Edible Insects!

Fifth Grade Lesson Plan

Edible Insects!

OBJECTIVES  Students will gain background knowledge of insect consumption

by humans.
 Students will create a brochure in Microsoft Word to persuade
readers that eating insects is beneficial to themselves and the
environment.
 Students will present their brochures to other 5th grade classes.
TEKS Language Arts
(TEXAS  11(A) offer observations, make connections, react, speculate,
ESSENTIAL interpret, and raise questions in response to texts.
 11(B) interpret text ideas through such varied means as journal
KNOWLEDGE writing, discussion, enactment, and media.
AND SKILLS)  13(A) form and revise questions for investigations, including
STANDARDS questions arising from interest and units of study.
COVERED  15(A) write to express, discover, record, develop, reflect on ideas,
and to problem solve
 15(B) write to influence such as to persuade, argue, and request
 15(C) write to inform such as to explain, describe, report, and
narrate.
 25(A) select, organize, or produce visuals to complement and
extend meanings.
 25(B) produce communications using technology or appropriate
media such as developing a class newspaper, multimedia reports,
or video reports.
Science
 1(B) make wise choices in the use and conservation of resources
and the disposal or recycling of materials.
Technology
 7(B) use appropriate software to express ideas and solve problems
including the use of word processing, graphics, databases,
spreadsheets, simulations, and multimedia.
 10(B) use font attributes, color, white space, and graphics to
ensure that products are appropriate for the communication media
including multimedia screen displays, Internet documents, and
printed materials.

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 Edible Insects! Fifth Grade Lesson Plan

MATERIALS Book: Beetles, Lightly Toasted by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Student Writing Journals
Computer with Internet Access
Microsoft Word for Windows
Color Printer
PROCEDURES Before beginning this activity, students will gain background knowledge
of edible insects by listening and/or reading Beetles, Lightly Toasted. This
story is about a fifth grader named Andy who enters a school essay contest
that involves conservation. Andy decides to tackle the topic of food
conservation and develops a variety of recipes using insects. Andy tests
his concoctions on unknowing friends and family with great success.

1. Students will work in groups of two and conduct research using

specific websites bookmarked on the class social bookmaking site
http://del.icio.us/kmccalmo. They will find answers to the
following questions:
 Why should humans eat insects?
 What kinds of insects can humans eat?
 How do you prepare insects before you eat them?

2. The students will record their findings in their writing journal.

3. The teacher will show the example brochure to the students and
explain to them that they are going to use their research to create
their own brochure in Microsoft Word to persuade readers to eat
insects.
4. Before creating the brochure in Microsoft Word, students will get
a piece of paper and fold it into thirds. They will label the panels to
determine which columns in Word represent the sections of their
brochure.

1.Front
2.Back
3.Inside Left
4.Inside Middle
5.Inside Right
6.Fold In

Steps to Create a Brochure Using Microsoft Word

1. The students will open Microsoft Word and select File - Page
Setup. They will change all the page margins to 0.5.
2. While in Page Setup, they will change the paper orientation to
Landscape.
3. Students will select Format-Columns and choose the three
columns option.
4. While still in the Columns section, they will change the Spacing
to 1 inch.
5. Students will select Tools-Options-View and put a check mark
next to Text boundaries and Paragraph marks. This will help
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 Edible Insects! Fifth Grade Lesson Plan

students visualize their layout.

6. To be able to type in any of the columns, students will create
column breaks. They will click on the first column and select
Insert-Break. Click Column Break and OK. They will repeat this
step until they get to the last column.
7. Then, students will create a Page Break to create the second side
of the brochure. Students will select Insert-Break and chose Page
Break. Student will repeat the column break process for the second
page.
8. The brochure setup is now complete. The students will work with a
partner and enter their research information into their brochure.
9. The students will refer to their folded paper to determine which
panel is the front.
10. Students will add text (names, title) to the front of their brochure
and click Insert-Picture-Clip Art to add graphics.
11. Students will refer to their folded paper to find the inside left
panel of their brochure.
12. Students will type the information they gathered about why humans
should eat insects in this panel.
13. Students will add a title and graphics to this section to enhance the
presentation.
14. Students will refer to their folded paper to find the inside middle
panel of their brochure.
15. Students will type the information they gathered about what kinds
of insects to eat in this panel.
16. Students will add a title and graphics to this section to enhance the
presentation.
17. Students will refer to their folded paper to find the inside right
panel of their brochure.
18. Students will type the information they gathered about how to
prepare insects in this panel.
19. Students will add a title and graphics to this section to enhance the
presentation.
20. Students will refer to their folded brochure to find the fold in panel
of their brochure.
21. Students will type the Internet sites they used to conduct their
research in this panel.
22. Students will add a title and graphics to this section to enhance the
presentation.
23. Students can decide if they want to add additional text and graphics
to the back panel of their brochure.
24. Students will work with their partner to decide what kinds of
graphics to use in their brochure and if they want to add borders or
shading.
25. Students can use the example brochure throughout this activity as a
reference.
26. Students will print their completed brochures and present them to
other 5th grade classes.
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 Edible Insects! Fifth Grade Lesson Plan

ASSESSMENT Students will use the following rubric as a guide when they create their
brochure. The same rubric is used to evaluate each brochure.
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=12
78129&
RESOURCES: Science for Kids
INTERNET http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/kids/weirdscience/story5/insecteaters.htm
SITES Insects Around the World
http://www.eat-online.net/english/education/insect_snacks.htm
Bugfood!
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/oldentyouth.htm
Eating Bugs
http://www.manataka.org/page160.html
CNN-Edible Bugs in China
http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/asiapcf/9804/24/fringe/china.bugs/

This lesson uses the computer as a mindtool because the students use
critical thinking skills to create a brochure using Microsoft Word. The
students use the Internet to acquire knowledge about insect
consumption by humans and use that knowledge to create an
informative brochure that is useful to themselves and others.
Students build knowledge by reflecting on text to create the brochure.
Cooperative groups discuss, plan, organize, and create a persuasive
brochure that encourages insect consumption by humans. The
students present information that is concise, creative, thoughtful, and
meaningful. This lesson gives students the opportunity to collaborate
with their peers to create a visual presentation that enhances the
learning process.

[Example brochure attached below]

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 Edible Insects! Fifth Grade Lesson Plan

What kinds of insects can How are insects prepared?

humans eat?
 Collect insects such
 Avoid eating colorful as grasshoppers,
insects because they crickets, and beetles
could be poisonous. from your yard or
garden.
Why should humans eat
 Flies and roaches
insects?
carry bacteria that  Feed cornmeal to
can make people sick, the insects for four
 Eating insects
so don’t eat them! days to clear out
instead of cattle
their digestive tract.
protects the
 The safest insects to
environment.
eat are those that are  Boil them in hot
dull in color such as water or freeze
 Insects are plentiful
crickets and beetles. them in the freezer.
and they don’t
require a lot of
 You can even eat  Cut off wings and
preparation.
scorpions and wasps if legs.
you prepare them
 Insects are high in
correctly.  Prepare them
protein and
according to the
vitamins.
recipe.
 Insects are cheap.
You can find insect recipes
You can get them for
at Iowa State University’s
free right in your
Entomology site:
backyard! http://www.ent.iastate.ed
u/misc/insectsasfood.html

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 Edible Insects! Fifth Grade Lesson Plan

Bug Food!
http://www.uky.edu/Ag/En
tomology/ythfacts/oldentyo
uth.htm
Eat me, I’m
Insect Snacks Around The delicious!
World
http://www.eat-
online.net/english/educatio
n/insect_snacks.htm

Eating Bugs
http://www.manataka.org/
page160.html

CNN-Bug Eating in China

http://www.cnn.com/WORL
D/asiapcf/9804/24/fringe/c
hina.bugs/

Sponsored by: Created By:

Bug Eaters Anonymous [Students’ Names]