Activity sheets:
The Ants Go Marching
Teacher Preparation:
- Scout the playground for active ant colonies. Look for areas that are easy for the class to work in and that are not in high traffic areas. Avoid areas with poisonous plants, venomous animals and treacherous terrain.
- Once you have identified the colony you will be using for the observations, notify the custodian so that he/she does not try to kill the colony while you are doing the lesson.
- Three discussions are recorded on butcher paper (Introduction, Activities 2 and 4). Prepare bulletin board space or other wall space for displaying chart throughout the lesson.
- In Activity 3, using small groups for the school yard field trip is easier if you have school volunteers, parents or student teachers to facilitate a group.
- Many of the observations and discussions are greatly enhanced if you have access to a live ant colony that you could keep in the classroom. A successful colony must have a queen ant.
- Using learning centers with this lesson has been successful. A cassette tape of Ant Cities can be a listening center. Make "ants on a log" with celery filled with peanut butter and topped with a row of raisins as a contribution to making a meal.
- Take care when guiding discussions about families and family issues. Sensitive experiences may emerge from the students (i.e. divorce, abuse, domestic violence).
- Gather remaining materials and books (see Bibliography).
Materials:
- Ant colony (inside or outside) (If inside, set up colony at least one week in advance)
- Individual student journals.
- Food for ants (options: sugar, tuna, dry pet food, popped popcorn, peanut butter, etc.)
- Butcher paper
- Magnifiers (optional)
- Marge Blaine, A Terrible Thing that Happened at Our House; Arthur Dorros, Ant Cities; Elizabeth Star Hill, Evan's Corner; or Aylette Jenness, Families; Leo Lionni, Frederick; Vera B. Williams, A Chair for My Mother; Alexei Tolstoy and Helen Otenbury, The Great Big Enormous Turnip.
- Any supporting fiction and non-fiction literature that may not be suggested in the bibliography.
Ant Information Sheets
Ant Rearing Sheets
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