Daily Plan: Day 1

Objectives

Teacher
Information

Background

Basic Lesson
Outline

Daily Plan
- Day 1
- Days 2-4
- Days 5-10
- Days 11-19

Student
Information

The Behavior of Ants

Daily Plan

Day 1

For three minutes, have students, in groups of three, individually write everything they know about ant behavior in their own journals.

As the groups finish, each group discusses and then chooses three of their ideas and writes them on a piece of butcher paper posted in front of the classroom. Groups should not repeat ideas already posted.

Briefly clarify students' ideas so that everyone understands all the statements posted on the butcher paper. Do not judge, correct or talk about the content of the statements in any way.

For three minutes, students write in their journals what they would like to know about ant behavior.

As the groups finish, each group discusses and then chooses three of their ideas and writes them on a different piece of butcher paper posted in front of the classroom. Groups should not repeat ideas already posted.

Again, briefly clarify students ideas so that everyone understands all the statements posted on the butcher paper. Do not judge, correct or talk about the content of the statements in any way.

Now have students write the following statements in their journals:

Not all ants look the same!
Not all ants have the same behaviors!

Tell students that their first assignment of this activity will be to make some observations about ants. They should start by describing the physical aspects (color, size...etc.) of one ant and then go on to describe some of the behavioral observations they make.

The class will then go outside to look at two separate ant colonies for the remainder of the period. Students should record everything they see/observe for the ants until they fill at least one side of a sheet of paper.
Additional resources

The University of Arizona
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
General Biology Program for Secondary Teachers
warder@email.arizona.edu