TEACHING SUPPORT RESOURCE

Grow a Bug GROW GUIDES Integrated Teaching and Smartboard SimLab Learning Resources for Alberta Social Studies and Science

TEACHING SUPPORT RESOURCE

Grow a Bug GROW GUIDES Integrated Teaching Smartboard SimLab and Learning Resources for Alberta Social Studies and Science Contents Acknowledgements Introduction...... 1 Alberta Canola Producers Commission gratefully Using the Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab...... 3 acknowledges the following groups and individuals who have How to Use the Grow a Bug SimLab Student Resource ...... 7 participated in the development of this Smartboard and teaching Integrating with Grade 3...... 9 support resource. Integrating with Grade 4...... 13 Project Development and Writing Patricia Shields-Ramsay Integrating with Grade 5...... 17 Doug Ramsay InPraxis Group Inc. SimLab Bug Profile Student Resource...... 21 Smartboard Development, Illustrations, & Resource Design SimLab Prediction Chart Student Resource...... 22 Perry Shulak Grow a Bug Cards...... 23 Craig Hicks Critical Fusion Inc. Editing Virginia Durksen Visible Ink Incorporated Teacher Reviews Margo Cahn Edmonton Public Schools Sandy Myshak Edmonton Public Schools Cindy Van Ember Parkland School Division

i TEACHING SUPPORT RESOURCE Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab GRADES 3,4 & 5 Grow Guides Introduction

The Alberta Canola Producers Grow Guides provide a series of learning experiences that are centred on the “big idea” concepts of growth and change. This “big idea” focus encourages students to explore the interconnectedness of people, their environments, ideas, and change. If students can gain understandings of how an animal or plant grows and changes over time, they can transfer that learning to better understand how responsibilities to their environments also grow, expand, or change.

This Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab has been developed to support, extend, reinforce, and enrich students’ learning A Note About Grade Two Science experiences in the Grow Guides. Each Grow Guide has a unique The Grow a Bug Smartboard focus, but includes different perspectives on the impact that SimLab can support learning in the environmental factors, including insects, can have on agricultural Grade 2 Science program of study. activities and our food supply. However, students may find some of the text descriptions difficult. Students Grade Three may be encouraged to use the SimLab How do people in to “play” with the different bugs and experiment by creating their own communities grow and unique bugs! manage food crops?

The Grade 3 Grow Guide supports learning in Alberta’s Social Studies and Science programs of study. In the Grade 3 Grow Guide, students identify some crops important to the food supply around the world, including canola. They explore how different insects can affect food crops such as canola. Students investigate the life cycle of an insect and examine the positive and negative effects insects can have on the growth of healthy food crops. The following questions guide students’ inquiry and learning experiences: 1. Why is agriculture an important human activity? 2. Why do insects affect the ways communities manage crops? 3. How do insects affect the growth of food crops? Grade Four How does agricultural land use depend on and change Alberta’s environment?

The Grade 4 Grow Guide supports learning in Alberta’s Social Studies and Science programs of studies. In the Grade 4 Grow Guide, students explore ways that people interact with their environment, including relationships

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 1 to the land and its resources, the importance of plants and agriculture, and the human activities involved in the production and distribution of food. Students explore canola crops as one example of plant sources that are used for food. The following three questions guide students’ inquiry and learning experiences: 1. What factors do Albertans consider when they make decisions about the use of land and resources? 2. Why are food crops a natural resource? 3. What cycles and relationships affect people’s interactions with their environment?

Grade Five How do environmental factors affect Canada’s food production?

The Grade 5 Grow Guide supports learning in Alberta’s Social Studies and Science programs of studies. In the Grade 5 Grow Guide, students explore relationships between Canada’s environment and the production of our food supply. Students investigate factors in Canada’s living environment that affect the growth of food crops, including an exploration of how plant eating insects find the right food, the relationship of climate and weather to crops such as canola, and the advantages and disadvantages of different methods used to control insect pests. These investigations include an exploration Learning outcomes from Social of some principles of chemical reactions. The following questions Studies and Science programs of guide students’ inquiry and learning experiences: study are provided in the Grades 3, 4, and 5 Grow Guides. The 1. How does agriculture affect Canada’s landscapes? Smartboard SimLab activities in this 2. What does it take to produce food? Teaching Support Resource support these outcomes. 3. How do environmental factors influence decisions about the food supply? Assessment tools, such as “I Can” statements, assessment criteria checklists, and rubrics are also provided in the Grades 3, 4, and 5 Grow Guides.

2 Introduction TEACHING SUPPORT RESOURCE Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab GRADES 3,4 & 5 Using the Grow a Bug Grow Guides Smartboard SimLab

The Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab allows students to explore 20 different insects that are commonly found in canola crop fields. Insert the Grow a Bug Smartboard Many of these insects will also be familiar to students in their SimLab into your CD or DVD player. everyday environments. Open the CD menu to view the folders. Please note that Adobe The Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab has three main functions: Air MUST be installed on your computer before you launch • It allows students to select an insect, explore its anatomy, and the SimLab program. Install “grow” it. The bugs that students grow are referred to as Adobe Air. “SimBugs” in this resource. • It allows students to replace the body parts of one insect with Double click on the SimLab Installer body parts of any of the other 20 insects to create a SimBug. icon. Follow the prompts to install the SimLab program on your computer’s • It provides students with the opportunity to see the effects of hard drive. When prompted, you may their SimBug on a canola field. choose to create a shortcut on your desktop. This shortcut will allow you to directly open the SimLab when you want to use it.

Please note that SimLab is developed to be compatible with the touch environment of a Smartboard as well as a laptop. However, once the SimLab is opened in one environment, you will not be able to drag it to a secondary monitor or screen. Optimum resolution for a Smartboard environment is 1280 x 800.

Note: This Smartboard resource requires Adobe Air to be installed When the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab is launched, students on the hard drive of your computer. will see the Grow Starter, the Grow Pad, and the Bug Part A version of Adobe Air is provided Selector. These elements provide the following functions: on the Smartboard Grow a Bug CD. Adobe Air can also be downloaded at • The Grow Starter allows students to select and “grow” a bug. http://get.adobe.com/air/. The Select a Bug arrow, when touched, will display a pop-up list of 20 insects. When one of these insects is selected, icons will display on the left and right sides of the SimLab. o Your Bug in Progress displays icons for four bug parts – the head, body, legs, and wings. o Bug Parts displays bug part icons that appear when an insect is selected. (Some insects do not have wings or do not use them to fly. Insects such as the cutworm have three parts and the root maggot only has two parts.)

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 3 • Students can touch the Grow My Bug button at any time to Student directions for using the “grow” the bug parts into a SimBug. In order for students to Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab start mixing and matching different bug parts, they MUST first are provided on pages 7 to 8. select one of the bugs in the Grow Starter. These directions can be copied and provided if the SimLab is used • Students can create a multitude of SimBugs! They can touch by students independently or in a any bug parts in the Bug Part Selector and drag them over top learning centre. of the bug part icons of the original bug they started with. • The Grow Pad displays the SimBug that students “grow.” The Student resources, including a Grow My Bug button must be touched before the SimBug will SimLab Bug Profile and a SimLab appear on the Grow Pad. Once students have selected the body Prediction Chart, are provided on parts they want, they can touch the Grow My Bug button to pages 21 to 22. The SimLab Bug see their SimBug on the Grow Pad. Profile provides a template that students can use to record descriptive Once students Select a Bug, they have full access to all functions information about the bugs that in the SimLab. A description of the selected insect will appear in they create. The SimLab Prediction the green text box above the Grow Pad. A description of each Chart encourages students to bug part also appears when any of the bug part icons are touched. make predictions and link the The text helps students identify the different characteristics of characteristics of their bugs to the each bug and analyze and predict its potential impact on the effect they would have on a canola field. canola field. All text descriptions are provided in the Grow a Bug Cards on pages 23 to 32 of this Teaching Support Resource.

• Once a SimBug has been “grown” on the Grow Pad, the Release My Bug button can be touched to release it into a canola field. One of six different canola fields will appear, showing the effects that harmful or helpful insects may have on the growth of canola plants. The chart that follows displays the six fields and feedback messages that students will find.

Note that the SimBug will remain on the Grow Pad. Encourage students to explore the connections between the SimBug they create and the canola field they see. TheGrow a Bug process can be restarted at any time by selecting a bug!

4 Using the Simlab Feedback Message Screen Result The whole canola field has been pollinated, and is very healthy and growing quickly. There are many plants with a lot of canola flowers and seed pods.

Tip! Insects such as the honey bee and hover fly are pollinators and, when released into the canola field, cause this result. The legs of the honey bee carry pollen baskets. If added to bug parts of a harmful bug, honey bee legs can reduce the damage that the harmful bug can do! The canola field is healthy and growing. The plants are pollinated. There are very few harmful bugs in the field.

Tip! The damsel bug, ladybug, wasp, lacewing, and carabid beetle are all predators. They can reduce the number of harmful insects in a canola field. If a pollinator’s legs or wings were added to one of these helpful bugs, the SimBug could provide an even stronger benefit to the canola field! The canola field is growing and flowers are starting to bloom. Some harmful bugs may cause damage to the canola plants and stop some of the seed pods from maturing!

Tip! Canola farmers work hard to keep their crops free of pests. Mixing bug parts of harmful and helpful insects might not have a noticeable effect on the canola field. For example, mixing the carabid beetle’s head with an alfalfa looper’s body, legs, and wings creates a SimBug that eats its own larvae!

Introduction Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 5 Feedback Message Screen Result Harmful bugs have caused some damage to areas of the canola field. This may stop canola flowers from blooming or seed pods from growing.

Tip! Insects such as thrips, beet webworm, aphids, painted lady butterflies, and red turnip beetles can cause damage to canola plants and fields. On their own, these insects can be controlled. However, adding a part from a more harmful bug might cause more serious damage! Harmful bugs have damaged many canola plants in the field. They have eaten the leaves and stems and stopped some plants from maturing.

Tip! Insects such as the alfalfa looper, clover cutworm, Bertha armyworm, root maggot, flea beetle, diamondback moth, cabbage seedpod weevil, and lygus bug can cause serious damage to a canola field. The primary function of larval insects is to eat. Adding their heads to the parts of another insect might create a bug that causes major damage or devastation to the canola crop! The canola field has been heavily damaged by harmful bugs. Many plants are damaged and the seed harvest destroyed.

Tip! Although insects such as the root maggot, Bertha armyworm, and lygus bug can cause serious harm to canola crops, they can be even more dangerous if wings of a strong flyer were added to their body parts!

6 Using the Simlab HowHow toto UseUse thethe GrowGrow aa BugBug SimLabSimLab

Have you ever wanted to grow your own bug? The Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab will let you do this and more: • You can select a bug, explore its anatomy, and “grow” it. • You can replace one bug’s parts with parts of any of 20 different bugs to create your own SimBug. • You can see what happens when you release your SimBug into a canola field!

Start the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab. In the SimLab, you will see the Grow Starter, the Grow Pad, and the Bug Part Selector.

Follow these steps:

• The Grow Starter allows you to select and “grow” your SimBug. Touch the Select a Bug arrow to display a pop-up list of 20 canola bugs. You MUST first select one of the bugs in theGrow Starter before you can do anything else.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 7 • When a bug is selected, you will see lists of icons on the left and right sides of the SimLab.

o Your Bug in Progress shows icons for four bug parts of the insect you selected – the head, body, legs, and wings. If the bug does not have legs or wings, you will see a question mark. o Bug Parts displays bug part icons for all of the bugs.

• Touch the Grow My Bug button at any time to “grow” the bug parts into a SimBug. • Touch any bug parts in the Bug Part Selector and drag them over top of the bug part icons of your original bug to create a SimBug! • Touch the Grow My Bug button to see your SimBug on the Grow Pad. • Read the Bug Parts information carefully. This information will display in the green box at the top of the SimLab. It will give you clues to the effects that each SimBug can have on a canola plant. Some of the bugs in the Select a Bug list are harmful. Others are helpful. The Bug Parts you select and combine will determine how harmful or helpful your SimBug will be. • Touch the Release My Bug button to find out the effect that your SimBug has on a canola crop! Why do you think your SimBug had this effect?

8 How to Use the Simlab TEACHING SUPPORT RESOURCE Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab GRADES 3,4 & 5 Integrating with Grade 3 Grow Guides How do people in communities grow and manage food crops?

The Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab can support Grade 3 learning through a variety of activities. These activities can be integrated into the three learning sequences in the Grade 3 Grow Guide. Set the Stage

At the Grade 3 level, students can first be provided with the opportunity to explore each of the 20 different insects in the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab. Tell students that as they learn about agriculture, an important human activity, they will also find out what insects have to do with growing crops! Ask students to name different insects that are part of their environments. Make a word list of these insects and ask students to share what they know about them. Challenge students to add descriptive words and phrases for their insects and display the word list in the classroom.

Launch the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab screen. Use the The Grow a Bug Cards (pp. 23 Select a Bug bar in the Grow Starter to “grow” some of the to 32) provide an illustration of each different bugs. Tell students they will have the chance to create of the 20 SimLab insects. These cards their own SimBugs later, and explore what could make each can also be used to introduce students helpful or harmful to food crops like canola. to the insects in the SimLab. Cause and Effect

After students complete Learning Sequence One in the Grade 3 The Cause and Effect activity Grow Guide, ask them to think about what a healthy canola crop provides students with the looks like compared to what an unhealthy or damaged crop might opportunity to reinforce and apply look like. Encourage students to brainstorm descriptive words and their understanding of cause and phrases, and record them on the board or chart paper. (Students effect. The Grow a Bug Smartboard may be encouraged to contribute ideas such as many bright yellow SimLab provides a great visual flowers, fat seed pods, tall stems, etc.) reinforcement of this concept, as students will later release the SimBug Pose the following question to students: they create and see its effect on a • What environmental factors do you think have the most effect canola crop field. on food crops like canola? (If students need starting ideas, ask them “What about” questions, such as “What about the Tell students that they will have an weather?” or “What about insects?” Other factors include soil, opportunity to test their hypotheses in sunlight, and water supply.) a later activity.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 9 Use a Cause and Effect Chart, such as the one provided on page 25 of the Grade 3 Grow Guide, to have students hypothesize the effect they think two of these factors (or causes) could have on a canola crop. Students can create their own chart or replace the chart headings as below. They can also be given the option to write or draw the causes and effects.

Factors that Affect Crops Effects Each Factor Could Have

Explore a Bug

Launch the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab and tell students that they will have the opportunity to create a number of familiar and unfamiliar SimBugs! These SimBugs all have potential effects on canola crops. Have students start by selecting one of the bugs in the Grow Starter. When the bug is selected, icons appear in the Your Bug in Progress screen. As each bug part icon is touched, a text description will appear.

As the descriptions are discussed, students can be asked to find and record key descriptive words on a word list, or on the back of an Insect Card. These Insect Cards are provided on pages 45 and 46 in the Grade 3 Grow Guide.

Encourage students to review the characteristics that identify In Learning Sequence Two of the insects, including: Grade 3 Grow Guide, students are • Three body parts (head, thorax, abdomen) asked to sort cards of 20 different • Six legs insects, based on similar and • A skeleton on the outside of the body (exoskeleton) different attributes. The Grow a • Antennae Bug Smartboard SimLab provides • Wings students with the opportunity to reinforce and extend this sorting (Note that some of the bugs in the SimLab do not have wings activity, as well as encourage the or do not use their wings to fly. As in theGrade 3 Grow Guide, development of critical and creative students may also notice that some of the animals on the thinking skills. Insect Cards and in the SimLab do not appear to have these characteristics of insects. Some people think that caterpillars and maggots are worms. A worm is a different type of animal – not an insect – that has no legs or backbone and a soft, long, rounded body. However, caterpillars and maggots are insects in their larval, or young, stage.)

Have students take turns selecting some other bugs and exploring different body parts, adding descriptive words to their Insect Cards. Mix and Match

Tell students that they will now have the opportunity to “invent” a SimBug. Ask students to respond to the following question: • What type of insect would you create if you could mix and match different bug parts? 10 Integrating with Grade 3 Model the process of “growing” a SimBug by demonstrating the The SimLab Bug Profile (p. 21) following steps with students: provides a template that students can • Select one bug with which to start. Explain that you are going use to record characteristics of the to “grow” a new bug by mixing and matching different bug SimBugs they create. parts. Note that a bug MUST be selected before parts can be mixed and matched. • Use the arrows in the Bug Parts screen on the right side of the Smartboard to preview the parts of the 20 bugs in the SimLab. Icons are used to represent the head, body, legs, and wings of the bugs. • Touch and drag any bug part over to the Your Bug in Progress screen. “Talk aloud” what characteristics your SimBug will have, based on the information in the text box. (Identify characteristics such as sucking mouthparts that damage plant leaves, wings that make the bug a strong flyer, legs that allow the bug to move quickly or jump. Discuss how characteristics such as these, when combined into a new bug, can make it a more harmful pest. Other types of characteristics can also increase the helpful effects of some bugs.) • Touch the Grow My Bug button. The SimBug will appear in the Grow Pad!

Have students take turns coming up to the Smartboard to touch and drag a different bug part to a Bug in Progress. When each SimBug is complete, touch the Grow My Bug button to see the results! Use the Screen Capture or Print Screen commands in the Smartboard tools to save or print each SimBug. Alternatively, students can be asked to create their own illustration of their SimBug!

Harmful or Helpful In Learning Sequence Three of the Challenge students to classify the SimBugs they created according Grade 3 Grow Guide, students explore to the following categories, provided on pages 60 to 62 in the the life cycles of various insects, Grade 3 Grow Guide. comparing them to life cycles of other animals. After students create and • Pollinators: These insects carry pollen from one plant to print or draw their SimBugs, ask them another. Without them, flowers would not bloom and fruits to hypothesize what they think its life and vegetables would not grow. cycle would be. Students can also be • Predators: These insects feed on other insects that may asked to complete the Did You Know damage plants, such as ladybugs feeding on aphids. student resource on pages 69 to 71 of the Grade 3 Grow Guide. • Food Suppliers: Many insects are sources of food for other animals. • Recyclers: These insects help to break down living materials. Students can be asked to use the Students may have to revisit the bugs, and look for clues in the SimLab Prediction Chart (p. 22) text provided with each bug part as they group and classify their to describe and predict which type new bugs. of SimBug they have created. After students release their SimBugs, ask Then, tell students they will have the chance to find out what them to check their predictions effect these bugs could have on a food crop such as canola. against the effect they see in the Recreate different SimBugs, and release each one. A canola field canola field. will display, showing signs of either healthy growth or varying

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 11 degrees of damage. Ask students to discuss the different effects they see, posing questions such as the following: • What do you see in the canola field? • What evidence of healthy growth do you see? What evidence of damage do you see? • How harmful or helpful do you think your SimBug was to the canola crop? Why? (Students can be encouraged to assess the effect of their bug by using a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very harmful and 10 very helpful.) • Why do you think some SimBugs can cause more harm than others?

Provide students with the opportunity to revisit the hypotheses they made in the Cause and Effect Charts activity.

12 Integrating with Grade 3 TEACHING SUPPORT RESOURCE Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab GRADES 3,4 & 5 Integrating with Grade 4 Grow Guides How does agricultural land use depend on and change Alberta’s environment?

The Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab can support Grade 4 learning through a variety of activities. These activities can be integrated into the three learning sequences in the Grade 4 Grow Guide. Set the Stage

At the Grade 4 level, students can first be provided with the opportunity to explore each of the 20 different insects in the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab. Tell students that as they learn about agriculture, an important human activity, they will also find out what insects have to do with the food supply and the agricultural activities that are part of ways of life in Alberta! Ask students to share the effects they think insects have on the crops we use for food and other products. Create sentence strips, writing their hypotheses on strips of chart paper, and display the strips in the classroom.

Launch the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab. Use the Select a Bug bar in the Grow Starter to “grow” some of the different bugs. When the bug is selected, icons appear in the Your Bug in Progress screen. As each bug part icon is touched, a text description will appear.

(Note that some of the bugs in the SimLab do not have wings or do not use their wings to fly. Students may also notice that some of the animals on the picture cards do not appear to have these characteristics of insects. Some people think that caterpillars and maggots are worms. A worm is a different type of animal – not an insect – that has no legs or backbone and has a soft, long, rounded body. However, caterpillars and maggots are insects in their larval, or young, stage.)

Tell students they will have the chance to create their own SimBugs shortly, and explore what makes each helpful or harmful to food crops like canola. Bugs and the Canola Plant

Ask students to revisit the parts of a crop plant, including canola crops, which they explore on page 49 of the Grade 4 Grow Guide: • Roots anchor the plants to the ground and absorb water and minerals from the soil. • Plant stems hold plants upright. Stems draw up the water and minerals from the root to different parts of the plant. The stem also takes food made in the leaves to different parts of the plant. • Leaves are an important part of a plant. They contain a green substance called chlorophyll, which helps them make food.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 13 • Flowers help the plant to reproduce, or make new plants. In the Grade 4 Grow Guide, students Flowers produce seeds. Flowers have petals that attract are introduced to the canola plant pollinators, or insects like honey bees or butterflies that carry with the following description: pollen from one flower to the next. Flowers need pollen to make seeds. Some flowers are self-pollinating. This means they Canola is an oilseed crop. The canola do not depend on insects. The movement of the plant plant can grow up to 2 metres tall. distributes the pollen. The plants produce yellow clusters of flowers which grow into small green Encourage students to also review the terms associated with seed pods. As the plant ripens, the different stages of growth of the canola plant, including seed, seed pods turn brown. seedling, rosette, bud, flower, and ripening.

After the canola plants are harvested, Have students explore the range of effects that different insects the pod is cracked open to reveal can have on crop plants by creating their own SimBugs in the about 20 seeds that are about 1 mm SimLab and releasing them into a canola field. Model the in diameter. The seeds are crushed following steps with students, creating one or two examples as to extract the oil in the seeds. The a class. Then, provide students with opportunities to create and crushed seeds are then used to make release their own SimBugs. meal. Canola meal is used as feed for • Launch the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab and have livestock, poultry, and pets. students take turns making their own SimBugs. Students can be organized to work with a partner or in a small group.

• Have each group start by selecting one of the bugs in the Grow The Grow a Bug Cards (pp. 23 Starter. Use the arrows in the Bug Parts screen on the right to 32) provide an illustration and the side of the Smartboard to preview the parts of the 20 bugs in text information for each of the 20 the SimLab. Icons are used to represent the head, body, legs, SimLab insects. These cards can also and wings of the bugs. be used as a reference by students. • As students touch and drag each body part to create a SimBug, These insects are also introduced have them record its characteristics, using the information that in the Factor Cards provided on appears at the top of the screen. Students can be provided with pages 53 to 58 of the Grade 4 Grow the SimLab Bug Profile (p. 21) on which to record Guide. Students can be provided information on the bug that they create. Remind each group with the Factor Cards of the insects that one of the bugs MUST be selected before parts can be as a starting point for their SimBug mixed and matched. creations. • Use the Screen Capture or Print Screen commands in the Students can be asked to use the Smartboard tools to save or print each SimBug. Students can SimLab Prediction Chart (p. 22) to also be asked to create their own illustration of their SimBug on describe and predict the effect their their SimLab Bug Profile. SimBug will have on a canola plant. • Challenge students to identify the bugs that they think would After students release their SimBug, affect different parts of the canola plant. (Provide students with ask them to check their prediction sentence stems, such as “The roots would be affected by _____ against the effect they see in the because ______.” or “The leaves could be affected by ____ canola field. because ______.” Ensure that students also consider the flowers and seed pods.) 14 Integrating with Grade 4 • Have each pair or group touch the Release Bug button to release their SimBugs into the canola field and note the results. What happened to the canola crop? Why do you think your SimBug had this effect on the crop?

Students can be encouraged to use the Growth Timeline on page 50 of the Grade 4 Grow Guide to record their SimBug’s effects on the canola crop. Ask students to identify at which stage of growth they think their SimBug caused the most harm or benefit to the canola plant. Remind students to consult their SimBug’s characteristics to help them identify the reasons for their SimBug’s effect.

Growth Timeline

Stage 0 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

Seed Seedling Rosette Bud Flower Ripening

Vegetative Stages Reproductive Stages

Students can also be challenged to create SimBugs that have specific effects on a canola crop: • A SimBug that causes extreme damage to a canola crop • A SimBug that pollinates and gets rid of pests • A SimBug that causes damage to plant stems and leaves • A bug that is neither harmful nor helpful. (Tips! on pages 5 and 6 provide information on those insects that have harmful and helpful effects on canola fields.)

Food Web In Learning Sequence Three of the Grade 4 Grow Guide, students Revisit the concepts of producers and consumers with students. explore food webs and develop Have them use the SimBug they created in the previous activity understandings of the role that and pose the following questions: human activities, the environment, • Is your SimBug a producer or a consumer? How do you and natural resources play. know this? • Where and how would your SimBug fit into a food web? Integrate the SimLab activities with (Encourage students to revisit the farm food webs they made in Language Arts by asking students the Cycles and Relationships student resource on page 71 of the to create a “Most Wanted Bug” Grade 4 Grow Guide.) poster. Encourage them to include an illustration of their insect, its “crime,” Ask students to create a food web cycle diagram that includes and where it was last seen! their SimBugs. Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 15 16 Integrating with Grade 4 TEACHING SUPPORT RESOURCE Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab GRADES 3,4 & 5 Integrating with Grade 5 Grow Guides How do environmental factors affect Canada’s food production?

The Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab can support Grade 5 learning through a variety of activities. These activities can be integrated into the three learning sequences in the Grade 5 Grow Guide. Set the Stage

At the Grade 5 level, students can first be provided with the opportunity to explore each of the 20 different insects in the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab. Revisit what students have learned about agriculture and why it is an important human activity. Ask students to share what effect they think insects have on agriculture and our food supply.

Launch the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab. Use the Select a Bug bar in the Grow Starter to model how to “grow” some of the different bugs on the list. When a bug is selected, icons will appear in Your Bug in Progress. As each bug part is touched, a text description will appear. Review some of these descriptions with students, asking them what abilities they think different bug parts give each of these insects. (For example, large wings provide the ability to fly, elytra (a hard wing shell) provide protection, sucking mouthparts result in dependence on plant leaves and stems for food, and strong legs allow insects to jump or catch and hold prey. These abilities can have harmful and helpful effects on human activities.)

(Note that some of the bugs in the SimLab do not have wings or do not use their wings to fly. Students may also notice that some of the bugs in the Simlab do not appear to have these characteristics of insects. Some people think that caterpillars and maggots are worms. A worm is a different type of animal – not an insect – that has no legs or backbone and a soft, long, rounded body. However, caterpillars and maggots are insects in their larval, or young, stage.)

Organize students to take turns selecting different bugs from the Grow Starter in the SimLab. Click on each of the bug part icons and gather information from the text displayed above the Grow Pad. Discuss the potential impact that each bug can have on a food crop such as canola. Challenge students to identify a body characteristic (head, body, legs, or wings) on each bug that they think make it a pest or a beneficial bug.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 17 As students “grow” each bug, they can be asked to create and use a graphic organizer such as a Triple T-Chart to create a list of those that they think are helpful and those they think are harmful. Have students record their reasons in the third column of the chart.

Helpful Bugs Harmful Bugs Reasons

Bugs and Farming In Learning Sequence Two of the Grade 5 Grow Guide, students The Grade 5 Grow Guide encourages students to consider how explore ways that farmers are farmers are affected by environmental factors, including the land, affected by, have to know about, weather, and animal life such as insects. Ask students to share and control a range of different their responses to the following questions: environmental factors. Many of these • Do you think that the type of activities people do influences factors are described in the Fact Cards whether they see environmental factors, such as the weather on pages 52 to 58 of the Grow Guide. and insects, as harmful or helpful? Why or why not? Students can be encouraged to use • What characteristics make an insect into a pest? Why do you the Fact Cards to review or revisit think this? those environmental factors that help • Why do you think farmers have to know about the farmers grow crops and those that characteristics that different insects have? can be harmful. • What would farmers have to know if a new insect was discovered? Students can be provided with the Grow a Bug Cards on pages 23 Tell students that they will have the opportunity to invent new to 32 in this resource. These cards insects, called SimBugs! They will also be challenged to identify provide the textual information whether their SimBug will be helpful or harmful to farmers who included with each bug part in the grow food crops. (Remind students that the descriptions for SimLab. each bug part will give them clues that will help them determine whether their SimBug may be helpful or harmful.)

Provide students with opportunities to create their SimBugs, using steps such as the following: • Launch the Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab and have students take turns planning and creating a SimBug. Students can be organized to work with a partner or in a small group. • Remind each group that a bug MUST be selected before parts can be mixed and matched. • Ask students to read information that appears with each bug part in the SimLab carefully, as it provides clues about the characteristics of each bug. The information appears when any bug part is touched. • Use the arrows in the Bug Parts screen on the right side of the Smartboard to preview the parts of the bugs in the SimLab. Icons are used to represent the head, body, legs, and wings of the bugs.

18 Integrating with Grade 5 • As students touch and drag each body part to create a SimBug, have them identify those characteristics that they think make it a harmful insect or a helpful one.

• Students can be provided with the SimLab Bug Profile (p. 21), on which to record information about the SimBug that they create. Ask students to summarize the information from the SimLab in the Bug Anatomy chart on the Profile. Encourage students to create a name for their SimBug that is based on its characteristics! • Use the Screen Capture or Print Screen commands in the Smartboard tools to save or print each SimBug. Students can also be asked to create their own illustration of their SimBug on their SimLab Bug Profile.

Have students present their SimBugs to the rest of the class, describing the type of impact they think this SimBug would have on food crops such as canola.

Bug Effect Experiments Students can be asked to use the SimLab Prediction Chart (p. 22) to Tell students that they will now have the opportunity to see describe and predict theeffect their what type of effect their SimBugs will have on a food crop such SimBug will have on a food crop as canola. Groups can be asked to take turns coming up to the such as canola. After groups present Smartboard and reconstructing their SimBugs. their SimBugs to the class, ask them to check their prediction against the As students reconstruct their SimBug, have them describe its effect they see in the canola field. characteristics to the rest of the class. Ask the class to predict whether they think the SimBug will be harmful or helpful and Learning Sequence Three in the explain why. Grade 5 Grow Guide focuses on the effects that environmental factors Once the SimBug is in the Grow Pad, ask each group to touch have on the food supply. Ask students the Release Bug button and release it into the canola field. Have to revisit some of the practices that group members explain the effect their SimBug had, and why it farmers use to control pests, including had this effect. Integrated Pest Management. Farmers Challenge students to take turns inventing other SimBugs that first find out exactly what types of are either extremely beneficial or extremely harmful. What pests they have. They scout or sweep characteristics do they have to look for in the bug parts to create their fields by walking through them. a SimBug that has these extreme effects? Some farmers weed their fields by hand. They use helpful insects to (If students have difficulty identifying those bug parts that will help control insect pests. Review this have the most damaging or beneficial effect on the canola field, concept with students and ask them they can provided with additional clues. The following bug parts to discuss how their SimBugs could be have the most damaging effects on the canola field: controlled or can help with Integrated Pest Management. • Clover cutworm head • Bertha armyworm head Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 19 • Rood maggot head • Lygus bug head and body together • Flea beetle legs • Cabbage seedpod weevil head and body together

The following bug parts have the most beneficial effects on canola plants: • Honey bee legs and wings • Hover fly legs and wings)

20 Integrating with Grade 5 SimLabSimLab BugBug ProfileProfile

This SimBug was discovered on ______, by ______.

This SimBug is called ______.

SimBug Anatomy Head Body Legs Wings

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 21 SimLabSimLab PredictionPrediction ChartChart Predict the effect that a SimBug will have on a food crop like canola. Describe or draw the SimBug in the top of the chart. Then, describe whether you think it is harmful or helpful. Explain why you think this!

The SimBug

Harmful Helpful

Identify which of its parts give this SimBug the characteristics of a pollinator, predator, food supplier, recycler, or consumer. SimBug Pollinator Predator Food Recycler Consumer Parts Supplier (Plant-eater) (Eaten by other bugs or animals) Head

Body

Legs

Wings

How close was your prediction? What effect did this SimBug have on the canola crop?

22 Simlab Prediction Chart Grow a Bug Smartboard SimLab Grow a Bug Cards

Alfalfa Looper The alfalfa looper is a moth. Its larvae are green caterpillars that move by making loops. The alfalfa looper moth lays its eggs on canola leaves. The larvae feeds on leaves and stems. This stops the plant from making the canola flowers and seed pods.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Moths, such as the The alfalfa looper’s The legs of the alfalfa The wings of the alfalfa alfalfa looper, have one long soft abdomen is looper moth are looper moth are 30 to set of antennae. The covered with hairs. The attached to the thorax. 40 mm long. They are antennae are thin and hairs protect the body. The front pair of legs is covered with tiny scales. long. The mouth coils up The thorax contains the usually shorter than the Each scale has its own into a spiral. It is used muscles that control the other two pairs. colour, which creates for sucking the nectar wings and legs. amazing patterns. from plants. Moths have large compound eyes. The alfalfa looper is active during the day and night. However, it is attracted to light.

Aphid Aphids are very small bugs that are also called plant lice. Aphids feed on the sap in plant leaves. This causes damage to the plant. Their honeydew also causes mold on leaves.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Aphids have two The aphid’s soft body Aphids have six legs, but compound eyes and is pear or oval in they move very slowly. long antennae. They shape. The abdomen They usually stay in one use their needle-like has two siphunculi, place with other aphids. mouthparts to suck which produce a Aphid wings are very sap from plant leaves. sticky substance called weak and most do not Aphids have a strong honeydew that is left on fly. The wind can lift muscle connected to plants. and carry them great their mouthparts, called distances. the cibarial pump, which helps them suck their food.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 23 Beet Webworm The beet webworm is the larva of the webworm moth. The beet webworm strips leaves and eats the stems and pods of the canola plant. Webworm droppings can also get mixed with the canola plants’ seeds when they are harvested. These seeds cannot be used for food.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The beet webworm The beet webworm The thorax of the beet has powerful jaws has a segmented body. webworm has three called mandibles. The The body has two light sets of legs, which are mandibles have sharp stripes down its back used to hold food. The cutting surfaces that with circles on each abdomen has five pairs easily chop leaves. The side. Spinnerets on the of stumpy prolegs, antennae are tiny and body are used to make which are used to hold used to sense smells. silk. Silk webs catch the on to surfaces. webworm droppings.

Bertha Armyworm The Bertha armyworm is a climbing cutworm. It is the larva of a moth. Adult moths are attracted to flowering canola plants to lay their eggs. They are active only at night. The Bertha armyworm can eat everything in an area and then move on to find another food supply. It eats leaves, pods, and seeds.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The Bertha armyworm Larvae of moths have The thorax of the Bertha head is light brown in segmented bodies. armyworm has three colour. It has powerful Each larva has two light sets of legs, which are jaws called mandibles. stripes down its back, used to hold food. The The mandibles have with circles on each side. abdomen has five pairs sharp cutting surfaces The Bertha armyworm of stumpy prolegs, that easily chop leaves. can change from green which are used to hold The antennae are tiny to brown or black. on to surfaces. and used to sense smells.

24 grow a bug cards Cabbage Seedpod Weevil Adult cabbage seedpod weevils eat the flower buds of canola plants. They can also feed on the seeds in canola pods. When they are disturbed, they fold their legs and drop to the ground to “play dead.” This beetle also lays a single egg inside a canola seed pod. The larvae eat the growing seeds.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The cabbage seedpod The cabbage seedpod Cabbage seedpod weevil has a small head weevil has a round body weevils have six with a curved snout. This and is about 3 to 4 mm segmented legs that are snout is about half as long. Their bodies are grey in colour. long as its body. grey and covered with very small scales. Hard wings called elytra cover the abdomen. These wings are only used to fly when the weather is very warm. The elytra provide a protective cover.

Carabid Beetle Carabid beetles are carnivores. This means they feed on other animals, including pests like caterpillars and aphids. Carabid beetles are only active at night. They can give off a very unpleasant odour if they are handled or crushed.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Carabid beetles have a The body of the carabid Carabid beetles have six narrow head and large beetle is black and shiny. segmented legs, with mandibles, or jaws, so Hard wings called elytra two claws. Their legs they can reach and crush cover the abdomen. are long and thin. They their prey. Their long These wings are not move quickly, but stay antennae are found used to fly. They provide on the ground. between the eyes and a protective cover. jaws. Carabid beetles have large bulging eyes on the side of their heads.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 25 Clover Cutworm The clover cutworm is the larva of the cutworm moth. The clover cutworm usually stays in one concentrated area. It causes patches of damage by cutting off plant shoots near the soil.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The clover cutworm has The clover cutworm The thorax of the clover a chewing mouthpart has a segmented body. cutworm has three that cuts and chews The body has two pink sets of legs, which are plant parts. The stripes down its back. used to hold food. The antennae are tiny and Cutworms rest in the soil abdomen has five pairs used to sense smells. during the day and eat of stumpy prolegs, plants at night. which are used to hold on to surfaces.

Damsel Bug The damsel bug is a predator. This means that it feeds on other animals, including pests like aphids and the larvae of other insects. Damsel bugs catch and hold their prey with their front legs. They will eat each other if they cannot find other food.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The head of the damsel The damsel bug is about Damsel bugs have long Damsel bugs have long bug is narrow, with 8 mm long and pale legs and move very wings that are light grey large eyes and long brown. quickly. This helps them or brown in colour. antennae. The damsel catch small bugs, like bug has a beak with a aphids and lygus bugs. sucking mouthpart. They also catch larvae. Their front legs are thicker and have spines on them to help them hold the insects they catch.

26 grow a bug cards Diamondback Moth The diamondback moth is also called the cabbage moth. The larvae of the diamondback moth cause the most damage to growing canola plants. The larvae eat the leaves and the surface of the growing pods.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Moths, such as the The body of the Legs are attached The diamondback moth’s diamondback moth, diamondback moth is to the thorax. The wings are narrow and have one set of long and narrow. The front pair of legs brownish-grey. The wings antennae. The antennae abdomen and thorax is shorter than the have small dark speckles are thin and long. The are about 6 mm long. other two pairs. and a light strip that forms diamondback moths The thorax contains the The hind legs of the a diamond shape when hold their antennae muscles that control the diamondback moth the wings are folded. Their forward when they are wings and legs. are narrow and light wingspan is about 12 to 15 resting. The mouth coils grey. mm. When they are resting, up into a spiral. It is used the wings are folded like a for sucking the nectar tent over the body. They are from plants. Moths have weak flyers and are blown large compound eyes. into crop fields by winds.

Flea Beetle Flea beetles eat the leaves of canola plants, leaving many small holes. They can lay up to 800 eggs on plant leaves. Flea beetles can destroy growing canola crops.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Flea beetles have a Flea beetles are 2 to The flea beetle’s legs are narrow head and long 3 mm long and black a dark amber colour. The antennae. They have in colour. Hard wings hind legs are larger and a chewing mouthpart called elytra cover the stronger than the front that they use to chew abdomen. These wings pairs of legs. This allows the leaves of the canola are not used to fly. They the flea beetle to leap plant. Flea beetles have provide a protective off plants when they are compound eyes. cover. The wing covers disturbed. can be metallic or bright blue. Some have yellow stripes.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 27 Honey Bee Honey bees make and store honey. They construct their nests out of wax. Honey bees are important pollinators. Bees are the only insect that produces food that is eaten by people!

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen A honey bee has five A honey bee’s body is The legs of the honey The honey bee has four eyes. Three are simple covered with lots of bee have pollen baskets. wings, which are very eyes, called ocelli. Two fuzzy hairs. These hairs These “baskets” are thin. The front wings are compound eyes. The help the bee collect made of two rows of are bigger than the back honey bee has a labrum pollen. The honey bee’s hair that attract and wings. The wings make and maxillae, which stinger is attached to hold the pollen. a buzzing sound when are like lips. It uses its the abdomen. Only the the honey bee flies. proboscis, which is like females have stingers. a tube, to collect nectar from flowers. The honey bee has two antennae.

Hoverfly Hoverflies belong to a large family of small to large flies. They can sometimes be called flower flies. They are helpful insects, because they are pollinators. Their larvae also eat harmful insects, such as aphids.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Hoverflies have large Hoverflies have spots Hoverflies can have Hoverflies have only one heads, with two large or stripes of yellow or black or yellow legs. pair of clear wings. They compound eyes. They brown and black. Some Some hoverflies wave are called hoverflies have small antennae. hoverflies have fuzzy their front legs as if they because they can hover, Hoverflies use their long hairs covering their were long antennae. or fly in one spot. tongues to suck the body. This makes them They fly quickly, either nectar from flowers. look like bees. However, forwards or sideways. hoverflies do not sting. A hoverfly can imitate the stinging of a bee by pressing its abdomen into a surface.

28 grow a bug cards Lacewing Lacewings are helpful because they eat insects that are harmful to plants. Adult lacewings actually eat pollen and nectar from plants. Their larvae eat pests, such as aphids and the larvae of other bugs. The lacewing larvae are called “aphid lions” because they eat so many aphids. They can devour up to 200 pests a week.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Lacewings have small Lacewings are about The lacewing’s legs are Lacewings have many heads with eyes that 25 mm long with narrow green and long. They veins in their wings. This are gold in colour. They bodies. They are green have hook-like claws at makes the wings look are attracted to light at in colour. Lacewings lay the end of their legs. like lace or a fine net. night. Long, sharp, and their eggs on the stalks Lacewings hold their pointed mandibles, or of plants. wings back over their jaws, stick out from the bodies when they are front of their heads. resting.

Ladybug A ladybug is a beetle. Ladybugs can eat up to 100 aphids a day! They eat other plant-eating insects, too. If a ladybug is threatened, it will “play dead” by staying very still.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Ladybugs have a small The body of the ladybug Ladybugs have short Ladybugs have two head. The head has is covered by the elytra. legs. They can release long, clear wings under the mouthparts, two The elytra is usually a fluid from their legs their elytra. When they compound eyes, and red with black spots. that tastes awful. This are not flying, the elytra two short antennae. The thorax contains discourages predators, protects their wings. The ladybug uses its the muscles that or the insects that eat When they fly, the elytra antennae to smell, taste, control the wings and ladybugs. opens, allowing the and find its way around. legs. However, it can wings to move. be yellow, orange, or brown. Most ladybugs are 4 to 8 mm long.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 29 Lygus Bug Lygus bugs are small, oval shaped insects. They eat crop plants and weeds. They also insert harmful saliva into the plant while they feed. They spend the winter in the dead leaves of plants.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Lygus bugs have piercing Adult lygus bugs are The legs of the lygus Lygus bugs will fly when and sucking mouthparts. about 3 mm wide and bug are short and something comes close They pierce the tissue 6 mm long. They can attached to its thorax. to them. They have of plants and suck the be pale green, reddish two pairs of wings and juices from the leaves or brown, or black. Lygus are strong flyers. The stems. Lygus bugs have bugs have a mark wings are folded over two long antennae. on their backs that is the abdomen when the shaped like a triangle. lygus bug is not flying.

Painted Lady Butterfly The painted lady is a large butterfly that many people recognize because of its colours. Painted lady butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves of canola plants. When the larvae hatch, they immediately start eating the plants.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Painted lady butterflies Painted lady butterflies The painted lady The painted lady have one set of are medium sized. Their butterfly has six legs. butterfly has four wings. antennae. The antennae bodies are covered with Many butterflies have The top of the wings are thin and long. Their tiny hairs. The thorax taste sensors on their of the painted lady mouth coils up into contains the muscles legs. butterfly are orange a spiral. It is used for that make the legs and with black blotches sucking the nectar from wings move. and white spots. The plants. underside can be pink, brown, olive, black, and white.

30 grow a bug cards Red Turnip Beetle The red turnip beetle is a type of leaf beetle. These tiny beetles like to eat plants in the mustard family, such as turnips, radishes, cabbages, and canola. Red turnip beetles invade crops by walking instead of flying.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The head of the red Adult red turnip beetles The six legs of the red Hard wings called elytra turnip beetle is bright are about 7 mm long. turnip beetles are long cover the abdomen. red with a small black They are bright red with and black. The elytra provide a spot at the back. black patches on their protective cover. When This beetle has long, heads and three black the red turnip beetle segmented antennae. bands running down flies, the elytra open their backs. and the two flight wings are unfolded and extended.

Root Maggot The root maggot is the larva of a type of fly called the root maggot fly. Root maggots can damage whole crops while they are eating, because they tunnel through the roots of the plants.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The head of the root The thorax and maggot cannot be abdomen of the root distinguished from the maggot look the same, body. Maggots have and it is hard to tell very small eyes and no where each starts. antennae. Maggots have mouth hooks that they use to scrape in food.

Grow a Bug Smartboard Simlab 31 Thrips Thrips are true bugs. All true bugs have piercing, sucking mouthparts. When thrips drink the juices or nectar from plant stems, leaves, and flowers, the plants do not grow properly to maturity.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen Thrips have a Thrips are very small. Thrips legs are short so Thrips have small rasping-sucking Their thorax and they can walk on plant feathery wings and are mouthpart. They use abdomen are yellow to surfaces. very weak flyers. They the teeth on their dark brown. rely on wind currents to mouthpart to slash the travel. surface of the stem, leaves, or fruit. Then, they drink the plant nectar. Thrips have two compound eyes. They see light and dark.

Wasp Some types of wasps are parasitic. This means they live on another animal. Parasitic wasps lay their eggs in another insect, such as a lygus bug or diamondback moth larva, by stinging it. The egg hatches after five to seven days. The wasp larva feeds on the body of the lygus bug or moth larva.

Head: Mouthpart/ Body: Legs Wings Antennae Thorax/ Abdomen The wasp’s head has The wasp has a narrow The wasp has long legs The wasp has two pairs two compound and striped abdomen. It is that are strong enough of wings. It is a strong simple eyes and long usually black and yellow. to hold its prey. and fast flyer. antennae. The antennae The abdomen also has point down on each side a stinger, which is also of the head. A wasp’s used to lay eggs. Only mouthparts are used for females have stingers. biting and licking. Wasps have very few hairs on their body.

32 grow a bug cards