I LOVE teaching about insect and spiders. First, because they are facinating, plus the kids love learning about them! It's such a good time to teach about form and function, adaptations, and about predators and their prey!
The trick is to make sure to keep the unit exciting and interesting. Kids are natural nature lovers, so this is the perfect unit to use in integrating language arts skills too! As you start preparing for your unit, check out these fun sites that not only teach about bugs, but bring out the entomologist in every student!
1. All About Spiders from TheSchoolRun.com This site includes spider information, a video, and links to all kinds of spider activities such as building a spider web online, jigsaw puzzles online and even create your own spider!
2, You can't do better than National Geographic Kids, and this site about insects with blow their minds! This is a good one to send home....they'll be exploring (and reading) for hours!
3. I usually don't like sites from businesses (it's advertising after all), but this site from Orkin is absolutely amazing! It includes an insect safari, an insect guidebook filled with downloadable worksheets (or the whole book). It has games and coloring sheets, plus lesson plans! You can't do better than that!
4. I don't know who Mr. Nussbraum is, but he sure has some great information on the Internet! This site has online stories, a virtual butterfly garden and tons of information! It is so engaging even your reluctant readers will be pulled in!
5. This fun site from "owlcation" and is FULL of great videos from Anansi, to videos of spiders in webs. It is quite extensive, so I advise teachers scope out what they want their students to see on this site. This is particularly true of younger students. Some videos show spiders hunting, and can be a little scary. There's lots of information and LOTS of videos. The video of a water spider building an air bubble is pretty amazing. These videos woulld be great on a SmartBoard for sure! Be sure and check out the World's Weirdest Spiders from Nat Geo!
6. "The Kid Should See This" is an amazing site filled with videos kids will be talking about to their parents at night! From butterflies and bees drinking turtle tears, to watching lightning bugs in the Iowa woods. If you're looking for a "hook" for your unit, it's here!
7. I love videos of bugs. Kids do too! Here are a couple that are particularly good. The grasshopper is on You Tube, but with no commercial, the other is a website.
8. This site from Kids.xom is filled with insect games and videos. It includes word games, and videos of giant tarantulas....plus much more! It's a good one to use for centers, or when kids have free time.
9. It's always great to find some really good lesson plans...why reinvent the wheel? I love this site from Education World. It has 10 bug lesson plans for a variety of grade levels. Lots of hands-on goodies. If a worksheet is needed, it is provided.
10. This site from the Honeybee conservancy is really good! There are a number of short videos that are perfect for inserting into lessons.
If you would like to check out my resource on TPT that includes task cards plus 25 pages of teaching materials check out:
This resource is also available as a PowerPoint or as Digital Boom Cards. The link to these resources is on the page linked above.
I hope you will find the websites helpful, and will save you lots of time....plus really hook your students on bugs!
