Or
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DISCUSS:
How do you think mosquitoes could be dangerous?
Hint...
Could sucking blood have something to do with it?
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Why do you think there are more mosquitoes in tropical places?
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DISCUSS:
Given what you’ve learned about mosquitoes and their life cycle, what are some suggestions you would give people to help them avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes after a rainy spring?
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Like butterflies, mosquitoes go through full metamorphosis.
Watch this video (1:45) to see the mosquito life cycle, and then make a Mosquito Metamorphosis Wheel.
For background information, check out this helpful PDF from the CDC.
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This online book is free with registration as an educator on Get Epic!
In this story, Riley can’t figure out why mosquitoes find him so tasty. He tries everything he can think of to make them go away—until he trips on the right answer.
This book, by Michelle Knudsen, is filled with fun facts and hints on how to avoid mosquitoes. Questions at the end help students with reading comprehension and introduce the idea of scientific testing. (Ages 6–8)
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Readings from Newsela are free with registration. They’re available in English or Spanish and can be adjusted for reading level. Writing prompts and quiz questions are available for most readings.
More and more people are getting sick from diseases carried by insects. This article tells why, and what travel and the weather have to do with it.
Scientist Stephen Dobson is fighting mosquito-borne disease by infecting male mosquitoes with bacteria. When the infected males mate with females, their eggs will not hatch. (Grade 3)
You never know what might happen when you mess with Mother Nature. Read how one attempt to kill mosquitoes went very wrong. (Grade 3)
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Take a (really) close-up look at the mosquito’s bite. (Warning! You may want to close your eyes for some of the yucky parts.) (2:55, PBS)
How can mosquitoes make you sick? Watch this video to find out. (1:29, Wadada)
In the movie Jurassic Park, fictional scientists create dinosaurs from blood found in long-dead mosquitoes. When that movie was made, nobody had ever really found a blood-filled mosquito from millions of years ago—but now they have. Could blood from a real 46-million-year-old fossilized mosquito be used to resurrect dinosaurs? Well, no—but it’s still a cool find. (2:18, D-News/Seeker)
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Shelly Redovan grew up in Florida where there are lots of mosquitoes. Watch this short video where she talks about the details of her job as a mosquito biologist. (2:50, WGCU Curious Kids)
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In this lesson, students investigate mosquito life cycles and habitats and discover the role of mosquitoes in carrying diseases such as malaria. In the activity, Bug Off!, students evaluate the merits of different solutions for getting rid of mosquitoes at various locations in a town. Students design a solution to help the town deal with an abundance of mosquitoes resulting from a very rainy summer.
Preview activity| Bug Off! Backyard worksheet | 30 copies |
| Bug Off! Picnic Area worksheet | 30 copies |
| Bug Off! Playground worksheet | 30 copies |
| Problem Solver’s Sheet worksheet | 30 copies |
We suggest students work in pairs so they can share their ideas with a partner. Homeschool students can work on their own.
We have provided three Bug Off! worksheets, each picturing a different location in town. In a class, we suggest giving students a choice of which site they’d like to work with. You could also choose to have everyone come up with a solution for the same site. If students finish early, you can have them work on other sites so they can think of multiple solutions to the mosquito problem.
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