The World of Critters
Learn about the characteristics of insects, annelids, and arachnids, with a focus on creatures native to Illinois.
The Big Idea: Bugs and other critters are helpful to our environments. They have special features that allow them to survive and improve the world around us.
Appropriate for Pre-K – 1
VIRTUAL FIELD TRIP VIDEO RENTAL: You will have 2-week access to a playlist of videos, and you can break up our instructional and educational videos however you please. Videos may be shown or streamed only to classrooms at one school or site only.
Video package includes:
- Three recorded activities
- Explore butterfly symmetry through the creation of your own special butterfly.
- Design your very own bug home built to attract critters you can observe later.
- Search and investigate the space around you for bug homes in your environment.
- Three recorded informational videos
- Discover the different body parts of insects, annelids, and spiders. How are all of these critters different and similar?
- Together, we will define symmetry and realize why patterns are needed for butterflies and caterpillars in the wild.
- Some bugs and crawling creatures can seem scary! But so many of these critters are helpful and needed in our world. We will dispel some bug myths and discover all the ways they help our environments.
- Two recorded story times
- Activity instructions provided in English and Spanish to support learning at school and at home
SUPPLY KITS: Why waste time and money collecting supplies? We’ll ship 30 individual kits of supplies to one location with materials needed for three of the recorded activities.
LIVE SESSION: Includes a 20-minute live presentation for one classroom from a Museum educator with an activity exploring how critters use camouflage.
Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards
Goal 1: Demonstrate increasing competence in oral communication (listening and speaking). 1.E.ECc With teacher assistance, use new words acquired through conversations and book-sharing experiences.
Goal 8: Identify and describe common attributes, patterns, and relationships in objects. 8.B.ECa With adult assistance, represent a simple repeating pattern by verbally describing it or by modeling it with objects or actions.
Goal 11: Demonstrate curiosity about the world and begin to use the practices of science and engineering to answer questions and solve problems. 11.A.ECf Make meaning from experience and information by describing, talking, and thinking about what happened during an investigation.
Goal 12: Explore concepts and information about the physical, earth, and life sciences. 12.A.ECa Observe, investigate, describe, and categorize living things.
Common Core Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.2 Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
Next Generation Science Standards
K-LS1-1 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
1-LS1-2 From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.