Firefly Research Gone Digital

Did you know that Indiana is going to adopt the firefly as a state insect? I am so excited about this because I remember spending hours chasing and catching fireflies as a child and it will be a great addition to our other state symbols. Elementary students love learning about fireflies  check out these  fun things to do in your classroom.

Be sure to check out the other awesome posts from the members of The Reading Crew which include lots of ideas to grow your readers and many freebies too. 

This post will includes fun and engaging activities and ideas to help grow your student’s firefly knowledge through research.

1. Use a Book

Read Alouds are great ways to get students engaged and excited to learn more about a certain topic. Start out your unit of study with some great books. The first book I highly recommend is called How To Survive As A Firefly.

This great find is a non-fiction book that has a fun twist on delivering firefly information. A Sergeant Firefly tells the little ones how they will grow to be adults. Your students will enjoy all the cool firefly facts jammed into this story.  Turn out the lights and read by glow stick to set the mood. Check out this Digital FREEBIE for you so your students can use it to record all the new things they learn. The freebie is a template to use with Pic Collage and Google Drive Templates to use with Google Slides.

Fireflies is another great book by Julie Brinkloe is about a young boy who gets ajar from the basement, pokes holes in the lid, and catches fireflies. After he catches them he puts them in his bedroom. He starts to feel sad as the light in the jar gets dimmer. He has a bittersweet feeling about letting his fireflies free.

Fireflies in the Night by Judy Hawes is a true story about a boy who goes to his grandparents and spends time catching fireflies. He takes his jar to his bedroom and then his grandmother lets them go later as he falls asleep. There are lots of true facts about fireflies throughout the story. It is a great book for comparing and contrasting with Fireflies.

2. Use the Internet

This one can be tricky for younger students because so many websites have a challenging reading level for them to do research. Videos are a nice way to help grow learning. This You Tube video has some fun information about the fireflies glow. 

Pebble Go

Pebble Go is another web based resource that is great for younger students to use to do independent research. (Our library buys this resource for our school and it is well worth every penny.) It is a web based site written in simple text for young students. You can access it from any device like an iPad, Chromebook, and more. You can even sign up to get a free trial.

Other Research

You might also want to try this Firefly Fact Find Resource. It includes 12 cards that you hang all over your classroom. Students take a recording sheet around the room with them and find the answer to each question on the fact card. It also includes a new paperless option recording sheet that is great to use with iPads.

Have a Theme Day

Buy some glow sticks and place them into empty water bottles and you can create a fun firefly atmosphere in your classroom. Add a black light and some special colors that glow with it and you will “light up the learning.” How about some glow sticks in Easter eggs and have a firefly egg hunt as fireflies glow at every stage of life. You can even add some firefly facts to the eggs. Make a fun firefly snack.

Firefly Theme Day

The Fireflies Theme Day product is jam packed with tons of fun. It includes is a reading page to fill out to compare and contrast the 2 stories mentioned above, a page of 6 firefly poems, and a page of 17 firefly facts in easy to read format. It also has a writing activity with a variety of writing layout pages to choose from. Students can even create their own firefly headband and make a label for their glowing water bottle. You will also get directions to play a rounding math game. All you need is a deck of cards and some glow sticks. You can check the complete product here.

Use Digital Templates

These book companion templates go with that incredible book I mentioned earlier How to Survive As A Firefly. The templates include reading, vocabulary, poetry, writing, and you can find out all about them in the FREEBIE.

One set of templates is specially created for Google Drive. Students will make a copy right to their Google Drive and type right on the template. Google Drive Book Companion How to Survive as a Firefly.

The iPad version includes templates for your students to load into Pic Collage  or See Saw  and they can type on top of the template and save and submit to the teacher. iPad Templates Book Companion How to Survive as a Firefly.

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