Identifying an Unknown Insect Species

This science lab was so much fun! I ordered plastic insects from US Toy and Rhode Island Novelty and we completed these activities in class! Here is what we did:

1) Every student got the SAME plastic insect and a sheet of 81/2 x 14 white copy paper. We drew a circle in the center of the paper and then labelled four sections:

What I Can Observe…
What I Can Compare…
What I Can Predict…
What I Can Infer….

We completed the four sections in this order as a class together. As we did each section, we talked about and shared ideas with one another. Everyone was engaged and focused! It was amazing!

2) Next, I gave each table group five different insects (one per student). The students then did the same mat with the same four sections for this new insect. They discussed ideas with one another, but since they all had different insects at the table, they needed to do the work on their own.

Once they were done, they regrouped with the other students in the classroom that had the SAME insect (but were sitting at the different tables), and shared their graphic organizers. Once they had shared their ideas, they had to make a large chart of the insect on a sheet of white bulletin board paper. They turned out great!