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Lesson Plan for PreK-2 Asking Questions & Making Predictions Materials: Copies of Praying Mantis Web  .
Let's get started! When your praying mantis egg cases arrive, begin the scientific process by asking questions - finding out what students are curious about, making predictions about the mantis life cycle. Step 1: Get Ready! Explain to students that you'll be raising praying mantids in your classroom and learning all about them. Explain that this activity gives students a chance to talk about what they want to find out about mantids. Draw two big blank webs on the board - one for What We Know, and one for What We Want to Know. Divide students into small groups, and hand out two webs to each group. Have each group designate a writer and circle What I Know in the center of the first web. Step 2: Find out what you know Give students five minutes to come up with everything they know about the praying mantis. If a group finishes early, one student from that group (the designated writer) can write their responses on the board. Come together as a class and talk about your responses. Write all responses into the blank What We Know web on the board. Have students categorize their responses (i.e.: life cycle, food, habitat, etc.) Use colored chalk to differentiate the categories. Step 3: Find out what you want to know Have students' circle What We Want To Know in the center of the second web. Give students five minutes to come up with everything they want to know about praying mantids. Come together as a class and talk about the questions everyone came up with. Write all questions into the blank What We Want to Know web on the board. Categorize as described above. Step 4: Make Predictions! Lead the class in making guesses, or predictions, about their praying mantis. Remember to explain that predictions are ideas, not answers. Use the What We Want To Know web to guide you. Check the accuracy of your predictions as you study the praying mantis! Have each student predict the date s/he thinks the first mantids will emerge from the egg case! Have each student predict how many mantids will emerge. Step 5: Discover Learning! Now that your students have generated their own questions, lead them in coming up with options for getting the answers. Ideas might include observation, reading, Internet browsing, or asking an expert. As students become involved in their investigation, they will discover that one question often leads to another, and that new learning fosters new questions. Optional: Do this activity as a class instead of in separate groups. You can write children's answers on the board or on a big piece of butcher paper. Work on only one web per day. Other Adaptations: This activity can be done in pairs or individually. Have students complete the webs again after you've finished the unit, to see how much they learned! |
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