The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Bats Bats Bats

Bats Bats Bats

A Kindergarten STEM lesson

Elizabeth Stein

4/30/2023

Notes for teachers

• This lesson takes place in a classroom for one to two 40 minute class periods.
• Students will independently create a bat out of ripped up pieces of paper.
• Read books about Bats on Epic! and show Bat girls video.
• Students will play a game using a blindfold and buzzer.
• Facilitate student reflection on why bats are important and how they contribute to our world.

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List of Materials

• White construction paper
• brown or black chart paper
• glue sticks
• googly eyes
• bat outline template
• student blindfold
• buzzer

Science Standards

K.L1U1.6 Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how organisms use different body parts for survival.

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K.L1U1.7 Observe, ask questions, and explain how specialized structures found on a variety of plants and animals (including humans) help them sense and respond to their environment.

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Engineering Dimension

Developing and using Models

● Develop and/or use models (i.e., diagrams, drawings, physical replicas, dioramas, dramatizations, or storyboards) that represent amounts, relationships, relative scales (bigger, smaller), and/or patterns in the natural and designed worlds. ● Develop a simple model that represents a proposed object or tool.

Objectives:

Students will learn why bats are important to our world.

Students will learn all about bats (mammals, nocturnal and hibernate).

Students will learn how bats use echolocation to locate things.

Agenda (2-3 40 minute classes)

Why are bats important?

How do they contribute to our world?

Learn all about bats reading books on Epic and watching the videos.

Create a rippy bat on construction paper and play a bat/buzzer game.

Intro

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What do you know about bats? Ask student to think, pair, share at their tables. Then call on a couple of students to share what was discussed. Add student responses to the bubble map created.

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Bats Resource Slides

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Hands-on Activity Instructions

• Fill in the bubble map
• Follow the EPIC book links to learn about bats
• Show videos
• Pass out supplies for Rippy Bats project
• Display an example on your powerpoint or overhead projector
• Bats Resource Slides
• Go over the vocabulary words (mammal, nocturnal, hibernate and echolocation)
• Explain the rules of the bat and buzzer game
• Play the game with your students

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1. Put your name and on the back of your bat outline.
2. Use your bat outline to paste small, ripped up pieces of chart paper inside the lines.
3. Doesn’t it look like your bat has fuzzy fur?
4. When you have finished filling in your bat with colored paper, come and get 2 googly eyes.
5. Paste them onto your bat’s face.

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Assessment

Were students able to answer that bats eat bugs/mosquitoes and that’s why they are important to our environment?

Bats eating bugs helps keep the mosquitoes population from exploding.

Were the students able to successfully create a rippy bat using only their hands to rip apart the paper and glue it within the bat outline template?

Did the students follow directions while playing the bat and buzzer game. Did they successfully find an insect (tag other students in the class)?

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Differentiation

One way to simplify this lesson is to provide the students with ripped up chart paper pieces all ready to be glued on the template.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

One way to extend on this lesson is to create your own mosquitoes using small pieces of paper. Scatter these mosquitoes around the room. Start a timer and have the students “eat” as many mosquitoes as they can. Have the students count and record the number of mosquitoes eaten.