Amazing Ants

Understanding By Design

Summary	Understanding	Essential Questions	Knowledge and Skills
Assessment	Learning Activities	Web Sites	Standards

Link to SD Content Standards:

LIFE SCIENCE

Goal 3

Students will describe structures and attributes of living things, processes of life, and interaction of living things with each other and the environment.

Indicator 3

Analyze how organisms are linked to one another and the environment.

Benchmark b.

Explore how environmental factors affect living things within an ecosystem.

READING

Goal 1

Students will read at increasing levels of complexity for various purposes.

Indicator 4

Students will access, synthesize, and evaluate information from a variety of sources.

Benchmark b.

Identify the appropriate materials/resources needed to explore specific topics.

Benchmark c.

Gather information from different sources to make reasonable decisions.

WRITING

Goal 2

Students will write effectively for different audiences and specific purposes.

Indicator 1

Students will use appropriate mechanics, usage, and conventions of language.

Benchmark a.

Apply simple conventions of language in written work.

Indicator 4

Students will write to clarify and enhance understanding of information.

Benchmark a.

Write to determine what is known about specific topics.

Other Content Standards: none at this point

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Brief Summary of Unit:

Children will learn about ants and their communities through observation and research.

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Students will understand?

Students will understand the similarities and differences of the anatomy, habits and living environments of animals.

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Essential Questions

What are the similarities and differences of the anatomy, habits and living environment of animals?

In what ways does an ant community compare to other communities?

How does each ant’s job in the community affect the other ants in their community?

How does your observation of an ant community help you to learn about the life of an ant?

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Knowledge and Skills

Students will:

know how living in a community benefits ants.

know the benefits of living in a community.

know how an ant community compares to your family, your community or other animal communities.

know that each ant has a job in the ant community.

Students will:

be able to identify the four stages of an ant…egg, larva, pupa, adult.

identify the three main body parts of an ant…head, trunk, legs.

be able to tell how ants build a community.

daily journal their observations of an ant farm.

know how to use web sites and gather information from books.

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Assessment Plan:

-The teacher will observe and conference with the student. (conference report)

-The students will fill in a KWL chart.

-The teacher will check journals. (journals)

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Learning Activities:

- students will help to construct several ant farms for the classroom

- students will monitor the living habits of an ant colony using
classroom ant farms

- students will record their daily observation in a journal using complete sentences

- students will use a KWL chart

- students will read and study about ants from books and web sites

possible things to find:

-ant jobs

-names of ants in the community

-how they build a community

-different species

- pictures to share

- read the chapter in Horrible Harry and the Ant Invasion by Suzy Kline about making ant pictures using words with “ant” in them

- make a list of words that have “ant” in them, such as in the Horrible Harry chapter

- draw pictures of some of the “ant” words

- divide into groups and read together “Interesting Facts About Ants”. Then ask questions and give a point for each group that answers correctly. http://www.lingolex.com/antsteach.htm

- teacher reads story Two Bad Ants by Chris Van Allsburg. Students will identify the moral of the story. In groups complete a worksheet on an ant’s point of view. http://www.coe.uh.edu/archive/langarts/langarts_lessons/langles2

- draw a picture of an ant in a human world, the write about the ant's view.

- students will draw and label the parts of an ant - head, thorax, and abdomen and show where the 6 legs are located (attached to thorax)

- students will draw and label the life cycle of an ant - egg, larva, pupa, adult

- learn two different versions of "The Ant Song". (from I Teach K! from A National Kindergarten Teacher Conference) Words to Song

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