Befriending
Beneficial Insects
Many teachers tell us that the garden is a
place where kids feel they're on equal footing and make friends
easily across perceived barriers, making it a great environment
for bonding when the school year starts anew. This fall, extend
the
spirit of making new friends beyond fellow gardeners, and get
acquainted with the beneficial insects that help the garden
thrive. This
month we offer tips for making new garden friends including
those with six legs and stories of how teachers link these
explorations to classroom curricula.
Stories and Activities
Garden
Buddies Tips for making friends with other
students apply to beneficial insects, too!
Lesson:
Insect Safari Students share their ideas about
"bugs", then go on a schoolyard safari to find out if their
preconceptions hold up.
Lesson:
Exploring State Insects Does your state have an insect
emblem? Learn the significance and symbolism accorded insects
in your state and throughout human cultures.
Growing
Ideas: Insects and Plants Our collection of classroom
stories and curriculum connections offers dozens of ideas for
using crawling, flying, buzzing creatures to spark compelling
hands-on investigations and creativity.
Web Resources
Pest
Control
Library - Photos, descriptions, and
life cycle information for common garden pests and beneficial
insects.
How
Bees See Their World - As a bee flies over
a flowering meadow at night, the flowers appear to twinkle! Learn more
here about how a bee sees.
Using
Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms (early elementary) - An excellent
site with details on many insects and their life cycles, feeding, habitat,
predators, cool behaviors, and impacts (positive and negative) on the
ecosystem. Also describes how to collect and/or where to buy each insect
and how to rear it in the classroom.
Monarch
Watch - This online project engages students and other citizen scientists
in Monarch butterfly research, tagging, and monitoring projects. The
Web site features curriculum ideas, details on rearing Monarchs and
their host plants, connections with research scientists, and a Monarch
Watch Butterfly Garden kit.
Xerces
Society: Enhancing Habitat for Native Bees - Thorough information
on selecting native and garden flowers, creating nesting sites, and
otherwise providing habitat for native bee pollinators.
Bugbios
- Articles, educational modules, and great photos.
Try
Science: Animal Attraction (Pollinator Matching Game) - An engaging
game in which students match pollinators to interactive clues.
Plant
Pest (and Beneficial Insect) Identification - Great images for identifying
garden visitors.
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