It's a Buggy Bug World Out There!
This week, the Kinders are learning all about insects. We practice repeating and touching our body parts that correlate with an insect's: head, eyes, abdomen, thorax, legs.
[Ladybugs]
We started out by reading this book and then talking about why the main character was grouchy.
The next few activities were done over the span of a week.
Making our Wings
Here you see a student cutting out pre-traced pie shapes. I just used big red construction paper and traced circles on all of them. The kids had to cut out the circles and then take a triangle shape out of it for the wings. They were also responsible for cutting out scrap paper circles and gluing them on for ladybug spots. Then I hole punched by the next and used string so the kids could wear them.
The students were encouraged to play-act as a bug. Then they had to write a story from that point of view. (Pretty challenging for 5-year-olds, but I got some pretty funny stuff :) )
Sentence Writing Practice
I pre-traced lady bug shapes on red paper for the kids, and also pre-cut black circles for them. The kids had to put together a ladybug book. Inside, they finished the prompt:
"I feel grouchy when..."I took all of their pictures with their best grouchy faces and printed them with the school color-printer. A little time consuming, but very worth it! The kids love going to the hall to see their bugs on the wall!
Compound Eyes
I went to a local party store and picked up some very cheap glasses: $2 for 6 pairs. Carefully, I punched out the tinted lenses. Instead, I glued the holes with bubble wrap. The bubble wrap obsures vision and makes it hard to see fine details, much like an insect's eyes. The kids got to put on their previously made wings. I also made them easy antennea (pipe cleaners and construction paper) for an extra touch. Then, they each got a pair of compound eyes to explore in! Afterwards, we discussed what compound eyes must be like.
Here are some kiddos trying to work with their compound eyes. Later, they said it was so hard to see!
My poor little nuggets are tired of their compound eyes here :) Haha, poor things! Being a bug is HARD WORK!
