Non Fiction 2

I Love Bugs!

Dodd, E. (2010). I love bugs!  
    London: Orchard Books  
    ISBN 978-0-8234-2280-7

"I Love Bugs!" is a large brightly colored picture book ideal for preschoolers. Its rhyming and descriptive language takes the reader and their audience through a discovery of all sorts of bugs. Bugs that crawl, fly, sting, hop and at the end send you screaming. The illustrations are large for reading in a group and the author/illustrator has used bright colours with different textures to apply the paint so that each page seems to jump out at you. We thought children would have fun looking at all the different bugs on each page and making the sounds of the insects that they discover along the way. Our group chose this book for preschoolers as bugs are so fascinating to children and also sometimes frightening. Bugs are found everywhere indoors but preferably outdoors and we thought it would be fun to discover bugs together and familiarize children to the different bugs found in nature.  

Provocation:

(1)Have the “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Yo-yo Ma and Bobby McFerrin playing.

Some children will probably identify the sound of the bumblebee; maybe have some wings out so the children could act being a bumblebee along with the music. Children could be at the painting or drawing areas and be painting the flight of the bumblebee.

(2)Have a bunch of plastic bugs out where real bugs may be in the sand table; in the water table, hide a few around the classroom under tables etc.

That may elicit a conversation about where they might find bugs at home or in the backyard, at the park, under, in, hanging from things.

3 ways to present the book:
(1)Present like a gift, show cover and read title. Hmmm, I think this book is going to be about bugs! Let’s see! Note author and illustrator are the same person! How talented and creative!

Read the book at circle time or with a small group after “Flight of the bumblebee” provocation. Pause at the bumblebee page to elicit the sound of bumblebees from the class, pause again at the sting page to wonder if anyone has had a sting from an insect. This book is short and wouldn’t be necessary to chunk. We could have a discussion about what bugs students like and dislike after reading and why. I wonder why spiders are so scary to us. Share a personal story of an experience with a bee. Sing “Here is a beehive.”

(2)Read the book at circle time or with a small group after the “bug discovery” around classroom. Pause at the beetle page “Oh, Look at that big beetle! He’s got a frown on his face. I wonder why he has a frown. May get a response “because he lives under the rock and the boy disturbed him!” Pause again at the “glide across the ground’ page, “Oh look at all those legs! This bug must be a centipede or a millipede with all of those legs. I wonder where we could find one of those?” Perhaps get a response “under a rock or log!” “Let’s go look for one!” could incorporate song “Shoo fly” and versions of “Itsy bitsy and Great Big spider.”

(3) Movement and participation - Have the children choose a bug from the “discover bugs around the classroom” provocation. Have one yourself, show the class your bug and demonstrate how you think the bug might move or the sound it might make. “I have a big black spider, I think it would creep and crawl on it’s long hairy legs like this.” Go around the class and give each child a turn to move or make a sound like their bug. If having trouble have the class help “I wonder how that bug would move or I wonder what kind of sound that bug would make?” Tell the story orally and have each child hold up their bug when they think it’s their part. “I love springy jumpy leapy bugs.” Should see lots of hands with bugs in the air and buzzing sounds. (could also use musical instruments for different bug sounds).

3 possible extensions for learning.

(1) After presentation number one, have some non-fiction bug books out at the book area for the children to explore on their own or for educators to explore with in small groups. Choose 2 bugs a beetle (ground bug) and a dragonfly (flying bug) enlarge in colour, showing details of wings or legs have at drawing table with some white paper and black pens. In small groups the children could draw the bugs or create their own bug. Use rich descriptive language from the text to describe bugs they are drawing. “Oh, I see your spiky spiny beetle bug.” “I see your flouncy, frilly flutter bug.”

(2)After presentation number two, go outside for a nature walk with a few plastic containers with the lids perforated for air and some magnifying glasses. Go look for bugs, eliciting from children where we might find them. Thinking of our text, where was “the spiky spiny” beetle hiding? Or I wonder where the “slimy crawly creepy bugs” live? We could collect some in the containers and the children could explore them in the field. We would be sure to put them back in their homes. Remembering from the text how angry the spiky beetle looked when disturbed. This would also be fun in the rain to explore the worms!

(3) Field trip to the Ecology Centre in North Vancouver. They have excellent educational programs for preschoolers that cover the insects found in our local area and forests.

(4) If possible the class could invest in a terrarium and some stick bugs. These bugs are very easy to care for and the children and adults find them fascinating. We could then teach caring for the bugs, what do they eat/drink, how we clean the tank, cycle of nature when they reproduce and how long they live for.