Unit 26 Birds and insects About this unit This unit is about birds and insects. Pupils learn a song about how to introduce themselves. They read about birds and look for cause and effect. The unit helps them to recognise apostrophes in sentences and to write the names of birds and insects correctly. They learn about how insects can both harm and help us and they enjoy songs, rhymes and pictures as they practise their newly-acquired skills. Lesson 1 Listening and speaking: sharing personal experiences; singing a song; saying a rhyme; learning about and practising introductions; discussing birds and insects and those that help and harm us Reading: vocabulary (my name is, I come from, I live in, parrot, butterfly, wings, fly, legs, feathers, feelers, bees, mosquito, grasshopper, hen, chick, fly, vulture, disease, cockroach, flamingo); revise colour vocabulary; reading a clapping rhyme; Writing: fill in missing letters to make the bird and insect names. A poster or pictures of different birds and insects Workbook Words of My name, my name, my name on the board Sight word cards for birds and insects, emphasising their colour 1. Talk about times when children feel shy at a new school, at a party. Ask pupils to share personal experiences. Share a story from your life too. Explain that if you know how to introduce yourself, it is much easier to make friends. 2. Say the To market to market rhyme : To market to market to buy a fat hen. Home again, home again Jiggity-jen. 3. Sing the Incy Wincey Spider song. 4. Lead a discussion about the birds and insects that pupils know. Make a list of them. How are birds and insects the same? How are they different? Add and introduce new vocabulary. 5. Talk about insects that help us: bees, butterflies etc. Talk about insects that can cause disease: cockroaches, mosquitoes, houseflies, tsetse flies. Listening and speaking ( p. 108; Workbook p. 42) 1. Ask children to open the PB on p. 108. Tell them you will teach them a clapping rhyme. 2. Put pupils into groups of five and guide them through the clapping song on p. 108. Write the words on the board so that they don't have to hold their books while singing and clapping. Demonstrate with one group before everyone else starts. 3. Put up your posters of insects and birds. Look at the pictures and ask pupils if they can tell which are birds and which are insects. Ask if they can name the birds and insects. Help them to name and talk about each one; about its physical characteristics, for example: This is a... It is... It has... It lives... Use the discussion to introduce new vocabulary. 4. Revise colour vocabulary to help pupils describe birds and insects. 5. Pupils fill in missing letters to make the bird and insect names in Exercise 1 (WB p. 42). 124
Answers (Workbook p. 42) 1. mosquito, parrot, vulture, butterfly, cockroach, eagle, flamingo, chicken. 1. Describe an insect in the form of a riddle, for example I am small. I have six legs. My babies are in puddles of water. I sing when I fly. I bite people and can make them sick. Ask pupils to guess what it is. (mosquito) Encourage pupils to ask you to explain further or to repeat the clues. 2. Divide pupils into small groups and let them take turns to ask riddles. Observe whether pupils can describe the birds and insects using the sentence structure and vocabulary you have taught. 3. Observe pupils as they do this. Be ready to help with vocabulary and sentence structure. Remind them to take turns. In their same groups, pupils sing the song "My name, my name, my name" but this time they give more information about themselves such as: their age, their grade, their school, their sisters/brothers, etc. Lesson 2 Listening and speaking: learning and reciting a rhyme; talking about their favourite or least liked birds and insects; telling stories they know; discussing unusual birds or insects and cause and effect Reading: a text about birds and insects that shows cause and effect; vocabulary from Lesson 1(everywhere, sparrow, pigeon, ostrich, peacock, ducks, reared for food, seeds, flesh, houseflies, sickness) Workbook A poster or pictures of birds and insects Sentence cards for selected birds and insects mentioned in the text Sight word cards for birds/ insects Words for Two little baby birds on the board Personal dictionaries. 1. Teach this rhyme: Two little baby birds Two little baby birds, Sitting on a wall. One named Peter, One named Paul. Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul. Come back, Peter, Come back, Paul. 2 Ask pupils to talk about their favourite or least liked birds and insects in their homes or neighbourhood and to tell any stories they know. 3. Ask pupils if they know any unusual birds or insects. Let them tell the class about it. Reading ( p. 109; Workbook p. 42) 1. Talk again about different birds and insects. Use pictures to reinforce recognition and vocabulary. Use flashcards and sentence strips to introduce the text. 2. Ask pupils which birds and insect they like and do not like. Why? Although many insects cause disease to people and damage to crops, there are also many who are our friends. They pollinate fruit trees, clean up rotting flesh and keep our soils healthy. Try to encourage an interest in insect life. Bees especially, are 125
in global danger and need positive environments. 3. Read the text with pupils (PBp. 109). Read again and encourage them to join in with you, especially with the highfrequency words you have taught. 4. Explain difficult vocabulary and concepts: reared for food, eat flesh. 5. Introduce the idea of cause and effect: If I leave the door open, the wind blows in. If we work hard, we do well in maths, etc. Ask for examples from pupils and note them on the board. 6. Guide pupils through the comprehension questions to identify cause and effect in the passage. Explain that 'what is the cause of?' is another way of saying 'why?' Pairs discuss the answers. Listen for clear understanding of the concept of cause and effect. Answers ( p. 109) 1. It is too big. 2. We keep it for its feathers/ It helps it to attract the females. 3. They cause sickness. 4. People like to keep them as pets. 7. Read through the sentences in Exercise 2 (WB p. 42) with pupils. Explain difficult words. Pupils answer true or false. Answers (Workbook p. 42) 2 a) true b) true c) false d) false e) true f) true g) false 8. Pupils add useful words to their personal dictionaries. 1. Select and write out some words that you consider difficult for your class. 2. Read them with the pupils, helping them to sound out the syllables. Let them clap the syllables. 3. Ask pupils to use the words in sentences. Write the sentences down and correct them as a class. 1. Put up your sentence cards for selected birds and insects as examples of how to describe them. 2. Ask pupils to write three sentences about a clever insect. They should say what it looks like and what it does that helps people. Help with vocabulary and sentence structure. 3. They draw their insect and write what it is below the picture. Lesson 3 Listening and speaking: singing a song; learning a rhyme Reading: vocabulary (younger, parked, cancelled, beak) Grammar: recognising apostrophes in sentences Writing: sentences A poster or pictures of different birds and insects Selected pictures and sentence cards for each bird and insect Illustrated apostrophe chart The words of I saw a little bird on the board 1. Remix groups and let them sing My name, my name, my name together. 2. Teach I saw a little bird with actions: I saw a little bird going hop, hop, hop. I said little bird, won't you stop, stop, stop. I looked out of my window to say How-do-you-do? But he shook his little tail And away he flew. 126
Grammar ( p. 110) 1. Pupils have worked with apostrophes in Units 24 and 25. Revise their use to show possession as well as missing letters. Give plenty of examples. 2. Pupils open to Grammar (PB p. 110). They read and write the sentences in their note books, underlining the apostrophes. Read the sentences with the class before they begin. Answers ( p. 110) 1b) Tunde's sister is very tall. 2b) My teacher's car is parked outside the gate. 3b) Esi's singing makes me happy. 4b) Tonight's football match has been cancelled. 5b) The parrot's beak is black. 1. Let pupils readwith you (PB p. 109). 2. Let them close their books and think of sentences about any bird or insect, for example: Insects are tiny animals. They live in forests, on flowers and fruits, among grasses in holes and houses. Some insects like the butterfly are beautiful and colourful. Some insects are harmful to people but some are not. The housefly, mosquitoes and cockroaches can cause sickness. 3. Help pupils use strategies to learn the spelling of the sight words. Pupils choose one of the bird rhymes to learn and perform with actions. Lesson 4 Listening and speaking: insect rhymes; discussing factual and story texts; discussing peacocks and peahens Reading: a factual text and answering questions about peafowl; Reader vocabulary (peafowl, nest on the ground, lizard, peahen, plumage, attract, train, ward off danger, young, competition) Reader Colour pictures of birds that show their colours and plumage; brightly patterned local cloth (extension activity) 1. Ask pupils for insect rhymes in English or their home language. (Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home. Your house is on fire, and your children have gone) Reading (Reader pp. 55 56) 1. Pupils to turn to The Peafowl (RD p. 55). Write one or two key words from the passage on the board (peafowl/peacock/plumage). 2. Remind pupils about the difference between information and a story. Tell them that the passage on the peafowl, as well as that on birds and insects in the PB, is an information or factual text. 3. Ask pupils: Have you ever seen a peacock or peahen? What do they know about them? Who can do the sound they make? (some people say it sounds like a squeaky wheelbarrow). 4. Let them read the title of the text on the peafowl. Let them talk about the picture. 5. Read the text, using your voice and actions. Explain difficult words and use the new word feature. 6. Re-read the text running your finger under the lines of text. 7. Let pupils read along with you. Ask questions to check for understanding. 8. Go through the comprehension questions with the class. Then pairs discuss the answers. 127
Answers (Reader p. 56) 1. Peafowl live in forests. 2. They eat plants, insects and small animals. 3. A peahen is a female and a peacock is male. 4. No, they do not have eyes on them. 5. She uses it to ward off danger from her young. 1. Let pupils write out some words you spell for them. 2. Ask pupils to make sentences using these words. Check to assess progress and where extra support is needed. Ask pupils to pretend that you they a clothes maker and want special cloth. Use feather designs and colours to draw a pattern for the beautiful cloth. (Provide pictures of different birds, their colours and plumage, to stimulate pupils' imaginations.) The cloth in the pictures (RD p. 44) also provides good examples. Or you could bring some brightly designed and patterned cloth from home to display. Be sure all pupils have coloured crayons to use. 5 Lesson 5 Listening and speaking: saying bird or insect rhymes; revising names of birds and insects; talk about pictures Writing: the names of birds and insects Workbook. 1. Say any of the bird or insect rhymes 2. Revise the names of birds and insects using your pictures and poster. Writing ( p. 111; Workbook pp. 42 43) 1. Ask pupils them to look at the pictures and talk about them with a partner (PB p.111). Read the names so that pupils can hear the correct pronunciation. 2. Now pupils draw two boxes (large enough to write at least eight names in) in their note books. 3. Pupils look at the pictures again and write the names of all the birds they can see in box 1 and the names of all the insects they can see in box 2. 4. Check the answers together as a class. 5. Move around and check that pupils have copied the names correctly, especially the more difficult ones such as mosquito. Let pupils work in pairs and check each other s spelling. 6. Note which words have not been correctly spelt. Write the spelling words on theboard and let them practise spelling these using the Cover, write and check method. 7. Let pupils enjoy Exercise 3 and 4 (WB pp. 42--43). Ask them to share the names they have chosen for their parrots. Answers (Workbook pp. 42) 3. vulture, duck Pairs go through magazines and find eight words they have learnt in this unit. They should cut these out and paste them onto a page. They write the word next to it. Check for correct spelling. Pupils who have finished their work may enjoy reading quietly to themselves from the Reader or a book from the reading corner. They may also look through your reference and library books on animals, birds and insects. 128