Grade Six Science

Hello Boys and Girls,

How have you been? Have you been enjoying finding out about insects? Did you learn the poem on insects? Did you like it? Did you complete the activity suggested? I hope that you can draw and label an insect now.

Last week we continued to examine insects. We saw that their body has three main parts. The eyes, antennae (feelers) and mouth parts are on the head. Where can we find the wings and feet? Let’s look at the labelled diagram of the insect below. Look carefully at each part and the explanation. Try to find those parts on another insect.

Draw and label an insect. Be sure to attach the parts correctly.

Do all insects have antennae? Do all insects have wings? Let’s look at the life cycle of the butterfly. What is meant by life cycle? Did you find out?

A life cycle is the series of changes that take place in the lifetime of an organism.

Life Cycle of the Butterfly

The female adult butterfly usually lays eggs on the underside of leaves. Each egg, after a few days, becomes a larva, called a caterpillar. You’ve seen many, haven’t you? At this stage the caterpillar feeds all the time. It is amazing to see how many leaves it eats in a short time.

Because it eats a lot it grows very quickly. It is often considered to be a garden pest because it destroys the leaves of many plants. Look around in your yard and check for evidence of caterpillars around.

When the caterpillar is fully grown it stops eating and hangs itself upside down from the leaf, or twig. The caterpillar has now become a pupa.

The pupa changes slowly into a butterfly. When it is fully grown it crawls out of its case, dries its wings, then flies away.

Try catching a caterpillar and feeding it with leaves from the same plant on which it was feeding. You can do it just as in the picture below.

Let’s continue looking at these invertebrates. We have been investigating insects and looking at their life cycles.

We have been having lots of fun with insects. Have you been observing them and collecting them? Were you able to catch any butterflies or see any stages of the life cycle of the butterfly? Try to answer the questions below without checking the work we did earlier.

1. Why are the chances of survival of insects small?

2. Why is the caterpillar considered a garden pest?

3. Draw an insect then label its external parts.

4. Match the following stages with their activities:

Egg resting

Larva flying

Pupa feeding

Adult

We have been investigating insects which make up over 90% of the animal life living on Earth. Did you know that there are over 1 million species of insects, and that scientists are discovering more and more? Insects are also referred to as arthropods. Arthropods are invertebrate animals with segmented bodies (jointed limbs) legs and cuticles. Insects, crabs and spiders are arthropods.

Let’s now take a look at arachnids.

Enjoy finding out about them. Arachnids are also invertebrates like insects. They have exoskeletons. They belong to the class of animals with jointed legs. (What are those called?) Unlike insects they have eight legs. (How many legs do insects have?) Arachnids are part of a larger group called arthropods, which includes insects, you will remember.

Most of the arachnids are terrestrial; that means, they live on land. There are more than 100,000 named types of arachnids. Can you name some of them? Did your list include spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites. Great!

Arachnids are found throughout the world. Observe the picture below and name as many arachnids as you can.

The first pair of legs that we mentioned before help to defend the arachnid and also to feed it.

Arachnids do not have antennae (feelers) nor do they have wings. The body is divided into two parts: the cephalothorax and the abdomen. The head and the thorax are fused (joined together) to form the cephalothorax. The sense organs, mouth parts and limbs are found on the cephalothorax. On the abdomen can be found respiratory and reproductive organs. 1 Legs 2 Cephalothorax 3 Abdomen

Arachnids can have two kinds of eyes, one set of which are compound eyes. These are made up of many tiny lenses.

What do arachnids eat? They are mostly carnivorous. They feed on the bodies of insects and other small animals. They pour digestive juices to make the prey liquid. The arachnids can then suck them into their bodies. Some arachnids eat solids. Mites sometimes feed on plants. Arachnids usually lay eggs which hatch into young arachnids that resemble the adult arachnids. They just get bigger as they grow. Scorpions, however, bear live young ones.

The bites or stings of some spiders and scorpions are poisonous to humans. 1. What is an arachnid?

2. Name as many as you can.

3. Where do arachnids live?

4. Compare insects with arachnids

5. Arachnids is the scientific name for a. Spiders, scorpions, ticks and mites. b. Spiders and scorpions only. c. Spiders, scorpions or jellyfish. d. Spiders, scorpions and leeches.

6. Arachnids have a. No backbones, 6 legs, and two body parts b. No backbones, 6 legs and three body parts. c. No backbones, 8 legs and two body parts. d. No backbones, 8 legs and three body parts.

7. Spiders are a. omnivores. b. herbivores. c. fructivores. d. carnivores.

Until next year, goodbye Boys and Girls, and work as hard as you can!

Do have a great Christmas!