The Bug Book Inspires Budding Artists, Writers and Scientists

If you visit my blog regularly, you might have noticed I haven’t written for a while. I returned to work the day after my trip to Alaska and was swept up in a whirlwind of activity—both at work and at home. We are short one speech therapist in our school district so a couple of us are filling in and working extra hours. On the home front, MY OLDEST SON GOT MARRIED. I hope you’ll interpret those capital letters as excitement or joy—I’m filled with both! If you have ever helped with wedding preparations (including baking the wedding cakes), you’ll forgive my time away from posting. I felt compelled to return to my blog after sharing a new book with my students. THE BUG BOOK by Sue Fliess.

This rhyming text and accompanying photos captured my students’ attention.

            Grab you bucket. Check your guide.

Let’s go find some bugs outside!

            Fast bugs,

            Slow bugs,

            Off-they-go bugs.

            Hop bugs,

            Fly bugs,

            Way-up-high bugs.

My transitional kindergarten students were squirming with excitement and practically crawled across the table for a closer look at the insects. My kindergarten and first grade students scrambled to be the first to identify the bugs in the photos and my second grade students started creating bug books of their own. Some are writing nonfiction as they identify the insects in the BUG BOOK to create their own guide. Calvin and Garrett are writing fiction. Their characters, Ducky, Anty and Flower the ladybug, were good friends until an ice cream truck dropped a load of chocolate mint ice cream in the park. Their friendship cooled but they solved their problem by sharing, then celebrated with ice cream sundaes topped with honey, bread-crumbs and aphids! (They had to do a bit of research to find out what their characters might want for toppings.)

This book inspired wonderful creativity, artwork, and research. Take a look at some projects from our speech room:

These talented artists would have been a big help decorating the wedding cakes but I’m glad I didn’t enlist their help with the toppings!