Insect Life Cycle Level L
Text Type: Nonfiction • Word Count: 528

Book Summary
Have you ever wondered how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly or how many insects there are in the world? If so, then you must read Insect Life Cycle. This introductory text is appropriate for children who want to do research on insects. You can also introduce children to the concepts of chapters, main ideas, supporting details, a table of contents, and an index.

Lesson Objectives

Reading Strategies
Children should use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning and comprehend text. The targeted strategy for this lesson is: Context Clues.
Insects tend to be something that many children are interested in and know something about. Using this to your advantage, context clues will be helpful in decoding words and establishing meaning for children. By making connections between what they are reading and what they already know about insects, children will be exhibiting their comprehension of the subject matter being presented in the text.

Word and Print Skills
Phonics
ee, ea, final e, and sometimes ies have the same long e sound

Word Work
Punctuation—Commas to list and separate ideas
Throughout this book, commas are used to list and separate ideas. This is a concept that may be new to children. By going through the book and showing and discussing how the author used commas to list and separate, you can introduce or reinforce this use of commas to children.

Compound words
After reading the text, have children go back through the text, looking specifically for compound words. There are several throughout the book. Again, if the books are consumable, you can have children highlight, circle, or box in the word on the page in one color, and use a different color to identify a different aspect of the word. If books are not consumable, post-its would work. Using different colored post-its or pencils will make the various words you are focusing on easier to distinguish between.

Comprehension
You will likely address a number of comprehension skills as children work to understand the text. The targeted comprehension strategy for this lesson is: Sequencing.
ß Because this book discusses two different types of insect life cycles, you can teach children about both the three- and four-stage insect life cycle. After reading the book, children can summarize and explain, in sequence, the two different types of insect life cycles. This can be done verbally or in a written format.

Visual Learning
Illustrations and photos in books are important to help children gain a full understanding of what they are reading. The photos in this book provide a first hand look at many of the concepts being introduced. If the concept being introduced or any part of it is new to children, the pictures will help in the comprehension of the topic at hand. Be sure to look at and point out the different pictures, and to help children incorporate the photos into the reading.

Targeted Vocabulary Words
Content Words
The following content words fall into the category of Insect Life Cycles and come directly from the book.
Antennae, announce, cocoon, fossil, larva(e), mosquitoes, nymph, poisonous, pupa

These are only some of the words you may wish to go over with children. Any words you feel may be difficult for children should be introduced prior to reading to help children when it comes time for them to read independently. You may want to go over some of the captions from the pictures during this time.

Using the Worksheet
Using a KWL chart for this book would be useful and appropriate. By using a KWL chart, you will be able to see what children Know or think they Know, what they Want to know, and what they have Learned throughout these lessons. To make a KWL chart, use a large piece of paper or tag board and divide it into three columns. Have the letters K on the top of the first column on the left, W on the top in the middle, and L on the top in the right hand column. Talk to children about what they Know or think they Know about the life cycles of insects. Write everything they say down in the K column. Accept everything they say; if they say things that you know are wrong, you can talk to them about why they think what they do, and see if any of the other children agree or disagree with the statement. You do not want to say too much during this time. This is a time for children to brainstorm and for you to accept everything they are saying. Always remember that when you fill in the "what they Learned" column you will see that children have found out what they thought was correct was not. After you fill in the K section, you can talk to children about any questions they have regarding the life cycle of insects and write in their questions. Questions can always be added to the W column. This is a good place to look for questions that can be used later for research, etc. After reading the book and learning more, you can begin filling in the L column. As children learn more, they can add what they have Learned to this column.

If you feel that this is giving away too much information, you can do this after introducing the book. This is appropriate to do during the Building Background phase.