Challenging Science and Literacy Activities

The Cricket Chronicles presents an extensive integrated unit of study focused on that familiar insect-the cricket. Teachers are given a complete guide and reproducible worksheets for elementary and middle school students. With more than 30 different activities on crickets, students learn science content and skills including: Taxonomy, Anatomy, Ecology, Marking and recapturing techniques for estimating population size, Reading biological distribution maps, Caring for living organisms in the classroom. Many activities involve hands-on science investigations; others incorporate reading, writing, and using graphic organizers to compare crickets to kids and other insects.

Catherine T. Matthews is an associate professor of K-12 science education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Welcome to the Cricket Chronicles

vii

Student Questionnaire

ix

Organization of My Cricket Chronicles Learning Log

xi

Finding Crickets & Describing Cricket Habitats

1

(4)

We search the schoolyard to determine where crickets live. We describe cricket habitats

Respecting Crickets

5

(2)

We talk about respect for all living creatures and how to care for crickets in captivity

Counting Crickets That Live in Your Schoolyard

7

(4)

We catch crickets in the schoolyard, mark them and release them

Counting Crickets Again & Collecting Crickets

11

(2)

We catch crickets again in the schoolyard. We count the number of marked crickets and the number of unmarked crickets to estimate how large the cricket population is on our school grounds. We also collect crickets to bring into the classroom to use for this project

Designing & Creating Cricket Habitats

13

(2)

We plan and create classroom habitats for our crickets

Reading about Crickets

15

(3)

We read books about crickets and complete KWLS tables about crickets

Comparing Kids and Crickets

18

(3)

We see how we are both alike and different from crickets

Looking at Crickets

21

(4)

We look closely at crickets and describe their body parts

Constructing Models of Crickets

25

(8)

We build a model of a cricket to help us learn more about its body parts

Reading More about Crickets & Using Cricket Words

33

(3)

We learn more about crickets by reading a story and learning new vocabulary words

Coloring Cricket Body Parts

36

(2)

We color diagrams of crickets to help us learn more about their body parts

Identifying Cricket Story Parts

38

(3)

We read a story about crickets and write a story about crickets to learn the parts of a story

Finding Cricket Habitat Preferences

41

(4)

We test and change our habitats to fit the needs and preferences of crickets

Cricket Connoisseurs

45

(3)

We study the foods that crickets eat and the predators that feed on crickets

Thinking about Feeding Crickets & Feeding Crickets

48

(4)

We think about foods that crickets eat in their natural habitats and what we could easily feed crickets in captivity. We find out what types of foods crickets prefer

Lifestyles of Crickets

52

(2)

We find out if our crickets prefer living with other crickets or living alone

Measuring and Comparing Leg Lengths

54

(8)

We compare the length of our legs to the lengths of crickets' legs using molted exoskeletons

Jumping Crickets

62

(4)

We find out if you can jump as far as your crickets can jump

Singing or Chirping, Chirping or Singing

66

(2)

We learn about how, when, and why crickets chirp

Chirping Crickets

68

(2)

We investigate how temperature and light affect the rate at which crickets chirp

Reading about Chirping Crickets: Fact and Fiction

70

(2)

We listen to a book about a cricket and distinguish fact from fiction in the book

Readers' Theater: Crickets on Call

72

(1)

We write a Readers' Theater script about crickets and then we conduct the performance

Cricket Life Cycles

73

(2)

We study the life cycle of crickets as they change from eggs to nymphs to adults

Molting Nymphs/Aging Crickets

75

(2)

We study the life cycle of crickets as they change from nymphs to adults and shed their skins

Crickets in Our Country

77

(8)

We use six distribution maps of six different crickets to tell which crickets live in our state

Crickets around the World

85

(2)

We study crickets that live in other countries and the word for cricket in other languages

Naming Crickets

87

(3)

We study both the common names and the scientific names for crickets

Cricket Conference: A Humanities Symposium

90

(2)

We read, write, and share poems about crickets

Cricket Conference: A Scientific Symposium

92

(3)

We write scientific reports about our cricket studies and share these with our class

The Singing Insects

95

(2)

We compare crickets with other singing insects: grasshoppers, katydids, and cicadas

Songs of the Singers

97

(2)

We learn to distinguish katydids from crickets based on the characteristics of their songs

Goodbye to The Cricket Chronicles

99

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Challenging Science and Literacy Activities for K-9 Students - The Cricket Chronicles

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials