Introduction

You are about to become an insect expert!  A person who studies insects is called an entomologist.  There are a lot of things to learn about insects: what kind of body parts they have, what they eat, how they protect themselves,where they live, their life cycle, and how they adapt to their environment.   

You have an Insect Facts Page the you will use to take notes on your insect.  You will visit websites that are in this webquest and find out information that you will write down on your Insect Facts Page.  You will use these notes to write a paragraph on each of the topics on your page.  After you write your paragraphs, you will need to proofread them and write a final draft for your report.

Your Insects Fact Page has six sections. You will need to take notes on each section.

1. Click on the following link and take notes on the body parts of insects:  Entomology for Beginnners

2. Click on the following link and click on the insect you have chosen to research and fill out as much as you can on your Insect Facts Page: Koday's Kids: Amazing Insects

3. Use the websites provided to research more on your insect.

    Amazing Insects

    Metamorphosis and more information on insects at bottom of page

    Pictures of Insects

    More pictures

    even more pictures  

    Bug Guide

    Bug Bios

    Virtual Insectary

Make sure that you have taken notes on each section of your Insect Fact Page.  Have you found out what your insect looks like?  Draw a picture of it and label the body parts.

What does your insect eat?  Does anything eat your insect?  What does it do to protect itself?  Where does it live?  What other kind of animals live in the same area?  What is your insect's life cycle?  Does it have a full metamorphosis or a partial metamorphosis?  Did you learn anything else that was interesting about your insect?  Make sure you include it in your notes and in your report.

You may also use books in the classroom to take notes on your insect or books from the library.

Once your notes are finished, we will work on them in class to turn them into paragraphs for your report.

Your notes will be graded according to the scoring guide listed below.  Each of you will recieve a score based on the amount of information that you are able to find and record on your Insect Fact Page.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Notes on insect body and body parts	2 notes or facts written on facts page	3 notes or facts written on facts page	4 or more facts written on facts page	5 or more facts written on facts page
Notes on insect's food	2 notes or facts written on facts page	3 notes or facts written on facts page	4 or more facts written on facts page	5 or more facts written on facts page
notes on defenses	2 notes or facts written on facts page	3 notes or facts written on facts page	4 or more facts written on facts page	5 or more facts written on facts page
notes on habitat	2 notes or facts written on facts page	3 notes or facts written on facts page	4 or more facts written on facts page	5 or more facts written on facts page
notes on life cycle	2 notes or facts written on facts page	3 notes or facts written on facts page	4 or more facts written on facts page	5 or more facts written on facts page

Congratulations on your insect research and final report!  Insects are an important part of our habitat and the most successful animal on our planet!  I have included a couple of additional links if you would like to extend your investigation into the insect world.

FossWeb Insects Module

Yahoo! kids insect directory

Alien Empire

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/alienempire/

http://www.bijlmakers.com/entomology/begin.htm

http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4TH/KKHP/1insects/bugmenu.html

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegallery/

http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740

http://www.bugbios.com/entophiles/index.html

http://www.virtualinsectary.com/

http://www.fossweb.com/modulesK-2/Insects/index.html

http://kids.yahoo.com/directory/Science-and-Nature/Living-Things/Animals/Invertebrates/Arthropods/Insects