Learning Life's Little Lessons with Ladybugs
The major book that we use for the ladybug unit is Eric Carle’s Grouchy Ladybug. Readers of this story are enchanted by Carle’s colorful artwork and entertained by the antics of a ladybug who gets what it deserves following a day of grouchy escapades. This story provides the opportunity for much discussion about treating others kindly and can serve as a springboard for many more related activities. We also read a factual book from Modern Curriculum press entitled, Ladybug. This book contains fantastic closeup photographs and teaches the children about the ladybug life cycle and other information about the insects.
An excellent resource book for ladybugs is Ladybugs published by GEMS (Great Explorations in Math and Science). Great for integrating science and math. I ordered my copy from Lakeshore catalog. We ordered a Ladybug farm and ladybugs from Lakeshore catalog. Nothing like having the real thing when you are studying in class! The children really enjoyed caring for and observing the ladybugs. I highly recommend this experience. The children kept a log of their observations of the ladybugs. The life cycle takes several weeks to complete, so order them to arrive at least a month before school gets out.
The book, Grouchy Ladybug lends itself to acting out. I rewrote the story as a play for my kids and we performed it for the parents. There are fireflies in the story, which we acted out using flashlights and we used an overhead projector and clock manipulative to display the time as the story progressed. The children made their costumes using grocery sacks and bulletin board paper. We also created a backdrop for our play using bulletin board paper. We were really busy!!!
We made up a lummi-stick routine to the song, “Ladybug, Ladybug” from a tape called “Boogie Woogie Bugs”. We did this routine as a part of our program.
Here is a ladybug song that was mostly made up by one of my students last year, Kelly. She thought of all
but the last line:
To the tune: Clementine
Grouchy ladybug, grouchy ladybug.
You like aphids to eat.
Why are you so very grouchy?
We wish you were nice and sweet!
And here is a second verse that I made up:
Grouchy ladybug, grouchy ladybug,
You tried to fight a whale
But you thought he wasn’t big enough
‘Til he slapped you with his tail!”
And a third verse by Alexis, a student this year:
Grouchy Ladybug, Grouchy Ladybug,
You have learned to be kind.
I am happy you are kind.
Now you won’t be left behind.
To reinforce the concept of one-half, I prepared a piece of graph paper with some of the boxes shaded to look like half of a ladybug. The part that was to be colored red, I shaded lightly and the part that was to be colored black, I shaded dark. Then the students had to shade the other half of the ladybug with pencil and then color their half in with red and black crayon. This was challenging for the kids and helped them to see that one-half means that something is divided into two parts that are the same size.
To encourage the children to practice telling time on an analog clock, we used paper plates to make Ladybug clocks. The children colored one side of the paper plate to look like a ladybug’s body. Then they used numeral stamps to add the numerals around the clock. Two construction paper arrows attached to the center of the plate with brads made the hands. The children used half a circle of black const. paper to make the head and six strips of black construction paper for the legs. We used the clocks to practice telling time several ways. I would call out a time and they would make it on their clock and hold it up (every pupil response). You could play “Around the World” with the Grouchy Ladybug by having two children race to make the time on their clocks that the teacher names. The children used the clocks to children race to make the time on the clock and hold it up as the teacher calls out times. The one who is first with the correct answer gets to move down the row or around the circle and race against the next child. Our favorite way to practice though is by playing “What time is it, Grouchy Ladybug?”. This is just like the game, “What time is it, Mr. Fox?” but with a different theme. One child is the G.L. and stands facing away from the other children. The other children are lined up in a row facing the G.L. and the teacher. The children yell, “What time is it, Grouchy Ladybug?” and the teacher holds up a ladybug clock with a time. The children take exactly that many steps forward. Play continues until the teacher holds up a clock reading 12:00 and yells, “Lunchtime!” All of the children run back to the baseline and the G.L. turns to chase them. Whoever is tagged becomes the next G.L. and play begins again. This game is best played outside on a smooth open surface.
See how Karen's class adapted these ladybug clocks!!!
Discuss that “ladybug” is a compound, or “put together” word as we call them. You can make put together folders using this word and other compound words. Fold one fourth of each side of a paper to the middle so it opens like French doors. On the left side write “See the lady.” and illustrate. On the right side write “See the bug.” and illustrate. Then open the pages and write, “Put it together. See the ladybug” and illustrate. If you wanted to get really crafty on these and maintain the ladybug theme, you could use scissors to round the top and bottom of the paper, color the “doors” lightly to look like ladybug wings and glue a head and legs so that they peek out from behind.
Make ladybug pins or magnets. Use plastic spoons, spread lightly with oil and fill the bowl with plaster of paris. Allow to dry. Then pop out of the spoon and paint like a ladybug. Add a pin back or magnet to the back. Neat gift for mom!!!
Have students decorate a large oval (red, yellow or orange) with dots and fasten a piece of yarn to the top. Wear like a cape.
Make “aphid pops” by freezing green koolaid in dixie cups with a popsicle stick. Student can wear their ladybug wings and eat their aphid pops.
Make “potato print” ladybugs on a leaf. Provide tagboard leaf stencils. Children trace around these and cut them out of green paper. Then dip half a potato in red paint and stamp on the leaf. Allow to dry. Then use fingers or a small brush to add other details to the ladybug, such as legs, head, thorax, antennae, and spots. You can mention to the children that ladybugs are helpful to potato farmers because they eat the larvae of potato beetles!
Here are some excellent ladybug links to check out:
Lady Beetles!
More ladybug photos!
Ladybugs!
A neat ladybug site right here at Geocities!
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