Topic: Arthropods

Target group

4th‑grade students of elementary school

Core curriculum

Grade IV
VI. The natural environment of the immediate area. Pupil:
7) recognizes and names common organisms occurring in the immediate vicinity of the school

General aim of education

Students recognize insects and arachnids based on their appearance.

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Criteria for success
The student will learn:

• explain what are the characteristic features of arthropods;

• to share arthropods on crustaceans, insects and arachnids based on their appearance;

• describe the importance of arthropods.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• notebook and crayons/felt‑tip pens;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

• Students get acquainted with the content of the abstract. They prepare to work on the lesson in such a way to be able to summarize the material read in their own words and solve the tasks themselves.

Introduction

• The teacher explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

Realization

• The teacher asks students to read the abstract themselves, paying particular attention to the illustrations.

• The teacher distributes colorful models of insects and arachnids to the students. Pupils' task is to classify them after an external structure to insects or arachnids. Students compare the results of their work with an interactive illustration..

• Students with the teacher go out to the school yard. Each student pair receives a Levenhuka container and an entomological mesh. Students carefully catch specimens of arthropods and subject them to observation. They carefully look at the construction of external captured copies and on the basis of them determine their membership in the right group. After recording the observations, the pupils release the caught animals gently and repeat the observation procedure with subsequent specimens..

Summary

• The teacher chooses one student by random method and asks him or her to explain in own words the meaning of a given word or concept learned during the lesson.

• At the end of the class, the teacher asks the students questions:

  • What did you find important and interesting in class?

  • What was easy and what was difficult?

  • How can you use the knowledge and skills you have gained today?

  Willing/selected students summarize the lesson.

Homework

• Develop a lap book containing issues learned during the lesson and bring your work to the next class.

• Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Arthropods

Arthropods are animals which have conquered all environments. They can be found in both the water and the air, as well as on land or in the soil. A special feature of arthropods is the way their legs are constructed, divided into segments which are linked with joints. Parts of their legs are used to move, and others are used, for example, to acquire and crush food. They also have limbs on their heads, called antennae. Arthropods can be divided into crustaceans (for example, crayfish, crabs and woodlice), arachnids (for example, spiders, ticks and scorpions) and insects (for example bees, ants and beetles).

Crustaceans inhabit all water environments, though woodlice can be found in damp places on land. The bodies of these animals are divided into a cephalothorax and an abdomen. On the cephalothorax are antennae, eyes and a few pairs of legs.
As a rule, arachnids live on land, only a few live in water (where they breathe air). The bodies of arachnids are made up of a cephalothorax and an abdomen. They are equipped with several pairs of eyes, dental organs and four pairs of legs. Spiders are a group of arachnids which have spinnerets, which they use to produce silk spiderwebs with various uses. Some arachnids are poisonous, including scorpions and almost all spiders.

Insects live on land. Insects' bodies are made up of a head, a thorax and an abdomen. On their heads, they have antennae, eyes and mouthparts. The thorax is equipped with three pairs of legs, and most commonly, two pairs of wings. Certain insects, for example mosquitos, have one pair of wings, others, for example lice or fleas, are wingless.

Mites are a very large group of microscopic arachnids. Some of them, known as dust mites, feed on the dead skin of animals and people, which accumulates in our homes. An accumulation of their droppings can be dangerous for people who suffer from allergies. This is why we should regularly clean and air out our homes.

Arthropods are hugely important in nature. In both the seas and on land, they are an important component of every environment. They are a source of food for many animals, and they themselves feed on other organisms. They also play a hugely important role in the process of breaking down dead organic material. In this way, they clean the Earth's surface of carrion and mouldering plants.

Insects deserve particular attention. A large number of insects means that they are the largest consumers of plants. Herbivorous insects eat leaves, stems, flowers, fruit, seeds and roots. They themselves, however, are the staple food for many species of spiders, predatory insects and numerous vertebrates.

Insects play a huge role as pollinators. Most species of flowering plants are pollinated by insects – this also includes many species grown by man. The benefits of flowers being pollinated by bees are far greater than the value of the honey and wax and other products derived from bees. Certain insects, for example ants, collect seeds which they feed on. They lose some of them, leading to them being dispersed.

Another example of the usefulness of insects is silkworm breeding. Their larvae create cocoons constructed of one thin, strong thread – the raw material used to produce silk.

• Arthropods are the most numerous group of animals in terms of species and specimens.

• Arthropods can be divided into crustaceans, arachnids and insects.

• Arthropods eat plants and animals. They themselves are also a staple food for many species of organisms.

• The majority of species of flowering plants require the participation of insects in the pollination process.