Friday, September 2, 2011

Lovely Ladybugs


DAY ONE: After a simple explanation of the life cycle, I read some lady bug facts.  We then watched the video of the ladybug taking flight (super cool!) 
facts & slow motion video of one flying
simple illustration
ladybug anatomy

Then, we looked at a ruler to see how tiny ladybugs are.
Ladybug on a finger
Tennessee ladybug on finger shows actual size of insect -
photo © Lindsey T on
Flickr - use permitted with attribution

Next, I did a Venn diagram and we re-discovered facts of ladybugs, comparing them with what we already knew about people.


After, we prepped the components of the ladybug.  At Michael's we found a 99cent 12-pack of various sized circles.

Kelsey painted the circles for abdomen, Pronotum, and head black. (Fun Fact: Ladybugs can pull their head into their Pronotum, just as a turtle does it's shell.) 


She cut my pre-drawn outline of wings from waxed paper. (Fun Fact: Ladybug wings are so thin that they are seethru.) 


She cut then painted the Elytra (wing covers). 
Black pipe cleaners were cut, with assistance for the antennae and legs. 

 
DAY TWO: Together we assembled her ladybug.
Kelsey glued on black buttons for the spots and eyes. 

 

 She holepunched and thread the pipe cleaners so the legs and antannae would be moveable.
 She glued on the Pronotum. (Do you get the feeling I like that word?)

 We attached a popsicle stick to the head and glued on a piece of cardstock so the head could slide up and down from the Pronotum.

 
We have to head to the store for brass brads so the wings and wing covers will be moveable, too. *See how the head can hide under the Pronotum? 

 (How many times did I use the word Pronotum in this entry? hee hee!)


1 comment:

  1. This is AWESOME! I love that it's an art project that also a science project with the pronotum!! (I never knew that they were like turtles - very cool info!)

    Can I be in your class? :o)

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