Field Cricket Study with Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe

INTRODUCTION: 

Using a projector or smart board, show the students a picture of a field cricket. Then play a sound recording of a cricket chirping. (Recording can be found online referenced below.) As a class, discuss how the cricket might have made those sounds.

1. Play a video of a cricket chirping, such as the one found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAaAZdVeoRU.

2. Have the students compare their answers with what they saw in the video.

3. Discuss how crickets make the chirping sound. (Reference: http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/cricket.html)

MINI-LESSON:

1. Discuss how the number of cricket chirps in twenty-five seconds can be used to tell temperature.

2. Listen to the sound recording of the cricket chirp again. Instruct students to count the number of chirps in 15 seconds.

3. Using the National Weather Service website, calculate the temperature.
https://www.weather.gov/epz/wxcalc_cricketconvert

4. Have students figure out the relationship between the number of and the temperature as a mathematical formula.

5. Check the equations using the information on the Old Farmer’s Almanac website: https://www.almanac.com/content/predict-temperature-cricket-chirps

MAIN ACTIVITY:

1. In Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe, Cricket finds a friend in a cricket she calls Charlene. Divide students into five groups. Have each group research information about crickets online. (If individual computers are not available, look up different sites as a class.) Instruct each group to research one of the following online: field cricket appearance, diet, habitat, behavior, and life cycle. Instruct students to write down five facts.

2. Have each group choose one member to share their five facts with the rest of the class. Instruct students to write down all of the facts shared.

3. Have each group create a poster of facts about field crickets.

4. Have the students answer the following questions either in a class discussion or on a sheet of paper:

Based on what you learned about crickets, how was Charlene able to survive over the winter?

When Cricket leaves the store, she takes two boxes of Little Debbie snack cakes, jerky, apples, peanut butter, and an emergency candy bar, On page 39 of the book, Cricket says: Me and Charlene had a picnic on the tiny tree-house porch, the way me and Daddy used to do. It was cold, but we had us a proper meal, with apple, jerky, and a spoonful of peanut butter for me, and a sliver of apple for Charlene. Based on what you learned about a cricket’s diet, was that a good choice for Charlene? Why or why not? What else could Cricket have given Charlene to eat?

CLOSING ACTIVITY:

Throughout the book, Cricket is encouraged when she hears Charlene chirp. Ask the students why they think that is. How do they feel when they hear a cricket chirping?

EXTENSIONS:

Field crickets are an endangered species in England. Have students research what has caused the cricket’s decline in that country and what is being done to bring them back.

Crickets aren’t the only nocturnal insects that make a noise. Research other insects that also make sounds at night. Create a poster depicting these insects and where they can be found.

Students write a short report about field crickets.