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Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Here are some jokes to get us started today:

Can you guess what today's lesson is about?

All the jokes you just read were about bugs — and not just any kind of bug! The bugs in our jokes are insects!

Not all bugs are insects!

So, how do you tell if a bug is an insect?

An insect will have 3 body parts: the head, thorax, and abdomen. Look at the diagram of the ant below:

abdomen diagram

^{Image by Pearson Scott Foresman, via Wikimedia Commons, is in the public domain.}

On the head are a pair of antennae, a pair of compound eyes, and the mouth parts.

On the thorax, there are six legs and, sometimes, two or four wings.

The abdomen holds most of the digestive, respiratory, excretory, and reproductive parts.

Insects also have an exoskeleton, a hard shell on the outside of their body that protects their inside parts.

So, to summarize, an insect will always have:

three body parts: head, thorax, and abdomen

six legs

compound eyes and two antennae on the head

exoskeleton

Lets review the parts of the insect with this fun song: Head, Thorax, & Abdomen, by The Rock-Afire Explosion (below):

Insects can sometimes be bothersome, but many insects are helpful to our environment. Many insects eat other harmful insects, bees make honey and pollinate plants, and ants keep soil healthy so plants can grow better.

Read The List of Useful Insects, from hunker, to discover more ways insects can be helpful.

The honey bee is a very helpful insect. Bees pollinate trees and flowers so that they can reproduce. They also make delicious, nutritious honey!

Would you want to dance with a honey bee?

Watch Why do we Need Bees? from Earth Rangers:

The ant is another helpful insect.

Ants tunnel in the ground and, when they do this, they bring oxygen and nutrients to the soil. This makes the soil healthier so our plants, trees, and vegetables grow better!