Procedure

1. Pest Shuffle Game

   
   Invite the children to join you on the carpet or other comfortable learning area. Tell them that they are going to play a matching game. You will need an even number of players and cards. Hand out one pest shuffle card to each student making sure that someone else has the matching card. Have the kids shuffle or move freely around the room. Ask them to freeze after they are well shuffled! Explain that their job is to find another player with the matching card. Allow them time to find their match. Once they have found their match, ask them to go back to the carpet and sit down until everyone has found their match. Collect the cards and play it again. Once they have returned a second time, prepare a list on the white board of the names of the animals on the cards. Have the students come up in pairs and show the other students their pictures.
   
   

2. Introduction to Pests

   
   The Pest Shuffle game will lend itself to pest-related discussions. Ask the students if they know what the word "pest" means. Lead them to understand that a pest is defined as an animal out of place (like a weed in a garden).
   
   Create a Venn diagram: What is a pest?
   Start a Venn diagram with the word pests circled in the middle. Ask the children to try to think of some other kinds of pests that were not included in the pest charades game. Place the names of the insect pests in an outer bubble, the names of the mammal pests in another outer bubble, kinds of spider pests in another outer bubble, etc.
   
   Discussion: Why do pests move in?
   Our homes are great habitats for many animals. When they bother us, we call them pests. But why do they want to live with us? If possible, show the children the pest introduction movie found on the Pestworld Website at this time. Stress that pests are not being bad animals, but animals in too great of numbers in the wrong place
   
   
   • Safe from predators! Our home environments also tend to eliminate the pest's predators (predator/prey relationships)
     
     
   • Excellent unnatural habitats! Discuss how our basic needs, i.e., air, water, food, and shelter, as the main reasons that animals invade our homes and yards. Living things can survive only in environments in which their needs can be met. Ask the children why they think that many pests are found in kitchens or bathrooms. People's actions can make life too good for certain animals, i.e., wonderful food supply, endless water source, warm year-round.
     
     
   • Student pest stories. Ask the kids to talk about specific pest stories that they might recall from their own lives.
     
     
   • Pest damage. Discuss some possible damage that specific pests might cause, i.e., mosquito — painful bite on skin, rabbit — destroy garden vegetables, termite — eat wood that supports our home.
     
     
   • Protection from pests. Discuss some possible ways, some common sense measures, for self-protection from those same specific pests that were just discussed. Make a list. For example, we can apply insect repellant to our skin and clothing to prevent mosquito bites, we can put up a rabbit proof fence around our vegetable garden, and we can contact termite specialists, or pest control professionals, to inspect our homes for possible termite infestation (pest management).
   
   

3. Pests A-Z Coloring Book

   
   Using the Pest A-Z Coloring Book pages provided, inform the students that they are going to create a class book on pests using the letters of the alphabet. Your class may have more or less than 26 students. Some students can color more than one page or the book may have two or more of the same coloring pages. Read the book to the class before they begin coloring. Allow them to use their imagination to color the coloring pages how they want. Encourage them to add drawings to the coloring pages to tell more about the pests they learned about.
   
   

4. Story Time

   
   Read a story about a cockroach and ants, commonly found pests, called Crickwing by Janell Cannon, Harcourt, Inc., 2000. (See alternate book list for additional book choices.)
   
   

5. Assessment

   
   
   • Test students using the attached pest quiz.
   • Play Hangman using pest-related words.
   • Add pest-related words to spelling lists.
   • Have students journal about what they learned.
   • In cooperative groups, have students make a list of the pests that were discussed. Reward the group with the longest list.
   • Conduct a spelling bee using pest-related words.