First

          BROAD GOALS:
          The students will describe patterns of structure and function in living things

          INSTRUCTIONAL OUTCOMES:

          • Students will experience locating insects in their environment
          • Students will identify several insects and assign them to appropriate homes in their environment
          • Students will identify insect body parts (i.e. head, thorax, abdomen)
          • Students will complete a TLA (building a home for an insect)
          • Students will test the usefulness of their bug house
          • Students will share what they learned with others
          LEARNER OUTCOMES:
          Students will successfully complete activities that involve the use of multimedia tools.
            Students will use the following tools:
            • MAC computer for word processing
            • MAC computer for Internet access
            • Laserdisc
            • QuickCam
            • Filmstrip projector
            • Tape recorder
            • Television
            • Hoffman projector
           MEDIA SELECTION:
          • Laserdisc (Windows on Science, Vol. I)
          • Student Writing Center
          • QuickCam
          • Children’s Writing and Publishing Center
          • Kids Pix II
          • Science/Understanding Your Environment (Silver Burdett Co.) Sound filmstrips
          • Silver Burdett Ginn Science Sound/Color Filmstrip - Primary Science Filmstrip Package
          • Things in Our World
          • Living and Not Living
          • Encyclopedia Britannica Filmstrips
          • Insects: How They Live and Grow
           THE UNIT:
          TEACHER DIRECTED WHOLE OR SMALL GROUP ACTIVITIES:
          WHOLE GROUP:
          • Students will begin this unit by going on a “Bug Hunt”.  They will go into the schoolyard and look for bugs.  They are to listen and look carefully.  Do not touch any insects or disturb any homes.  Merely observe at this time.  (See Bug Hunt Checklist)
          • Students will imagine themselves as bugs moving around the classroom.  They can hop like grasshoppers, fly like buzzing bees, make long jumps like a flea, pretend to skate on water like a water strider, scurry like a beetle or roach, or crawl like a caterpillar.  Lots of creative motion will be encouraged from these little bugs.
          • Draw a large clasification chart on paper and place on a board.  Each student can find an insect picture or draw one and place it on the chart in the appropriate place.
          • Discuss where insects are found and what they usually look like.  Draw anatomy of insect on board.  Have students identify parts.  Discuss what is importation in an insect’s environment.
          SMALL GROUP:
          Work in research stations with classmates. (4 or 5 students per group)
           
          STATION ACTIVITIES:
          TIME TO COMPLETE: 3 weeks

          Station 1: Computer
          Task:  Create a cover page and author page for Bug Book
          Materials: MAC computer, printer, QuickCam

          Station 2: Filmstrips
          Task:  Gather facts about insects.  Write four line poem about insect using facts
          Materials: Filmstrip projector, Silver Burdett Sound Filmstrips
          Time to Complete: 3 weeks

          Station 3: Art
          Task:  Build a giant bug, be creative, show three body parts.
          Materials: Paper mache mix, newspapers, balloons, egg cargons, pipe cleaners, wax paper, paint
           
          Station 4: Resource Books
          Task:  Research one insect, draw insect on sheet of paper, label body parts
          Materials: Library books, field guides, paper

          Station 5: Laserdisc
          Task:  Write a story about an insect using information gained from laserdisc.  Title story “You Won’t Believe What’s In My Jar”
          Materials: Laserdisc player, Vol I - Windows on Science

          Station 6: Sponge
          Task:  Make field guide about bugs (See Insect Fact Cards)
          Materials: Plastic baggies, different insect pictures, books about insects, stapler, tag board, yarn

          CULMINATING ACTIVITIES: 

          • TLA will be used as the culminating activity
          • Students will use what they have learned about insects to provide a good natural home for an insect of their choice.  The insect must survive in this home for three days.
          EVALUATION:
          • Rubric for Product/Activity
          TLA TITLE:  Bug Hotels
          WRITTEN BY: Kaye McKinley
          SCHOOL:  Longwood Elementary School
          DATE:  April 7, 1997
          SUBJECT:  Integrated Science

          SITUATION: You are a 1st grader in Mrs. McKinley’s class at Longwood Elementary.  You are asked to bring an insect to school.  You must have an appropriate home for your insect to live in for several days.  This should include food and shelter for your insect.

          PROBLEM: Build and insect home

          RESOURCES

          PEOPLE:  Teacher, Parents, Friends
          KNOWLEDGE: Information you have gained in your research on insects
          MATERIALS: Plastic bottles, milk cartons, shoe boxes, jars, any other materials that you might need to provide adequate environmental homes.
          ENERGY:  Human
          TIME:   3 weeks
           
          EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:
           

          • Verbal/Linguistic: Keep a journal telling the process you went through to build your bug home.  As 1st graders, soon to be 2nd graders, this should be a very detailed journal.  Include dates of entry, thought process, materials used, people who helped, etc.
          • Bodily/Kinesthetic: Demonstrate to teacher how your insect moves
          • Visual/Spatial: Using QuickCam at school, take a picture of your bug home and print picture.  Then mount picture onto construction paper.
          • Musical: Create a song about the bug that will live in your bug house.  You may use a tune you already know but make up your own words.
          • Logical/Mathematical: Using the class graph at school, enter your bug home in the correct category