Ladybugs by Gail Gibbons

• Title: Ladybugs
• Author: Gail Gibbons
• Publishing: Holiday House, Reprint Edition. March 1st, 2012.
• Synopsis: This is an informational book for small children all about lady bugs. The author Gail Gibbons provides facts about the life of a lady bug, including facts about where they live, what they eat, and how they benefit humans. At the end of the book the author also provides a list of websites from which the reader can go to to learn more information about ladybugs. 
• The language in this book is very simple and is written in a way that children can understand. In addition, the illustrations in this book are very large and vibrant in color making the information of the ladybug much more exciting and fun to read. 
• After flipping through this book, I of course knew it would be an excellent idea to do a lesson on lady bugs. I also thought as an interdisciplinary activity I could discuss with my students the difference between fact and opinion. I could write two sentences on the boar about lady bugs, the first being a fact from the book and a second being one that I made up. Then I could continue with this pattern and ask my students to come up and circle the fact and put a start next to the opinion. Also, I was thinking it would be a cute activity if I used construction paper to have my students assemble their own lady bugs. I would then have them work on their typing skills by taking them to the computer lab so that they could type out a list of new facts that they learned about ladybugs. I then would have them glue their fact sheet to the bottom of the lady bug and I would then hang the lady bugs up in the hallway on a bulletin board. 
• In searching for supplementary resources to add to my potential lesson, I found a really cute webpage done by National Geographic Kids with everything you would ever want to know about ladybugs including interesting facts. This page can be accessed here: http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/ladybug/ 
• I also found a website with a bunch of ready made fact versus opinion worksheets that would go nicely with a fact opinion min lesson. Those can be accessed through the website located here: http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/free-reading-worksheets/fact-and-opinion-worksheets/
• I also found a cute DIY website with a bunch of ideas for lady bug crafts that can be accessed here: http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/insects/crafts-ladybug.htm
• If you would like to learn more information about the author, you can browse her website here: http://www.gailgibbons.com