BUGS AND BUTTERFLIES
This TopicQuest was designed for Kindergarten Students at Teachers Too Daycare
By Bonnie Rowe, a Valdosta State University Preservice Teacher

 firefly                                            firefly                           mantis           


butterfly    ladybug      butterfly    

 Introduction

     Did you know that for each one of us there are 200 million "bugs"?  If  you dug up one square mile of dirt, you would find more bugs than people in the whole world. True bugs have soda-straw mouths for poking and six legs. Do you know how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly? 
                                                                                                
                                                                                 


ants
inchw




 
 Have you ever seen a caterpillar chewing on a leaf?  It has to eat all day and night. If it has to go without food for more than a few hours, it will starve.  Do you know what happens to change a caterpillar into a butterfly?
bug .lbug
Ladybugs are really beetles.  They know how to "bleed"-- not when hurt, but when scared.
                    cricket
Male crickets chirp by rubbing their wings together.  Their ears are on their front legs.
                       mosq
Do you know that mosquitoes find us through our scent? Go to this website for tips on how to avoid mosquitoes and to make virtual insects.
                 butterf
Butterflies land on bright flowers and taste through their feet.  Pollen sticks to its head and spreads as it flies from flower to flower.
                      bee
Bees can lift and pull 300 times their own weight.  That would be like a human pulling a 10-ton truck with his bare hands. When a honeybee scout finds honey, it fills its tank and makes a beeline back to the hive.  To find out more click on bees.




Mission
      
         You are a not so famous Entomologist (a bug scientist) who has just been hired by the Chicago Museum of Natural History.  You are in charge while your boss is out of town.  When you get to work, you discover that you have erased all the computer files containing the information on the life cycle of butterflies.  Your boss is on his way to the office and you must draw and label, using your knowledge, the life cycle of a butterfly.  If you can, your job will be saved!!


Mission Steps
1.    Go to this website to find everything you will need to be successful in your mission.  

2.    Pay close attention to the information about the life cycle of the butterfly.

3.    Draw and label, using the information you have gained, the complete life cycle of the butterfly.  Use paper and crayons to complete your picture.

4.    When you have finished, give your drawing to your teacher.  She is going to publish it on the Internet!!


dragonfly worm fly


icon Bonnie's Fabulous Fireflies
 icon btrowe@valdosta.edu
 icon VSU TopicQuest Page
 icon TopicQuest Lesson Plan