The Worldly Antenna

The Worldly Antenna
of
International Bug Club
Issue 4
October 2008
Number 3
International Bug Club updates!
Hello Bug Club members and families!
†Updates
WPZ
Bug Club
Brookfield
Bug Club
Dallas Zoo
Bug Club
RWPZ
Bug Club
Montlake
Elem
FPCS
Tacoma
Bellevue
Montessori
We are excited to share with you this issue of
The Worldly Antenna. We've compiled some Bug
Club news and ideas for exploring the world of
arthropods.
We are happy to welcome some new Bug Clubs
at schools in the western Washington area -check this issue for photos and stories of their bug
discoveries.
One of our favorite recent bug news stories
is about bumblebees and dogs. In Scotland,
springer spaniels are trained to help researchers
find bumblebee nests by sniffing them out! The
nests are otherwise difficult to find, but with the
dogs' help, researchers can get a better idea of
the status of bumblebee populations in the area.
Enjoy your fall bug investigations!
Snohomish
Bug Club
Sincerely,
Papua New
Guinea
International Bug Club Coordinators
Erin and Katie
Woodland Park Zoo Bug Club
Page 2
In August, teachers from local western Washington schools (and one from Santa
Fe College Teaching Zoo in Florida!) joined us at Woodland Park Zoo to gain
ideas and resources for starting up Bug Clubs at their schools.
A bug made by a teacher using
natural materials!
Teachers practice identifying insects.
Woodland Park Zoo's Bug Club members explored how habitat restoration can help
bugs by replacing resources that provide bugs with their basic needs -- food, water,
shelter, air and space -- in habitats where these resources are lacking (such as providing nectar flowers for butterflies in our yards). We decorated delicious bug cupcakes
for snack!
Tarah from Santa Fe College
Teaching Zoo in Florida
decorates her bug cupcake.
Photos by Katie Remine
Dallas Zoo Bug Club
Page 3
The Dallas Zoo Bug Club had a special guest join us in August. It was our very own
photographer, Cathy Burkey who shared her knowledge about taking a better bug picture.
After getting a quick lesson on angling your camera for the best shot as well as using macro
for small objects we headed outdoors to put our lessons to the test. Our first stop was Bug
U! where everyone had a chance to take pictures of the different invertebrates on display.
Then we explored some gardens on grounds to see if there were any bugs to photograph. A
few of the clubbers did get some fantastic shots of damselflies and a cool spider web. I do
hope they use their skills from this class to further their bug photography.
Then on October 11 we held our first Family Black lighting event. It was held on a Saturday
night which started out with a light dinner and a firefly match game. Then Tim Brys the
zoo’s invertebrate keeper walked us out to the sight to introduce us to the many ways to
catch and observe insects at night. Since it was close to a full moon we didn’t see a lot, but
a few did come out to visit at both our black lighting area and the vapor light set up. It was
a fun evening getting a chance to meet some of the parents as well as watching the kids’
excitement about exploring for invertebrates at night.
Check out this cool video I came across while researching about black lighting:
http://tolweb.org/onlinecontributors/app?page=ViewImageData&service=external&sp=143
49 We only wished our evening was as extreme as this one in Arizona. But prior to black
lighting we did talk about how weather can play a part in how many and what types of
insects will be out.
Photo by Ruoming Fan,
age 7
Montlake Elementary
Bug Club
Page 4
Montlake Elementary School in Seattle is crazy for critters! Our class of
4th and 5th grade students became part of the IBC in September. We are
meeting every week and are excited to share our first project with you.
We worked in small groups to carefully observe insects with hand lenses.
Each classroom scientist wrote a detailed description of their observations.
We described the bug shape, color, texture, body parts, and any other details
that would help other scientists understand our bug.
Next, we traded papers with another student in the class to draw a picture of
the insect using only the written description.
We then compared our drawings with the original organisms. Wow! We
were amazed at how our descriptions helped others understand our bug and
draw accurate pictures.
Classroom scientists were asked why describing living things is an important
skill and here’s what they had to say:
* it’s important to know how to organize life
* we need to see the differences between good bugs and bad bugs
* it’s important to know, just in case they become extinct
* we need to know if it is a poisonous animal or not
* if scientists don’t have accurate descriptions, other scientists might
not believe them
We concluded that careful observations and descriptions are an important
part of the scientific process.
We are so excited about our Bug Club!
First Presbyterian
Church School Bug Club
Page 5
First Presbyterian Church School in Tacoma has had some great bug experiences so far, writing "Hey, Little Ant" essays and illustrating insect anatomy with
marshmallows and pretzel sticks!
Notes from
Bug Club in New Jersey
Page 6
Woodland Park Zoo Bug Club received this email recently from a Bug Club in New
Jersey with some great news!
Hello,
I wanted to proudly inform the Worldly Antenna of International Bug Club that the Essex
County Environmental Center’s Bug Club recently won a New Jersey Recreation and Parks
Association Award for Excellence in Programming.
As a result of the interest in bugs and the success of our Bug Club (open to children 5-10)
we hosted a BugFest on Saturday, June 28th, 2008 at the Essex County Environmental
Center. This celebration included a bee beard and bee bikini to showcase the ultimate in
beekeeper high fashion.
One of our popular programs was about Beneficial Bugs. We read Eric Carle’s Grouchy
Lady Bug, created a lady bug headband, searched for ladybugs and aphids, and returned for
a ladybug themed snack (see pictures).
For more information on the success of our Bug Club please don’t hesitate to contact David
Alexander at dalexander@parks.essexcountynj.org
THANK YOU!
- David
David Alexander
Naturalist / Environmental Educator
County of Essex, Department of Parks
Essex County Environmental Center
Outdoor Arthropod
Explorations
Page 7
The Lost Ladybug Project
Several species of native ladybug, including the New York state insect, are
disappearing! In only the last 20 years these beneficial predators of farm and
garden pests have become extremely rare. This rapid decline is a great concern.
If we can find where the rare native species still live we may learn how this
happened and still be able to save these ladybugs!
You may even have heard the Lost Ladybug Project recently featured on NPR’s
“Science Out of the Box”! It all started when Jilene (age 11) and Jonathan (age 10)
Penhale found a rare nine spotted ladybug near their home in Virginia in October
2006. This was the first ninespotted ladybug seen in the eastern U.S. in 14 years.
Their finding confirmed that the species was not extinct and gave experts new ideas.
Ours is specifically a ladybug conservation project, which ultimately hopes to get
5-11 year old citizen scientists outside collecting and conducting real scientific
research. We are looking for ALL types of ladybugs, rare or common, native or
exotic, throughout North America. The project will continue for several years -repeat collection sites over time enthusiastically encouraged! From our website (http:
//ladybug.ento.cornell.edu/) participants can learn all they need to catch, photograph,
and send images of ladybugs to be part of our database. The website is constantly
expanding and also includes much information and many activities from stories and
games, to instructions for homemade sweep nets.
This project gives kids a chance to be scientists and help the world by looking for lost
ladybugs. Parents and youth leaders can use this citizen science project to convey the
concepts of biodiversity and conservation.
Hurry! There may be a rare ladybug in your back yard right now!
http://ladybug.ento.cornell.edu/
Calendar
Page 8
MonarchLIVE
A Distance Learning Adventure
www.monarch.pwnet.org
The annual migration of the monarch
butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is one of
the most spectacular natural phenomena in the world. Explore monarch
biology, life cycle, and ecology and
learn about the interdependence of the
US, Mexico and Canada in the health
of monarchs. Beginning in October, a
series of electronic field trips will be
held throughout the 2008-09 school
year. You and your students can e-mail
questions or call them in to an 800
number during the live event.
Submission and Publication Dates for 2008
Bug Club Leaders, please compile submissions for The Worldly
Antenna from your Bug Club and have them in by the “Submission”
date below. You can send stories, photos (high resolution), drawings
(scanned), ideas for bug club activities, or bug explorations for Bug
Club families to try together at home. Send your submissions to
bug.club@zoo.org. We look forward to your contributions!
Submission
Publication
December 1
December 14