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Ant Lapbook
Created by Brandy Shutt and Lynn Pitts

                                                            

Lapbook Templates    

Research and Lessons 

Classification:  Ant Classification

Anatomy:  Ant Anatomy, Fun Facts, Ant Brains, Matchbooks, Run Ant Run, Let’s Take a Ride

Ants are usually 2-7mm long, with the exception of the carpenter ant which can stretch from 2cm up to an inch!

Being an insect, ants have three parts; the head, thorax, and abdomen or (head, trunk, and metasoma).  Each part contains more important parts for the functionality of this fascinating insect:

Head
Feelers or Antennae - the better to touch and smell with
Pinchers - the better to carry, dig, defend and eat with (an ant squeezes its food with its pinchers to get the juice because it can not chew).
Compound eyes - the better to see many of the same thing with
Brain - the better to process with (40,000 ant brains are about the size of 1 human brain, 1 ant brain has the processing power of a Macintosh11 computer, and ants have the largest brain among all insects).

Thorax
6 legs with a sharp claw on each end - these make me an insect and help me climb better and run fast (if a human were an ant he/she could run as fast as a race horse).

Abdomen
Poison sac
Stinger - the common Black Ants and wood Ants have formic acid instead (some birds will put these ants in their feathers to ward off parasites).
2 stomachs - one for me and one for the colony.

Who's Who?  Who's Who in the Ant Colony Side by Side
Queen Ant- Queen ant lays all the eggs and is the mother. Young queens have wings but old queens do not. All have large abdomen's to produce eggs. Some can lay millions of eggs per year.

Male Ants- All males have wings and can be seen for only a few weeks in the summer. They mate with the queen and do no work in the colony.

Worker Ants- All female, but do not lay eggs. They are the smallest ants, they do all the chores: clean the nest, gather food, and defend the colony.|

Worker Jobs:   Heigh-ho!  Its Off to Work We Go!
Workers have many different jobs to do.  They begin their work by cleaning themselves. A couple days later they start sharing food and licking each other.

Here are a some of the different jobs done by the worker ants. 
Queen Tender: Young ants help the queen deliver her eggs by grabbing the eggs with their mandibles.
Nurse Ant: Young ants lick larvae so they do not dry out, and feed them so they grow.
Tunnel Diggers: Young ants dig tunnels for traffic and new chambers to store eggs and larvae and food.
Guard: These ants stand near the entrance of the nest, blocking strange ants from entering.
Foragers:  The oldest ants search for food. Most foragers search within 50 feet of the nest, but if food is scarce, they may travel thousands of feet.

How an Ant Colony Starts:   The Beginning of an Ant Colony T-book
1) After hot summer rain, a young queen takes off on her mating flight. She flies into a cloud of male ants and mates in the air.
2) Afterward, all the males die, and the queen returns to the earth. She breaks her wings off by rubbing them on the ground.
3) Then she digs a hole in the soft, moist earth and starts laying eggs. She will never leave the nest again.
4) During the next 3 months, the eggs develop through four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult ant.
5) After they have hatched, the first workers assume the duties of the colony-- searching for food and protecting the queen.

Life Cycle:   Life Cycle Wheel
Egg- queen ants lay tiny oval shaped eggs
Larva- worm like larva grow and grow causing their skin to shed; they don't have eyes or legs
Pupa- once the larva reaches a certain size, it spins a cocoon and pupates; during the time in the cocoon, the ant's body changes to adult form
Adult- the pupa emerges into an adult

Life Expectancy:  Queen vs. Worker book
A worker ant generally lives 45-60 days.  However, the queen can live up to 10 or 20 years!

Ant Talk:  Ant Talk Shutterflap
Ants express themselves by using these senses.

TOUCH: Ants tap one another with their antennae to announce the discovery of food and to ask for food.

SMELL: They emit pheromones that other ants smell through their antennae. This warns them of danger, says hello, or helps others to work harder.

SOUND: When they are trapped, they rub the joint between their waist and abdomen to make a squeaky sound that other ants hear through their legs.

TASTE: They exchange food with other ants mouth to mouth. This sharing of nutrition and chemicals says,  "We're Family!"

Fun Facts:  Fun Facts, I’ve got the Power

• If a man were an ant he could run as fast as a racehorse, which is approximately 40mph
• There are over 10,000 known species of ants
• If a worker ant finds food it leaves a trail of scent
• An ant has two stomachs one for him and one for the colony
• Some worker ants even have the job of taking out the trash (removing it from the nest)
• In the night ants put the eggs deeper into their nests
• Ants can lift 20-50 times their own weight
   

Different Kinds of Ants:  Types of Ants, Fun Facts, Matchbooks

The Ant Year:  A Year in the Life of an Ant
April – open nest
May – time to mate and lay eggs
June – larvae grows and grows
August – work, work, work
November through March – hibernation

Copy Work:  Copywork Simple Fold
(Proverbs 6:6)

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”