1. Title of Unit : Hey Little Ant/Bullying
Unit Time Frame: 1 Week
Grade/Subject/Topic: 2nd
Teacher: 2nd grade
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Content Standard(s)
ELACC2RI1: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to
demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
ELACC2RI2: Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific
paragraphs within the text.
ELACC2RI5: Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings,
glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text
efficiently.
ELACC2RI6: Identify the main purpose of a text, including what the author wants to answer,
explain, or describe.
ELACC2RI7: Explain how specific images (e.g., a diagram showing how a machine works)
contribute to and clarify a text.
ELACC2SL1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 2
topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
ELACC2W2: Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and
definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
ELACC2L2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization,
punctuation, and spelling when writing.
a. Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names.
b. Use commas in greetings and closings of letters.
e. Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct
spellings.
Understanding(s)/Goals:
Students will understand that:
Bullying effects everyone
Character’s emotions
Students will know (Nouns):
Character
setting
Plot
Essential Question(s):
How can students compare and relate to the
characters in the stories we have read?
Students will be able to (Verbs)
Answer questions about story
•
Compare characters in stories
•
Work with group
•
Stage 2 –Assessment Evidence
•
Act out stories

2. Performance Tasks:
Task:
1. Put a different ending to the story
2. Act out the story for the class.
3. Change the role of the main character.
Other Evidence:
Assessments:
Teacher observation
Pretest/Posttest
Small Group
Student finished work
4. Make a picture book showing the story being
acted out.
5. Come up with their own activity
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
Hook & Attention Getter
Day 1 and 2
Activity#1
When they hear or read Hey, Little Ant, children often want to know if it’s ever okay to kill something. “What if
it’s a bee?” they ask. “What if it’s a mosquito on your arm? Can you slap it?” “What if a hundred ants
crawling after something you spilled in your kitchen?” Here are ideal questions not to answer, because they
lead to good discussions. At the heart of the book is the idea that all living things have a great deal in
common, even though sometimes this may be difficult to recognize. List the things that ants and children
have in common. The story mentions some, but are there others? Does an ant have a heart? A brain?
Research for more and make a list. Explore ways in which we are similar to one another. Again, make a list.
Examples: how we look, how we move, what we do, what we want, what we love, what we dislike, and
what we fear. Early in the story the looming Kid declares: “Anyone knows an ant can’t feel. You’re so tiny
you don’t look real.” But are things always what they seem? How do we know?
Discuss the term bullying and its effects on our school and classroom environment.
Journal Writing: In your Life Cycle journals write a paragraph expressing how you would feel if you were the
ant or if you were being bullied?
Visit the following website: http://www.stopbullying.gov/kids/. Students will use the COW to participate in the
activities on this website.
Day 3 and 4
Activity#2
Assign the students to draw a creature that cannot feel. What would it look like? Cultural biologists point out
that we invest in protecting animals with which we can identify. We save creatures with big round eyes
(pandas) or large heads that seem to smile (dolphins). We respond to creatures that respond to us (monkeys,
dogs, cats) or that can soar (eagles) as we aspire to do, or that seem pretty (brightly flowering plants,
Monarch butterflies) or graceful. Other creatures are not so lucky—in one survey, respondents were willing
to spend fifteen times more money to save a spotted owl than a striped shiner (a fish). Discuss the children’s
drawings. Why can’t their creatures feel anything? What does it take to feel something? How do we know?
Show photographs of various animals and plants. Include snakes. What are they feeling? List the responses,

3. then discuss them. Can we know how something or someone feels by how they look? Could we sometimes
make universal assumptions about all sorts of living things whose individual experiences vary.
Day 5 Students will use Glogster to create an antibullying poster.
Lesson Plan adapted from http://www.heylittleant.com/hla).
.