ARTISTS BACKGROUND:

Cathy Kaemmerlen, professional actress, dancer, and storyteller, teams up with Betty Ann  Wylie, well known area storyteller, to make a dynamic, double-the-fun duo. Both tour extensively their various solo programs, as well as their duo shows, throughout Georgia.  Both are undergraduate English majors, who use their programs to promote reading and dramatic play.  Children from all over the state have said:  “You make education fun.”

CURRICULUM CONNECTION:

In science: classifying, adaptations and habits of insects, needs of living things in relation to their environment, characteristics of different insects.  In language arts:  comparing and contrasting, fantasy and realism, noting details, making judgments, story structure, fact and opinion.

PROGRAM SUMMARY:

A delightful opportunity to discover stories and jokes with a bug theme, including Paul Fleischman’s MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE,  and Arnold Lobel’s GRASSHOPPER ON THE ROAD, with buggy tidbites, bug riddles, insect facts, and for the upper grades, a buggy game show:  Good Bug, Bad Bug, hosted by Bobby Bugly.  Learn about the “world down under” and to think twice before you squash that bug on your kitchen floor.

VOCABULARY WORDS:

Arachnids--wingless, carnivorous insects with two-segmented bodies with eight appendages and no antennae (spiders, scorpions, ticks)
grubs--sluggish larva of certain insects like beetles
insecticide--chemical preparation used for killing harmful insects
larva--the immature stage of an insect
nectar--the sugary juice of a plant which attracts insects
pollen--the yellowish, powdery fertilizing element of flowering plants
species--a group having similar characteristics

OVERVIEW OF ART FORM:

Telling stories is an oral tradition, dating back to when mankind first developed a language or form of communication.  Storytelling is a universal way of passing down information to be saved and remembered for generations to come.  It is an interactive art form in which the storytellers’ passion for the story, material, and information, is passed on to the audience, who sorts through, interprets, stores, and synthesizes what is heard.

PRE AND POST ACTIVITIES:

--Discuss buggy tidbits and facts from David Suzuki’s book LOOKING AT INSECTS or other non-fictional books about insects.  Make a list of buggy tidbits and interesting facts about bugs, including the difference between bugs and insects.
--Read grasshopper stories from the book, GRASSHOPPER ON THE ROAD by Arnold Lobel.
--Tell bug jokes from GOING BUGGY by Peter and Connie Roop and review the vocabulary list.
--Draw pictures of real and imaginary bugs.
--Make up your own buggy game show and your own list of good and bad bugs.
--Enjoy poems by Margaret Wise Brown.
--Write your own bug poems about ants, crickets, pill bugs, centipedes, etc. and make up your own buggy riddles.
--Read books about famous bugs.
--Some buggy tidbites from the show:
   There are more than 800,000 different kinds of bugs.
   In one square mile there are more insects than there are people on this whole         
   planet.
   Fleas are the greatest jumpers in the whole animal kingdom.
   Flies taste with their feet.
   Bumblebees can carry their own weight in nectar when flying back to the nest.
   A praying mantis can be trained to eat fruit or nectar right from your hand.
   Almost every insect has another one that eats it.

Warm Up Questions for meeting the Georgia Performance Standards for "Listening/Speaking/Viewing":
Describe the perfect audience.
What are some of our class rules for being good listeners?
How do we show someone we appreciate their visit to our school or classroom?
How does being part of an audience help make you a good citizen?
What are some examples of bad audience behavior or attitudes?
How does a negative audience member effect your enjoyment of a show or performance?
How would this make the performer feel?
How do we want the performer to feel when they leave our school or classroom?

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Fleischmann, Paul.  MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE.
Roop, Connie and Peter.  GOING BUGGY, a book of bug jokes and riddles.
Lobel, Arnold.  GRASSHOPPER ON THE ROAD.
Suzuki, David.  LOOKING AT INSECTS.
Brinckloe, Julie. FIREFLIES
Pallotta, Jerry.  THE ICKY BUG ALPHABET BOOK.
Usborne First Nature CREEPY CRAWLERS.
Parker, Nancy Winslow.  BUGS.
Berger, Melvin.  BUZZ!  A BOOK ABOUT INSECTS.
Discover Hidden Worlds, Golden Books.  BUGS.
Florian, Douglas.  INSECTLOPEDIA.
Waldbauer, Gilbert.  INSECTS THROUGH THE SEASONS.
Chang, Margaret and Raymond.  THE CRICKET WARRIOR.
Fabre, Jean Henri.  FABRE’S BOOK OF INSECTS.
Maxner, Joyce.  NICHOLAS CRICKET.
Carle, Eric.  THE GROUCHY LADYBUG.