MFW Kindergarten - Ii is for Insect

This week we studied Insects!

Unit 11 of My Father's World Kindergarten

Printables pictured are from MFW  unless otherwise mentioned.

Theme:

Insects

Words to Remember:

I am a wise child, so I work hard.

You can read about our curriculum choice and organization HERE.

This post includes affiliate links.  You can read my full disclosure policy HERE.

While learning about insects we observed ants.  This ant hill from Insect Lore has everything needed for live ants to build a home for themselves.  We observed them closely for several weeks.

Watching the ants work was intriguing.  They didn't waste any time making tunnels and cleaning up their home.  One of the key character lessons for our insect study was noting that ants work hard.  As children of God we are to work hard as well.

We made a model of a compound eye, so JZ could learn how a insects see.  He cut apart an upcycled egg carton and glued the pieces of the carton to a paper plate.  We used aluminum foil for the lenses.

Supplies:

• egg carton
• aluminum foil
• scissors
• school glue
• paper plate

JZ's handiwork:

JZ painted a few rocks red and made ladybug pet rocks.

Supplies:

• rocks
• red paint
• paint brush
• googly eyes
• Sharpie
• school glue

After the paint dried JZ used a Sharpie to give his ladybugs spots.  He used school glue to adhere googly eyes to the rocks.  We made these ladybug pet rocks last fall, and JZ still has them.

To reinforce learning about the three parts to an insect, the head, the thorax and the abdomen, JZ did a simple fingerprint craft.  He used his finger to make the three parts of an ant's body and then used a pencil to draw legs and antennae.

Supplies:

• washable ink
• cardstock
• pencil

I wrote the words head, thorax and abdomen in yellow pencil, and JZ traced over them to label the body parts of the fingerprint ant.

A few of the ants look like they have bonus body parts.  JZ might have gotten a little carried away on a few of the ants.  ;)

We read the book The Bee Tree and learned about bees making honey.  JZ and I made No Bake Energy Bites from Smashed Peas and Carrots to enjoy a tasty treat sweetened with honey.  He did all of the measuring and mixing.

I think he ate them as he rolled.  Who can blame him?  These energy bites are yummy!

All About Reading is going well.  When we first began using AAR we did about three lessons per week.  Now we do a lesson daily, and JZ is doing well at this pace.  He doesn't enjoy the fluency sheets, so we skip those.  He loves reading actual books, so we fill reading time with books, books and more books.  Often times he brings me books to read to me when it isn't even school time.

The activity sheets in AAR include hands on activities like reading words to collect presents and feeding a monkey bananas that have rhyming words on the back.

We made spoon and pipe cleaner ants as seen here on Danielle's Place.  J-Bug (3) joined us for this craft.

Supplies:

• googly eyes
• plastic spoon
• pipe cleaners
• school glue

I love hands on ways to reinforce the information we are learning.  These ants have six legs and three body parts.  When children learn through play they are more likely to retain the information.  These ants were simple to make, and they turned out really cute!

We made an insect sensory bin and identified which creatures were insects and which weren't.

I featured ideas for learning about bugs and insects on The Sunday Showcase this week.

More kindergarten ideas:

• Ss Sun
• Mm Moon
• Ll Leaf
• Aa Apple
• Nn Nest
• Tt Turtle
• Uu Us
• Dd Dinosaur
• Oo Octopus
• Ww Water

For more ideas to learn about insects follow my Kindergarten board on Pinterest.