The Cricket Chronicles presents an extensive integrated unit of study focused on that familiar insect—the cricket. Teachers are given a complete guide and reproducible worksheets for elementary and middle school students. With more than 30 different activities on crickets, students learn science content and skills including:·Taxonomy ·Anatomy ·Ecology ·Marking and recapturing techniques for estimating population size ·Reading biological distribution maps ·Caring for living organisms in the classroom Many activities involve hands-on science investigations; others incorporate reading, writing, and using graphic organizers to compare crickets to kids and other insects. This book includes learning logs to help students complete all activities and assist the teacher in assessment. Technological applications are also included such as cricket songs, which can be downloaded and played in the classroom. Everything a teacher needs to know or do to successfully teach this unit is covered in The Cricket Chronicles, which is designed for classrooms of any size and is an original and fun alternative to the typical science curriculum.See also:Challenging Science and Literacy Activities for K-9 Students - The Cricket Chronicles, Teacher Edition
Catherine E. Matthews is an associate professor of K-12 science education at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She has a special interest in natural history and environmental education and has published widely on these topics.
Chapter 1 Finding Crickets & Describing Cricket HabitsChapter 2 Respecting CricketsChapter 3 Counting Crickets That Live in Your SchoolyardChapter 4 Counting Crickets Again & Collecting CricketsChapter 5 Designing & Creating Cricket HabitatsChapter 6 Reading about CricketsChapter 7 Comparing Kids and CricketsChapter 8 Looking at CricketsChapter 9 Constructing Models of CricketsChapter 10 Reading More about Crickets & Using Cricket WordsChapter 11 Coloring Cricket Body PartsChapter 12 Identifying Cricket Story PartsChapter 13 Finding Cricket Habitat PreferencesChapter 14 Cricket ConnoisseursChapter 15 Thinking about Feeding Crickets & Feeding CricketsChapter 16 Lifestyles of CricketsChapter 17 Measuring and Comparing Leg LengthsChapter 18 Jumping CricketsChapter 19 Singing or Chirping, Chirping or SingingChapter 20 Chirping CricketsChapter 21 Reading about Chirping Crickets: Fact and FictionChapter 22 Readers' Theater: Crickets on CallChapter 23 Cricket Life CyclesChapter 24 Molting Nymphs/Aging CricketsChapter 25 Crickets in Our CountryChapter 26 Crickets around the WorldChapter 27 Naming CricketsChapter 28 Cricket Conference: A Humanities SymposiumChapter 29 Cricket Conference: A Scientific SymposiumChapter 30 The Singing InsectsChapter 31 Songs of the Singers
My students were engaged and entranced by the crickets themselves, especially the hunt! I found the lessons interactive and invigorating.