Ten cartoon animals fill the top of page 1 of this 3-page 1st grade science sheet: an ant, a spider, a bee, an earthworm, a butterfly, a snail, a ladybug, a bird, a grasshopper and a crab. Students write each name in an Insect or Not an insect chart. Page 2 sets a spider next to an ant, with a table for legs and body parts and a short written answer on why a spider is not an insect. Page 3 is the answer key.
“Tell insects from other animals by counting legs and body parts.”
The chart sorts five insects from a spider, an earthworm, a snail, a bird and a crab.
“Know that an insect has six legs and three body parts.”
The table compares a spider with 8 legs and 2 body parts against an ant with 6 and 3.
“Use numbers as evidence to explain why an animal is not an insect.”
Question 2 on page 2 asks why a spider is not an insect.
Students count the legs on each animal and write its name in a two-column chart. Each column has five lines.
Two pictures and a table with a row for each animal. Students write the number of legs and the number of body parts for both.
One written question, Why is a spider not an insect, with four lines for the answer.
The sorted names, the table values (8 legs and 2 body parts for the spider, 6 and 3 for the ant) and a model sentence for the written question.
Count together
Project page 1 and count the legs on the ant and the spider as a class before anyone sorts. Then let students do the other eight alone.
Worm and snail
Watch the earthworm and the snail. Students who sort by small and crawly will call them insects, so ask them to find the legs.
Exit ticket
Page 2 works alone as a five-minute exit ticket. A student who writes 8 and 2 for the spider but cannot say why it is not an insect has shown you the next mini-lesson.
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