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The Ant and the Grasshopper (English) YouTube Video

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The Ant and the Grasshopper (English) YouTube Video

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This YouTube video reads the story, The Ant and the Grasshopper, in English, following a book with pictures to help students visualize the text and encourage engagement

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🐜🦗THE ANT and THE GRASSHOPPER -READ ALOUD Books for Children-Fables

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This is a Spanish version of the story to help students who are in the Emerging level of proficiency or to those who can't understand English.

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Sequence of Events Graphic Organizer in Spanish

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Sequence of Events Graphic Organizer in Spanish

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This graphic organizer (translated in Spanish) can be used to help students participate in the discussion using their native language without compromising the content or the objective of the lesson.

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This article explain five (5) amazing facts about Ants and their hardworking nature, helping students make connections of the story and reality.

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Ants have a reputation for being hard workers. They are seemingly always busy, marching here, there and everywhere, and they seem impossibly strong, like the body builders of the insect world. Their reputation isn't all positive, however. Ants have been known to ruin a good picnic or send us scattering when hordes of them move through an area.

Whether you admire them for their work ethic or admonish them for ruining your time outdoors, they are essential. For starters, they keep the soil healthy by aerating it with all their activity, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation. They also decompose wood and other organic matter in soil. Some plants rely on ants to disperse their seeds, and, of course, many other creatures rely on ants as a regular food source.

There's more than you can fathom

If the ants go marching two by two (hurrah, hurrah), the world's population of ants would make for one very long line. It's obviously difficult to get an exact headcount on the world's ant population, but scientists have made an educated guess, and the number is going to astound you - if you can even wrap your head around it. The world's estimated ant population is 20 quadrillion, a number that looks like this: 20,000,000,000,000,000, or a 20 with 15 zeros, according to the New York Times.

Compare that to the Earth's human population, which is projected to surpass 8 billion in 2022, and that gives you about 2.5 million ants for every one person. And while one ant may be just a teeny, tiny thing, the collective weight of all the ants on Earth is about the same as the weight of two Pyramids of Giza, the New York Times reports.

Even the number of species of ants in the world is impressive, with more than 10,000 different kinds of ants populating every part of the world except Antarctica, according to National Geographic. The greatest diversity of ants is in tropical rainforests, where ants can constitute as many as half of all the insects in the ecosystem.

They really do have super strength

You've probably seen a cartoon of an army of ants carrying away a picnic's worth of food on their backs. While you don't need to worry about that happening at your next al fresco meal, ants do possess superior strength. In fact, they can lift between 3,400 times and 5,000 times their body weight, according to a study published in Science Daily. The key to this seemingly supernatural strength is their neck joints. Researchers were able to create a centrifuge to replicate the force of increasing weight on the ants' neck joints, examining how much pressure they could withstand with the aid of CT scanning technology.

Ants can also thank their tiny size for their strength. Because they are so small and lightweight, their muscles don't have to provide their bodies much support. That means they can instead use their muscles to help lift, according to the study. If ants were larger than they are, they wouldn't be as strong because they would have to rely on their muscles to support their own body weight.

They're farmers

Think humans are the only farming animals on Earth? Think again. Ants have been cultivating crops and livestock for longer than humans have even existed, Treehugger reports. Ants honed their farming skills more than 50 million years ago. Humans, on the other hand, have only been farming for about 12,000 years.

So what exactly do ants farm? More than 200 species of ants farm fungus, according to Treehugger. They create gardens of fungi using grass and dead insects to help fertilize their crops. Some species of ants even use pesticides to prevent parasites from harming their fungus crop. They do this by growing bacteria that produce antibiotics with antifungal properties.

Many ant species specialize in raising livestock, often aphids. They are partial to aphids because of the honeydew they secrete, Treehugger reports. Their farm operation is quite thorough. They control the aphids with a chemical on their feet that prevents their wings from growing, and they protect them from predators and take care of their eggs. When a queen ant leaves her home colony to start a new colony, she will often bring aphid eggs with her to establish her own aphid farm.

Their colonies can be massive - and crowded

Most ants live in colonies, and their colonies, also called formicaries, are like sprawling insect metropolises. The largest ant colony ever discovered stretched more than 3,700 miles wide, according to National Geographic Kids. This supercolony, found in Argentina in 2000, was actually 33 different ant population that had merged into one massive colony with billions of worker ants and millions of nests.

Most ant colonies don't stretch on for thousands of miles, but they can be big and crowded. As many as 8 million ants can live in a colony, according to the San Diego Zoo. That's similar to the population of the United States' largest city, New York, which has a population of 8.8 million people, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. An ant colony typically consists of a queen, whose only job is to lay eggs, along with many, many female workers and sometimes a small number of male ants.

Within a colony, workers can change jobs frequently, and they aren't always busy doing their assigned work, the San Diego Zoo reports. Some workers feed the queen, while others may be responsible for moving eggs into chambers in the nest where they will hatch and mature into larvae. Some workers are tasked with keeping the colony clean and removing the bodies of dead ants, and many ant species also have workers called soldiers, or majors, that defend the nest.

They communicate without talking

Ants are able to say a lot without saying anything at all. Instead of verbal communication, they use pheromones to communicate with other ants in the colonies, according to the San Diego Zoo. The pheromones are released from specialized glands on their bodies, and each pheromone has a special message. Other ants "read" these messages using their antennae.

Pheromones can be used to direct other workers to a food source or alert them to a predator or danger. When ants die, they produce a scent that alerts workers to remove their bodies from the nest, helping keep it clean and healthy, the zoo reports. They can also use scent to determine the rank and social order of other ants in the colony.

And while ants certainly don't talk, there are some ants that use sound to communicate, just like crickets and grasshoppers do. Ants in the Myrmica genus have a spike on their abdomen that they can pluck with their legs, which creates a sound, Treehugger reports. Ants don't have ears, but they can "hear" these sounds by sensing the vibrations in their legs and antennae.

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Ants are powerhouses in the animal kingdom, always busy and able to carry many times their body weight. There's plenty about them that makes them interesting.

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This picture can help you focus your thoughts on how to retell a story.

Begin with describing where the story happened

Describe the characters

Tell the beginning of the story

The conflict

And the end.

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This is a free resource from TPT that can help students comprehend the story. It includes worksheets for students such as retelling the story, finding evidences, comparing characters and identifying the moral of the story. It will be useful for students who are still learning English as it has pictures and simple directions.

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Free Fables Activities Passage Worksheets Teaching Theme Ant Grasshopper Digital

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These are collections of different fables, myths and stories that you can use to practice looking for morals and recounting stories. The teacher can group the students into a small group and assign them a book to retell the story and to present the theme or moral.

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2nd and 3rd Grade Fables, Legends, and Myths Book Collection on Epic

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View the 2nd and 3rd Grade Fables, Legends, and Myths collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

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This YouTube video shows how to help students find evidence to support their opinions by providing them with prompt questions and practice.

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Reality Check: Discover People Who Became Successful Because of their Hard Work

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Reality Check: Discover People Who Became Successful Because of their Hard Work

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This blog post listed several people from different cultures, races, and countries who, through hard work, were able to succeed in life, become famous, and influence others.

This is also a good opportunity to incorporate the lesson into SEL, helping students apply the story's message to their own lives.

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National Hispanic Heritage Month is an American observation honoring the cultures and contributions of people whose ancestors come from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, and Spain, according to the official website. There are many great ways to honor Hispanic heritage, but one of the best ways to celebrate with kids is by telling the amazing stories of famous Latinos who've helped shape our nation's rich history.

We've rounded just a few of our favorite inspirational Hispanic heroes, with help from Naibe Reynoso, author and founder of Con Todo Press. The Latin-owned publishing company has published two books-Be Bold! Be Brave! 11 Latinas who made U.S. History and Fearless Trailblazers: 11 Latinos who made U.S. History-that detail the lives of influential Latinos. Geared for children aged 5 to 8, they include colorful illustrations and simple rhyming verses.

The heroes featured in the books come from diverse backgrounds, and they found success in many different career paths. "We don't glamorize any one career," says Reynoso, adding that they wanted to introduce kids to journalism, activism, muralism, and more. All of the people in the books-as well as the ones listed below-can serve as inspiration to all children for their hard work, success, and desire to make a difference in the world.

Sonia Sotomayor

As the first Latina Supreme Court justice, Sonia Sotomayor has served since August 8, 2009. Both of her parents were born in Puerto Rico.

According to Parents reader Eliana Pilar Kaimowitz, "This Supreme Court Justice became a lawyer when there were few women and people of color in the profession, and she thrived by finding inner strength and resilience. I want my son and daughter to know that they'll be on the right path as long as they choose for themselves, without letting stereotypes define them."

Evelyn Cisneros

Evelyn Cisneros made history for being the first Latina prima ballerina in the U.S. The Mexican American has played Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty, The Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, and countless other roles.

Cisneros is an especially good role model for kids because "there's not a lot of Latinas in ballet, and they're 'hidden figures,' so to speak," says Reynoso.

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is a man of many talents, and his resume includes actor, singer, lyricist, composer, playwright, and producer. He created two Broadway musicals- In the Heights and Hamilton-and starred in both of them. He also wrote music for Disney's appeared in Mary Poppins Returns, and more.

As Parents reader Yarilyn Perez says, "The Broadway legend is a hero to all Latinos, shattering stereotypes about us and showing the world that inclusion is powerful. I tell my son: 'See that guy who has Puerto Rican roots like you? He has a Genius Grant. You can absolutely accomplish that too.'"

Lisa Fernandez

Lisa Fernandez will surely inspire the aspiring athlete in your household! A Puerto Rican American, she started her softball career as a right-handed pitcher for the UCLA Bruins, where she won two National Championships and was selected as a four-time, first-team All-American.

Fernandez also received the Pan American gold medal three times, and she won three Olympic gold medals for softball (in addition to breaking several Olympic records, such as the most strikeouts by a pitcher in one game). She's often touted as one of the greatest female athletes of all time.

Julián Castro

We've yet to have a Latino president, but Julián Castro came close. The politician ran for the Democratic nomination for U.S. president in 2019, he served as the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2014 to 2017. In fact, Castro was the youngest member in President Obama's Cabinet.

Maria Hinojosa

Nothing can stop this award-winning journalist, who was born in Mexico City. Your kid might recognize her from platforms like CNN, NPR, PBS, CBS, and WNBC. Through her community-based multimedia work, she strives to "give a voice to the diverse American experience," which she feels has often been overlooked by traditional media.

During her 30-year career, Hinojosa has been the host and executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning show Latino USA on National Public Radio; the founder, president, and CEO of Futuro Media Group; anchor of a talk show called Maria Hinojosa: One-on-One; and more.

She's also won numerous awards, including the 2012 John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists' Radio Award, and four Emmys.

Singer Celia Cruz first gained popularity in the 1950s in Cuba. After she left her home country during the Cuban Revolution, she became an international star for her Afro-Cuban music style. In fact, Cruz was often referred as to the "Queen of Salsa" in America, and she was a well-known figure for the Cuban community in exile.

Eva Longoria

Not only is Eva Longoria a well-known actress (starring in hits like Desperate Housewives, Dog Days, and Dora and the Lost City of Gold), but she's also an author, activist, and businesswoman.

According to Parents reader Julissa Bonfante, "She is one of the most intelligent, articulate, and beautiful Latinas of our generation. She is a powerhouse and puts her money where her mouth is. She uses her clout in politics and entertainment to elevate the Latino community."

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15 Famous Latinos Who Will Inspire Your Kids

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In honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which spans from September 15 to October 15, we've rounded inspirational Latino role models you'll be excited to tell your kids about.

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Another fable to use with the students

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The Boy Who Cried Wolf | Bedtime Stories | Kids Hut Animated Stories

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Watch the story about how giving and team work help each other.

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Stone Soup | Stories for Kids | Folktales | Bedtime Stories

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Use this link to help you translate Spanish words to English. You can also change the setting into a different language.

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Soup..Soup..Soup (All Around the World!)

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Soup..Soup..Soup (All Around the World!)

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Check out this website that will teach you the different soup recipes around the world!

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Travel around the world with 30 soups from Kitchn, a food community for home cooking, from recipes to cooking lessons to product reviews and advice.