Friday Freebie...on a Saturday:)

Happy Saturday Friends! It's a beautiful Saturday morning here in Hawaii! I have lots of things going on today so I am going to jump right in to my Friday Freebie! Welcome Karen from Teaching and Growing Together!

Hi Everyone,

            I am so delighted to have the chance to feature my freebie this Friday. I appreciate Tonya's invitation to visit her blog, and to show off my insect  resource, called CritterCraze.  

 I came up with this activity after going out with a group of third graders and realizing I just needed a better way for them to write down their observations.  They had their clipboards and pencils, excitement, ... and their bugs!  But we did not have guidelines so that we could share our information.  So, this turned out to be a more efficient way for us to observe, draw, take notes, and to make predictions and inferences about our short while little pets!

My kids felt very scientific when they did this, especially the part under observations. I have to make sure we will all know the difference between insects and spiders before we take off and find our specimens. 

   

This packet will also provide a good template for writing a report about an insect.  This task is so difficult for a lot of students. But the frame gives kids that chance to add their own words while having a scaffold to get them going.

I especially love the jar page!   

The magnifying glass is a symbol to remind the kids that they need to not only  look closely, but to think carefully about their unique insect.  I hope you get a chance to check out this freebie. During almost any season, your students should find a bug or two hiding somewhere--whether indoors or outdoors!  They'll love the feeling of writing like real entomologists.   

 Thanks for letting me share. 

I hope you have a wonderful school year!  

 ~Karen