Connecticut

NATURE Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.4; CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1,

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.5; CCSS.Math.Content.1.MD.C.4,
CCSS.Math.Content.1.MD.A.1

Insects are Incredible

Audubon Connecticut – Katie Blake and Francesca Williams

Did you know it takes 9,000 caterpillars to raise four baby Black-capped Chickadees!?
Insects- especially caterpillars- are really important to land birds. Nearly 96% of all land
birds require insect food for their babies to give them the protein they need to grow fast
and survive on their own. And where can birds find these tasty caterpillars? On native
plants- species of plants adapted to our local environment and climate. Caterpillars, be-
fore they transform into moths and butterflies, get their energy by feeding on the leaves of
our native plants. Our native insects and plants have spent millions of years co-evolving
which is what makes their relationship work. This is not the case for non-native plants. To
illustrate this difference, take a look at these two groups of trees—our native oaks in the
genus Quercus are the best trees for caterpillars, hosting over 530 species of caterpillars.
Whereas Ginkgo, a commonly planted ornamental landscaping tree from Asia, supports
only 4 species of caterpillars. Oak trees win! And wherever we can’t plant native plants- at
home or at school- birds win too! See our Bring it Home section below to learn more about
Vocabulary

what to plant in your backyard or schoolyard to help birds and pollinators

Abdomen –The last of three body parts on an insect, after the head and thorax.
Antennae – Long, skinny movable feelers on an insect’s head that help with touching, hearing and smelling.
Head—The first body part of an insect, which include the eyes, mouth and antennae.
Insect—An invertebrate that has three body parts, six les and an exoskeleton.
Thorax—The middle body part of an insect between the head and the abdomen. Legs and wings grow from the thorax.

Bring it Home! Student

Help birds (and insects) by planting for them!
Audubon Connecticut is one of 10 state Na-
tional Audubon offices across the country pilot-
ing the Audubon Native Plant Database and
promoting the campaign Plants for Birds-Let’s
Grow 1 million Bird-friendly Plants Together.
Help us in this goal by planting for birds at your
home or school! For help on figuring out what
to plant for birds, visit our native plant data-
base- ct.audubon.org/plantsforbirds
Activities
• Conduct an investigation! Take students out in the schoolyard to look for
insects in different locations of your schoolyard. Were non-insects found
as well as insects? Where did they find the most insects? Have students
make a prediction and use their observations as evidence to support their
claims.
• My favorite insect! Download the My Favorite Insect sheet from the
Audubon CT Schoolyard Habitat Program Curriculum Guide. Have
students complete this sheet on one of the insects they found in the
schoolyard. To avoid taking insects home, have students take a picture of
or draw their insect, and give their insect a name before leaving school. At
home, they can use a field guide orBugGuide.net to identify their insect and
find out where it lives, what it eats, and who its predators are.
• Make a class field guide! Download the My Favorite Insect sheet from the
Audubon CT Schoolyard Habitat Program Curriculum Guide. Have each
student in the class fill out their own sheet, and create a class insect field
guide by bundling all the completed sheets together.
• Poetry jam! Have students create a poem about one of the insects they
found in the schoolyard. Host a poetry jam for students to share their
poems!
• Counting and sorting! Lead students through an activity of counting and
sorting how many insects were found on the ground in the schoolyard
versus plants, and under the ground. Create a bar graph of insects found in
the schoolyard (categorizing by general type: ant, bee, grasshopper, etc.).
Students can also sort the insects they found in the schoolyard by length
using the categories: short, long, longest.
• Literacy through movies! View a segment of the film, Microcosmos.
Have students verbally describe what they see, ensuring they use details
to express their ideas clearly. Essentially, students will write the narration
to this movie segment. In a different movie segment, students should write
their opinion about what is happening, using details and clear reasons to
support their opinions. Have student compare and
contrast their narrative piece with their opinion
piece.
• Need more ideas? Download the Audubon
CT Schoolyard Habitat Curriculum Guide at
http://ct.audubon.org/school and check out the
Investigating Insects lesson!