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Buzz Into Action: The Insect Curriculum Guide for Grades K–4


By: David Alexander

$22.36 - Member Price  
$27.95 - Nonmember Price



$29.07 - Member Price  
$36.34 - Nonmember Price

$18.17 - Member Price  
$20.96 - Nonmember Price

Details

Type of Product:NSTA Press Book (also see downloadable PDF version of this book)
Publication Date:2/1/2012
Pages:171
Stock Number:PB319X
ISBN:978-1-936959-12-9
Grade Level:Elementary School
Read Inside:Read a sample chapter: Bee Factory

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Our reviewers—top-flight teachers and other outstanding science educators—have determined that this resource is among the best available supplements for science teaching.
[Read the full review]


Description

Calling all aspiring entomologists, apiologists, and lepidopterists—as well as kids who just think bugs, bees, and butterflies are cool!

Buzz Into Action is a lively insect-education curriculum for teaching about the world’s most abundant and accessible group of animals. This cross-disciplinary guide introduces children to the joy of insects through investigations that involve scientific inquiry and knowledge building rather than memorization. You can put the 20 hands-on lessons to work individually or as a curriculum, in the field or in the classroom. Activities range from the basic—how to identify an insect—to the irresistible—Pollinator Party Relay Race, Camouflaged Critters, and Colony Collapse Town Meeting.

For ease of use, each lesson plan provides:
• A quick-read overview of the activity’s requirements
• Detailed objectives, materials lists, and background information
• Step-by-step procedures and reproducible activity sheets
• Assessments and extensions
• Reference materials including field guides, websites, and story books that complement lessons and help you hone in on species from your own region

In fact, Buzz Into Action provides almost everything you need to get your classroom buzzing. Just add insects—and curious children.


Ideas For Use

Additional Info

Science Discipline: (mouse over for full classification)
Arthropods
Asking questions
Classifying
Collecting data
Experimenting
Hypothesizing
Interpreting data
Observing
Predicting
Scientific habits of mind
Intended User Role:Elementary-Level Educator, Teacher

Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
How To Use This Book
Insect Curriculum Guide: Lesson Correlations to the National Science Education Standards, Grades K-4
Educating with Insects in the Classroom and Field
Safety Practices for Outdoors and in the Classroom
Lessons for Prekindergarten Learners

Insect Education Lessons
1. How to Identify an Insect
2. Insect Encounter
3. Insect Metamorphosis
4. Insect Venn Diagrams
5. Pollinator Party Relay Race
6. Pollinator Gardens
7. Camouflaged Critters
8. Amazing Insect Migration
9. Insect Mouthparts
10. Antennae Communication
11. Audible Insects
12. Water Bugs: Insects as Indicators
13. Delightful Decomposers
14. What’s all the Buzz About?
15. Seasonal Discoveries Journal
16. Insect Art
17. Bee Factory
18. Colony Collapse Town Meeting
19. Insect Choices
20. Insect Habitat Web

Creating a Bug Club
Creating a Bugfest and Butterfly Tent Safari
Resources List
Glossary
North American Association of Environmental Education Alignment Chart
Index


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National Standards Correlation

This resource has 33 correlations with the National Standards.  
[VIEW CORRELATIONS]

This resource has 33 correlations with the National Standards.  
[HIDE CORRELATIONS]

  • Physical Science
    • Properties of objects and materials
      • Objects have many observable properties, including the ability to react with other substances. (K-4)
  • Life Science
    • The characteristics of organisms
      • Organisms have basic needs. For example, animals need air, water, and food; plants require air, water, nutrients, and light. (K-4)
      • Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs can be met. (K-4)
      • Each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction. For example, humans have distinct body structures for walking, holding, seeing, and talking. (K-4)
      • Humans and other organisms have senses that help them detect internal and external cues. (K-4)
      • The behavior of individual organisms is influenced by internal cues (such as hunger) and by external cues (such as a change in the environment). (K-4)
      • Organisms can survive only in environments in which their needs can be met. (K-4)
    • Life cycles of organisms
      • Plants and animals have life cycles that include being born, developing into adults, reproducing, and eventually dying. The details of this life cycle are different for different organisms. (K-4)
      • Plants and animals closely resemble their parents. (K-4)
      • Many characteristics of an organism are inherited from the parents of the organism, but other characteristics result from an individual's interactions with the environment. Inherited characteristics include the color of flowers and the number of limbs of an animal. (K-4)
    • Organisms and environments
      • An organism's patterns of behavior are related to the nature of that organism's environment, including the kinds and numbers of other organisms present, the availability of food and resources, and the physical characteristics of the environment.
  • Earth Science
    • Changes in earth and sky
      • The surface of the earth changes.
  • Science as Inquiry
    • Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry
      • Ask a question about objects, organisms, and events in the environment. (K-4)
      • Plan and conduct a simple investigation. (K-4)
      • Employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses. (K-4)
      • Use data to construct a reasonable explanation.
    • Understandings about scientific inquiry
      • Scientific investigations involve asking and answering a question and comparing the answer with what scientists already know about the world. (K-4)
      • Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting).
  • Science and Technology
    • Abilities of technological design
      • Identify a simple problem.
      • Propose a solution.
    • Understanding about science and technology
      • People have always had questions about their world. Science is one way of answering questions and explaining the natural world.
      • People have always had problems and invented tools and techniques (ways of doing something) to solve problems.
      • Trying to determine the effects of solutions helps people avoid some new problems.
    • Distinguish between natural and human made objects
      • Some objects occur in nature; others have been designed and made by people to solve human problems and enhance the quality of life.
      • Objects can be categorized into two groups, natural and designed.
  • Science in Personal and Social Perspectives
    • Characteristics and changes in populations
      • Populations will increase unless other factors such as disease or famine decrease the population.
    • Changes in environments
      • Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individual's and a population's ability to survive and their quality of life.
      • Changes in environments can be natural or influenced by humans. Some changes are good, some are bad, and some are neither good nor bad.
    • Science and technology in local challenges
      • People continue inventing new ways of doing things, solving problems, and getting work done.
      • New ideas and inventions often affect other people; sometimes the effects are good and sometimes they are bad.
      • It is helpful to try to determine in advance how ideas and inventions will affect other people.
  • History and Nature of Science
    • Science as a human endeavor
      • Science and technology have been practiced by people for a long time.
  • Teaching Standards
    • Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning. In doing this, teachers
      • Encourage and model the skills of scientific inquiry, as well as the curiosity, openness to new ideas and data, and skepticism that characterize science.


Published Reviews

“This book is a thorough, carefully designed guide with useful illustrations. Teachers may teach the curriculum in sequence, or select specific lessons. The activities are creative and appealing. The flexibility and variety of activities make the guide a valuable resource.”
Science Books & Films, July2012


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