Extensions
- Use a butterfly, beetle or fly to compare complete metamorphosis with the incomplete metamorphosis of the milkweed bug.
- Have the students make celebration announcements for major events in the milkweed bugs development (i.e. when the egg hatches, when the wings appear, etc.)
- As a art activity, construct milkweed bugs out of paper or brown paper bags. Color or paint the wings and body with orange and black.
- Mark places on a map where milkweed bugs are found around the United States.
- Use milkweed seed pods as food for the milkweed bugs to observe their natural feeding behavior.
- Sing Songs from the tape: This Pretty Planet, Brattleboro Music Center, 6 Willow Street, Brattleboro, VT, 05301.
- Combine studies of the milkweed bug with Halloween festivities and include a skeleton theme and orange and black colors.
- Write stories, either fiction or non-fiction about milkweed bugs.
- Study other insects that live on milkweed plants through field trips or library research.
- Use the drawings of milkweed bugs to study patterns and math problems.
Words with Special Meanings
(for understanding only, not to be tested)
- Bungalow: a small one-story house or cottage.
- Complete metamorphosis: a four-stage life cycle: egg-larvae-pupa-adult, with major structural changes (larval stage includes several instars depending on the insect).
- Exoskeleton: a hard, protective covering found on insects (skeleton on outside).
- Hypothesis (hypotheses, plural): a tentative explanation for a question that can be tested using experimentation.
- Incomplete metamorphosis: a three-stage life cycle: egg-nymph-adult, with minor structural changes (nymph stage includes several instars depending on the insect. Milkweed bug has five instars).
- Instar: time between molts.
- Metamorphosis: the change of an insect (or other animal) from one form to another as it develops into an adult.
- Molt: to shed the exoskeleton or outer skin and make room for new growth. As an insect grows, it molts several times before it reaches the adult stage.
- Observe: to look at and pay special attention to what something does, what it looks like, and how it changes.
- Predict: to guess what you believe will happen.
Bibliography
Cooney, Barbara. Island Boy. New York: Viking Kestral, Viking Penguin.
De Paola, Tomi. One Foot, the Other Foot. (A book and a movie)
Fisher, Aileen. When It Comes to Bugs. New York: Harper and Row, 1986
Hill, Elizabeth Starr. Evan's Corner. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1967
Hutchins, Pat. Happy Birthday, Sam. New York: Puffin (Viking Penguin), 1978
Hutchins, Pat. You'll Soon Grow into Theirs, Titch. New York: Greenwillow Books, 1983.
Miles, Miska. Annie and the Old One. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1971.
Munsch, Robert. Love You Forever. Ontario, Canada: Firefly Books, 1986.
Johnston, Tony. Yonder. New York: Dial books, 1988
Keats, Ezra Jack. Peter's Chair. Harper & Row, New York, 1967
Kellogg, Steven. Much Bigger Than Martin. New York: Dial Books, 1976
McGavin, George. Discovering Bugs. New York: The Bookwright Press, 1989
Panks, P. Hugh. Field Guide and Activity Book. New York: Workman Publishing, 1987
Russon, Monica. The Insect Almanac. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 1991
Slater, James and Richard Baranowski. How to Know the True Bugs. Dubuque, IA: William C. Brown Co., 1978
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