South Carolina ETV

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

When Ants Fly (Grades 2-3)

MASTER TEACHER

Rhonda Hollingsworth

OVERVIEW

This lesson is designed to create an awareness in students of the common characteristics of ants and birds. Building on information in the Backyard Science series, continuing with habitat observations, and exploring through hands-on activities, students will experience the connection of all living things in the world around them.

ITV SERIES

Backyard Science: Lesson 1, Ants

Bill Nye the Science Guy: Lesson 58, Birds

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will be able to

identify common characteristics of birds and ants
understand common needs of all living things
identify a backyard as a habitat

SC MATH/SCIENCE STANDARDS MET

Science: Area I Strand I

Organisms demonstrate characteristic properties that determine how they function and adapt to their environment:

Investigate the relationship between living things and their habitats.
Identify common living things and their habitats.
Determine the basic needs and functions of living things, compare similarities and differences among living things.

Science: Area I Strand 2

Organisms interact with each other and their environment. Investigate and analyze ways in which living things interact with each other and with the environment.

Observe living things in their natural habitat
Investigate characteristics and behaviors of plants and animals that help them to survive in specific environments.

Math: Probability and Statistics

Generate questions, coflect data, organize

and display information, interpret findings by:

Interpreting tables, charts, pictographs, bar graphs, line graphs.
Constructing appropriate tables, charts, pictographs,bar graphs, line graphs, or line plots to display given data.

MATERIALS

1 - 11" x 14' piece of light blue construction paper for each student
1 - 4'x 14"piece of brown construction paper
1 - 8 1/2" x 11" green construction paper crayons
2 sheets of chart paper
copy of the maze for each student
yarn (extracurricular activities)

PRE-VIEWING ACTIVITIES

Tell the students that they are going to be learning about ants and birds. Tell them they will be observing an egg. Have an egg in a basket (or nest if available) in a designated center along with drawing paper and crayons. Provide time for the children to observe the egg. Tell them to draw a picture of something that lays an egg. Using chart paper, make KWL charts like the ones shown. Fill in the first section of each chart.

FOCUS FOR VIEWING

To give students a specific responsibility while viewing Backyard Science, distribute to each one a copy of the Focus for Viewing chart in the activity packet. Explain to them that when they hear one of the characteristics of either the ant or bird, they will put a check mark in the appropriate place.

VIEWING ACTIVITIES

Start the video where the narrator says, "In every colony, there is an ant which is quite different from the other.' There will be a picture of an ant with wings sitting on a green leaf.

Stop when the narrator says, 'This red ant is a worker ant. Its job is to gather food."

After you stop the video, go over the ant side of the chart. As you read our each characteristic, tell students to give you a thumbs-up if they checked it.

Start the Bill Nye video Birds where the pen- guins are jumping into the water. The next scene shows Bill Nye, wearing a blue jacket and a holding a large blue egg. Stop the video when the girl explains how to make a bird feeder out of a plastic container. (You may want to use what she says as part of an extension activity.)

POST-VIEWING ACTIVITIES

Give each student an ll'x 14" piece of blue construction paper and 1/2 of an 8 1/2" x 11' brown piece of construction paper. Glue the brown construction paper across the bottom of the blue to portray the sky and ground. In- struct the students to cut an B" tree out of the green construction paper. Three of the 8" are to be roots of the tree. Glue it so that it sits on top of the brown paper. Then tell them to draw an ant colony underground and a bird nest in the tree. Instruct them to fill in their pictures with things that could be seen in a backyard.

Complete the What I Learned section of the KWL charts. ( Activity 1; Activity 2)

Draw a Venn diagram on one sheet of chart paper. Using the information from the KWL chart, compare and contrast birds and ants (Activity 3). Your diagram may be similar to the one in the next column.

antsvenn.gif (2274 bytes)

Give each student a copy of the ant maze, Activity Sheet 4. Tell each student to help the worker ant collect food to take back to the queen.

Let each student write a story from the perspective of an ant or a bird that has lost its home. Publish the stories on the web.

EXTENSIONS

Take the students out to the schoolyard to observe living things. Based on what they observe have a whole group discussion of what living things need to survive.

Ask, 'Did you see a shelter for an animal?"

'Did you see a water source?" "Did you see a food source?" 'Was there enough good air for all the animals to breathe?"

Return to the classroom. Pass out Activity Sheet 5 and materials for constructing a Living Things bracelet. Each student will braid three pieces of yam together. They will then cut out the disk patterns. On the disk patterns with pictures, students will simply color the picture. Using the two blank discs, students will draw a picture of themselves and one of an animal they observed. The disks can be copied onto construction paper or typing paper.

Make pine cone bird feeders and take them to a local retirement center. Attach the pine cones to trees in an area suitable for viewing so the residents can watch the birds eat.