Milkweed+Bugs

Life Cycle
eggs - 1 week Right after hatching, they molt once A week later, molt again They molt 5 times until they are an adult. This takes about 4-8 weeks. Once they are adults, they don't molt anymore. One week after they are adults, they mate. They can live about 2 months as adults.

Session 1: Eggs

 * Learning Target: I can describe the life cycle of insects. (We will only begin this Learning Target today.)
 * Lesson Plan: [|Investigation 3 Lesson 1.doc]

When the milkweed bug eggs start to hatch, do:

Session 3: Milkweed Bugs
Session 2: Habitats
 * Learning Target: I can list what insects need to survive, and how the milkweed bugs get each of the 4 things they need in their classroom habitats.
 * Lesson Plan: [|Investigation 3 Lesson 2.doc]

Prep and set-up:
 * For each group of 4, get a plastic bag and poke a hole in the bottom with the wooden dowl in the kit for the water vial to go through. Also make a hole with a pencil in the side of the bags for the tube from the water supply.
 * Make the water supply vials by poking another hole in the top (it should have two holes in the top) and putting a tube in the hole.
 * Collect twigs (about 3 or 4 per group), cotton balls, sunflower seeds, squares of paper towels, sunflower seeds, rubber bands, pushpins, cardboard, netting
 * Have the syringe ready and a container of water
 * Practice making a habitat so you know how!

Lesson
Procedure:
 * Bring vials to rug. Have students look in them and describe what has happened. Ask: What are the yellow things? [eggs] What color are the insects? Do they have legs? Where are they in the vial?
 * Tell them these are milkweed bugs that hatched out of the eggs. Tell them baby milkweed bugs are called nymphs.
 * Review 4 needs of insects (air, water, food, space).
 * Tell them they are going to make habitats for their milkweed bugs. A habitat is a home.
 * Give each student a job in the habitat assembly for their group. (Have cards with needs on them so each student is assigned a job.) They will be responsible for either food, air, water, or space.
 * The jobs are:
 * water: make a wick with the paper towel; use a syringe to fill the water supply (with adult help, after an adult installs it in the habitat)
 * air: poke holes in the bag
 * space: put the sticks together with a rubber band and attach some cotton to it
 * food: put the sunflower seeds in the netting and close up with a rubber band
 * Demonstrate how to set up the habitat, using the directions in the curriculum. As you demonstrate each step, ask who is in charge of this step in the class, so they really pay attention to their step.
 * Let students start to set up habitats, according to directions in the curriculum. They should each get their part ready, but NOT put it all together. Once they have all the parts ready, a teacher can collect the parts and call groups over one by one to assemble them and fill the water supply. (Other kids can work on the worksheet or do something else while this happens)
 * Hang the habitats.
 * Note the date that the nymphs arrived on the class calendar.
 * Hand out worksheet: Milkweed bug habitat, so students can draw the habitat and label the 4 needs of insects. (Or just have them do this in science notebooks.)

Follow-up sessions
Do observations of milkweed bug nymphs when they hatch; teach the word "nymphs," and record observations on class chart. Begin a life-cycle drawing of the egg and the nymph. Students do observational sketches and writing.

Writing Lesson on habitat set-up