Finally, finally getting started with our project!

I ordered the ladybug larvae today! I can't believe that it is late October. Where did the months go???? My class is very active and it has taken this long for us to start to settle down. I know I am being unrealistic with the approach of Halloween. This seems to take over everything else.
We are also having visitors this week for a district program called FOCUS ON RESULTS. Basically it is taking an area of the curriculum and trying to improve in that area. We've chosen Reading Comprehension. We are studying about Best Practices and then we are choosing a few of them to implement in our classrooms. This is our second year in the program. Needless to say, we've been busy trying to have something to display in all of our classrooms.
I am ready to start working on our project about Ladybugs. The ladybugs should arrive this week and then we're off!

Keeping Ladybugs in the Classroom

Hello everyone!

Susan,
I am sorry that I was not able to participate on the blog as I had intended. But I did want to share our groups "ladybug care and feeding tips." ....

The children create a habitat using a large goldfish bowl, a layer of soil, a plant and anything else they think is appropriate.
Get several raisins.( Guess raisins taste like aphids. Yum!) Soak them in water for about 5 minutes. Then blot them dry on a paper towel and cut them in half and place them in the habitat in a feeding dish made from a jar lid.We also provide water on a sponge.

To keep the ladybugs from escaping we place a piece of nylon pantyhose over the top of the bowl and secure it with a rubber band.
You can observe and investigate them for about a week.
Then set them free to "fly away home".
Probably that will be MY home since we always get tons of ladybugs hibernating in the cracks between the logs on my house.

Hope everyone has a wonderful school year!

~Hope

Hi Everyone,

My name is Norma Goddard. I teach 3rd grade in the Los Angeles area of southern California. I've participated in many of Susan's projects in the past and each one has been a wonderful experience for my class and me. It always surprises me how creative our students are when given the opportunity to do so.

School starts the day after Labor Day. As soon as the weather cools down a bit, I will order the ladybug larvae. I guess it is too hot to send them by mail right now. When I taught 2nd grade we had ladybug larvae and as I remember it the children really enjoyed learning about them. Now in 3rd grade we will study their life cycle and see how they have adapted to their environment. I think this will be a great unit to start the year.

Gettin' Ready for Fall

Hi all.

I've gotten started on our project. I hope to have live ladybugs in our classroom during 1st or 2nd quarter. What gets me is that I just found out that we might not have Science until 2nd Semester. So I am planning on having Math and Language Arts activities and adopting the ladybugs as classroom pets that we photograph a good bit. When 2nd Semester comes around and we study insects, I can bring back the pictures and use them as prior experience.

I teach Special Needs children in grades 6-8. My kiddos function academically somewhere between K and 1st grade. I have 1 new student coming up who functions on the level of a 6 to 12 month old. (talk about finding ways to differentiate!)

Here's the webpage I've started with the help of a very talented photographer who gave me permission to use his photos. www.incrediblefalcons.com/Ladybug.html

I made a worksheet (linked on the page) that focuses on state insects for the US Postcard Exchange that I'm hosting. It'll make a nice addition to Ladybug Day I think.

~Rebecca

Getting started

Well, I'm finally getting started on the Ladybug project. I teach second grade in central New York and Ladybugs are a part of our science curriculum. There's a strong possibility that I'll be teaching computer classes next year instead of second grade which I think will be a fun change of pace. Because of this possible change I've decided I need to become more proficient in using PowerPoint and I need to learn how to use our interactive whiteboard in our computer lab.

So, I'm combining all this into my unit. I'm working on a PowerPoint presentation to introduce the unit on the interactive whiteboard. I want the children to research the life cycle of the ladybug and learn the names of its body parts. My goal is to have links on the PowerPoint to pictures of projects that have been done previously to give the children some ideas on what they can do. (Songs, reports, PowerPoints, drawings, poetry, puppet shows) Being able to select how to research and how to do a presentation on their own is a new concept! However, I think this time of year will be a great time to give it a try. In central New York we're in school until June 22, so keeping the kids involved in learning can be a challenge at times. I haven't been observed yet so I asked my principal today if will observe my introductory lesson when I'm ready and he said he would.

We can get ladybugs with our science kits but they come as adults so basically we watch them crawl around and then die. So, this year I'm going to order the larva through a website so we can observe more of the life cycle. We watched monarch caterpillars in the fall so that will be a nice connection.

If anybody has any other ideas for me I'd be happy to hear them.

Nedra

Ladybugs Activities

Holidays are always good for exploring new things without pressure. I took a careful look at the work done by Susan’s graduate students on ladybugs. I always appreciated the power of PowerPoint but this time I was really impressed by the creativity in using this program as to create Ladybugs Activities. Great work!

Dana

UDL

I just discovered this Webinar. Dr. David Rose discusses Universal Design for Learning. Share this one with your colleagues!

UDL Book Builder - VERY CUTE!!

I just discovered a great site for UDL Book Builder. The story about the Tadpoles may give you some ideas for your students.

http://bookbuilder.cast.org/

Take a look and let me know what you think.

Introduction to Lucky Ladybug blog

This blog is to for us to talk about the Lucky Ladybug project. If you have ideas, questions, information to share this is our 'discussion board'.

To get us started as participants join us, we can introduce ourselves here. Let us know where you are from, what you teach, and a little information about your students and your school.

Posting to blog

You can see the tab for Posting at the top left. Click on Create right below. You will see a screen like the one on the left.







Then enter your title of the posting.
Then you can type your message in the window.

A toolbar is across the top for customing the font and align the text.











The final step is to click the publish button.

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This is our rss feed url.
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Yahoo and Google also have feed readers.
Once you begin to use a feed reader, you'll begin to wonder how you ever lived without it!

WELCOME to Lucky Ladybugs

This blog is an area for project participants to collaborate, share ideas, ask questions, and talk about the progress. You can post anything - ideas, comments, pictures, video, podcast - you want to share with others about your Lucky Ladybug project.