Friday, February 10, 2012

Inventing Insects

1st Grade Invented Insects
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I think insects are such an engaging subject for study.  Did you know there are nearly 1 million known species? Ah, but this lesson is not about the known species, it's about the unknown species.
To deepen our understanding of this amazing part of life,   I'm planning on doing a few lessons on insects but just vary the media .  




great insect source here

We started by discussing how artists often find inspiration from nature.  We looked at images of parks and forests and talked about what you might hear or see there.  This led us to the world of insects. Adult insects have the following characteristics: 6 legs, 2 or 4 wings,  a segmented body including a head, thorax, and abdomen, antennae, proboscis and eyes.
 I demonstrated painting the 3 body parts first and then going back to add eyes, antennae, legs, wings, etc.  A  wonderfully challenging  part of this lesson is for the kids to free themselves up and create a new species of insect.  Many of the students also gave their insect an amusing name.


This is one of my favorite sites: Encyclopedia of Life

Location: Europe > Portugal > Algarve  Date Photo Taken: August 19, 2007  Info:...

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