A colony of ants discover delicious crystals in a far off place.  As they go to gather the crystals, two ants decide not to return with their fellow ants but to stay and eat crystals forever.  The illustrations depict the story from an ants point of view which makes this a wonderful first mystery story for young children. 

Materials

• Several small pitchers or pouring containers and plastic cups with lines marked at various heights.
• Large box of raisins.

Vocabulary

• Mystery (something that you must figure out)
• Deemed (thought or to consider something)
• Dew (condensation or water that forms when the water meets cold air, like on a glass of water with ice or on the grass when it gets cold at night).
• Battered (beaten up)
• Garbage disposal (chews up food products in some people’s sinks)

Before Reading the Story

Hold up the cover of the book and ask the children what insect that is? Spend a few minutes talking about ants. Where have you seen ants? What color were the ants you saw? Do ants bite? Have you ever seen an anthill? Are ants dangerous?

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Reading the Story

All along the way stop and ask the children what is happening?  Can they tell by the illustrations what is happening or where the ants are? 

Read the text to the children and then ask them to guess where the ants are

Pg 4=what do you think that crystal might be?

Pg 7=they walked through the woods, what are they really walking through?

Pg 10= Do you think this is really a mountain?  What else could it be?

Pg 18=what did the two bad ants fall into?

22=can you guess where the two bad ants are now?

24=What is the fountain really?  Where would you find one of these in your home?

26=explain that this is called a garbage disposal.  This is not a toy, very dangerous.

28=never stick anything in an electric socket.  You can get very hurt!

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates growing abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story. AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

After Reading the Story

The two bad ants finally decide to go back home to their family of ants. What prompts their decision? What matters to them about their home community? What matters to you about your home community? 

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates growing abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Talk about safety, especially plugs.  What happened to the ants that went into the plug?

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; builds awareness and ability to follow basic health and safety rules and by responding appropriately to potentially harmful objects, substances, and activities.

Discovery

Print the close up cards for the children to look at and discuss. Are they able to name all the items? Make two sets of the close-up cards and use them to play Memory by turning all the cards upside down and the children take turns trying to find matched pairs.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; shows growing capacity to maintain concentration over time on a stask, question, set of directions or interactions, despite distractions and interruptions. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; develops increasing abilities to give and take in interactions; to take turns in games and using materials; and to interact without being overly submissive or directive.

If you are lucky enough to have a class camera, show the children how to use it and then allow them to take 2-4 pictures each of anything in the classroom that they choose. Print these and hang them on the wall for all the children to see. or make them into a classroom book.

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences.

Music and Movement

Make an obstacle course for the children to follow. Include crawling under a table, over a chair, around the easel, along the wall, behind the bookshelf, etc..

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects, and words such as up, down, over, under, on top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind.

March in an ant line to various tempos of music.

Creative Arts/Movement; shows growth in moving in time to different patterns of beat and rhythm in music.

Blocks

Use the many cut out ants and the blocks.  The children can build a structure and then put an ant line on.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Art

Add salt to easel paint to make shiny-crystals

Creative Arts/Art; begins to understand and share opinions about artistic products and experiences.

Cut out many 1” circles.  Show the children how they can put three together to make a simple ant shape.  Encourage them to glue sets of circles all over their picture.  When they are through gluing, show them how to add ant features (2 antenna, 6 legs, and big eyes)

Creative Arts/Art; progresses in abilities to create drawings, paintings, models, and other art creations that are more detailed, creative, or realistic.

Sand and Water

Let the children practice pouring from pitchers today. On plastic cups draw lines. Show the children how to pour stopping when they get to the line.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks,putting puzzles together, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Library and Writing

Tell the children that you are going to make letters using ants today.  Show them the raisins and explain that they are going to use the raisins for pretend ants.  On a piece of construction paper write the first letter of the child’s name in large print.  Give the child a bottle of glue to follow the lines and then use raisins to go over the glue. 

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; knows that letters of the alphabet are a special category of visual graphics that can be individually named.

Dramatic Play

Explain to the children that ants come into kitchens looking for food and water.  Suggest to the children that they clean the center today to make sure there is no food about.  Let them use spray bottles with water and paper towels to wipe down the shelves and toys.  Encourage them to put the toys away in their proper place and to show you any toy that might be broken or ripped.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Curiosity; grows in abilities to persist in and complete various tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Math and Manipulatives

Use the close-ups and items pictures to match those that belong together.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take shapes apart.

Make many copies of the ant page. Have the children roll a dice and add that many ants to their ant hill.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.

Outdoor Play

Look around your playground for something heavy or awkward to lift (a small table, a wagon, a lounge chair). Tell the children that you would like to move the object to the otherside of the yard. Have the children work together to move the object from one side of the playground to another.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion in working, playing, and resolving conflicts with peers.

Bring out some food scraps and look for ants. When you find them, put the food down near their path. Come back later and see if there is any ant activitiy. Observe and talk about what you see happening.

Science/Scientific Knowledge;expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Transitions

Use the close-up cards and see if the children can guess what each item is. Later put the cards into the Math & Manipulative center for the children to use individually.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put together and take shapes apart.

Resources