Insects and bugs unit ideas for Spring!

     This week my class is studying insects. One of my favorite activities to do is to go on a bug hunt with magnifying glasses and exploring live and deceased bugs in the science center. I use test tubes I bought from oriental trading that come with stands to store my bugs. I try to work my theme into every aspect of my day so in addition to my science center which will have rolly pollies, chicadas, an ant farm, plastic bugs, magnifiers, insect word cards and clipboards with recording sheets, I will also be using my Bug-Jar-Math Unit to reinforce math skills with an insect theme. This unit is 39 pages long and is on sale for $3.50 on teacherspaypeachers.com.

     Today my class had fun counting the correct number of bugs for each mat (1-10) and sorting the bugs on the sorting mats. I had each child draw the bug, tally the number then write the number. I simply drew 2 lines down a blank sheet of paper to make three columns for them to do this. I showed them how to do it then hung my sheet on the wall where the children in each chair could see it while in that center. I also gave the counting mats center a cross off sheet from 1-10 where they wrote their name and crossed off each number that they had completed.

     The children are very excited for tomorrows plan. I have taken each worksheet included in the unit and stapled them into a large folded sheet of construction paper (see pics below). The children will then be able to complete the worksheets at their own pace. One trick I used was to put a rectangle in the necessary color around the color words on several of the worksheets instead of color copying. I can't wait to see how they do with this booklet. I also bought some insect stickers for them to decorate the outside once they are finished. The picture below show a few of the pages from this unit in black and white.

     Also in this packet I have placed the pattern pages, position sorting pages and put all of the bug graphics for the children to cut out. I know they are going to have a great time with this. I have added a few pics below of the full color counting mats. Everything is in full color in the pdf, it is your choice whether or not to print in color or black and white. The graphics look great either way.

Each of the mats has a number (1-10)above it in large bold characters, the first set of mats are for one-to-one correspondence and have the correct number of bugs for the children to match. You could print these out as a book for younger students and have them bingo dot each bug as they count instead of using the included bugs.  The second set is blank with just the number above, I have put cute little graphics on them like the frogs in the picture. The students could pretend how many flies the frogs are catching with their long tongs. I am going to copy this mat and have the children glue 10 bugs then draw the frogs tong to each bug in red crayon. I think they will truly enjoy it. I copied my set of mats in color on cardstock and laminated them for future use. I also laminated the bugs sheets and cut them out afterwards, making the cutting job that much easier, then bagged a set for each set of mats.

Enjoy!

Till next time,

Christine

Bug-Jar-Math