Home > Science > Life Science > Prairies

On this page:

1. The Adventures of Herman
2. Build-A-Prairie
3. The Dirt on Soil
4. A Field Guide to the Prairie
5. Insecta Inspecta World
6. Insects in Motion: Feeding Behavior
7. Insects on the Web
8. Koday's Kids Amazing Insects
9. Prairie Treasure Scavenger Hunt
10. Yucky Roach World

The Adventures of Herman
http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/

The web site Herman the Worm is best for grades K-4 because many of the games and activities are for very young kids. Games and activities can be found in My Fun Place and it includes Herman's Tunnel, Herman's Comedy Club, Color Me Herman, and Herman's Spring Adventure. There are also many fantastic facts about worms. Did you know that there are over 2,700 different kinds of earthworms? The site doesn't require any plugins, and it loads very quickly. It was created by Chris Tidrick at the University of Illinois, and you can write to him if you have any questions about the site. There are also sections describing what worms eat and their anatomy.

• Student Author: Corey C. and Jacob O.
• Teacher: Carol Reuter
• This site helped Carol Reuter's class answer the question(s) "How do insects contribute to the prairie?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Build-A-Prairie
http://www.bellmuseum.org/mnideals/prairie/build/

Want to build your own prairie? Well, in this website, you can do all sorts of things with your prairie, like choose the plants, birds, herbs, insects, and mammals to put in your prairie. You can also choose a tall or short grass prairie. After you build your prairie, you will be given information about how to keep the prairie healthy. There are many facts about the behavior of plants and animals in a prairie and if they would be good to choose for a prairie, so the site is useful if you need facts about prairies for a report. Bell LIVE and Educational Web Adventure created the site.

• Student Author: Tiffany W and Julie T
• Teacher: Toni Tredinnick
• This site helped Toni Tredinnick's class answer the question(s) "How can prairies be created and maintained?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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The Dirt on Soil
http://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/soil/

Have you ever wondered what lives underground? Or what our soil is made of? Well then, The Dirt on Soil is the web site for you. The Dirt on Soil was created by Educational Web Adventures and published by Discoveryschool.com. The site requires Flash for a fun game that gives kids an opportunity to discover what lives underground in a new way. Besides that it shows the layers of soil and what lives underground. So go to the Dirt on Soil and check it out.

• Student Author: Siettah P and Kathryn W
• Teacher: Toni Tredinnick
• This site helped Toni Tredinnick's class answer the question(s) "How can prairies be created and maintained?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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A Field Guide to the Prairie
http://www.bellmuseum.org/mnideals/prairie/fieldguide
/index.html

The Field Guide to the Prairie was made in 1999 at the University of Minnesota. Even though the site hasn't been updated recently and doesn't have search capability, this is a useful site for you if you're in middle school or a teacher. The site is useful because it has a glossary of prairie terms and lists of all the components of a prairie by category, such as plants, birds, herps, insects, and mammals. When you click on a specific plant or insect, you'll see a picture and information about where it lives, what it eats, and its height and length.

• Student Author: Sondra M. and Hayly B.
• Teacher: Carol Reuter
• This site helped Carol Reuter's class answer the question(s) "How do insects contribute to the prairie?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Insecta Inspecta World
http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/

Seventh grade students at Thornton Jr. High in California createdInsecta Inspecta World. It has interesting facts about ants, bees, beetles and many other insects. It includes sound and video clips of insects flying and stinging. One interesting fact is that Africanized bees will wait until you come out of the water and attack. The site also has links to Bugs in the news, Insects on Money and Insects in Art. A link called Arachnophobia tells about the causes and treatment of the fear of spiders.

• Student Author: Trevin L and Jaeger N
• Teacher: Toni Tredinnick
• This site helped Toni Tredinnick's class answer the question(s) "How can prairies be created and maintained?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Insects in Motion: Feeding Behavior
http://www.ento.vt.edu/~carroll/insect_video_feeding.html

Although this site was last updated on August 26, 1997, it continues to be useful to people who study insect feeding behavior. The site is a personal page on the Virginia Tech University server, created by Belinda Carroll. There is no search capability, so you have to click on a category of insect, such as butterfly. You can contact the web master with comments or questions. You will see photos of several kinds of insects with text information about what each insect eats. The site also shows videos of insects eating or stinging. Our favorite is the video of a honeybee stinging a person. Insects Feeding Behavior requires plugins to watch the videos, but there is text information about each insect too.

• Student Author: Ahmed M. And Tyler E.
• Teacher: Carol Reuter
• This site helped Carol Reuter's class answer the question(s) "How do insects contribute to the prairie?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Insects on the Web
http://www.bugbios.com/index.html

Did you know that butterfly and moth wings are made out of hundreds of little scales? Or that beetles have two sets of wings? I didn't either until I went to bugbios.com. This website is extremely useful to anyone who needs or wants to learn facts about bugs. This site includes vibrant photographs and facts about several insects in each of 14 orders. It is well organized and doesn't require any plug-ins.

• Student Author: Kaitlyn B and Jennifer H
• Teacher: Toni Tredinnick
• This site helped Toni Tredinnick's class answer the question(s) "How can prairies be created and maintained?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Koday's Kids Amazing Insects
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects
/bugmenu.html

Ed Koday created the site, "Koday's Amazing Insects." To navigate within the site, click on the links, which are different kinds of insects such as the bumblebee, the firefly, and the ladybug. Unfortunately, there is no search capability, but there are not any plugins either, and the site loads quickly. This site would be useful to anyone who had to do research on bugs. If you would like to find another site similar to Koday's Amazing Insects, there are links to other sites at the bottom of the page. A couple of questions that you could find the answers to at this site are, "What is the English term for the Mourning Cloak Butterfly?" or, "What is the wingspan of the Luna Moth?" In addition, each insect link contains information about the insect, such as photos and sometimes a drawing of the insect. Facts about each insect are written in a way that is easy for children to understand.

• Student Author: Hannah B. and Abby L.
• Teacher: Carol Reuter
• This site helped Carol Reuter's class answer the question(s) "How do insects contribute to the prairie?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Prairie Treasure Scavenger Hunt
http://www.campsilos.org/mod1/students/hunt.shtml

If you like sites with quick facts, a lot of fun activities and a great way to learn about prairies, then choose Prairie Treasures Scavenger Hunt. This site has many facts to help you with school projects or reports. Did you know that tallgrass prairies once covered 142 million acres or 40 % of the United States of America? Or that only one percent of the North American prairies still exist? The site also includes links to a site where you can build a prairie or solve a prairie problem. The site was created by Silos and Smokestacks National Heritage Area organization and has been recently updated.

• Student Author: Brett K and Nick H
• Teacher: Toni Tredinnick
• This site helped Toni Tredinnick's class answer the question(s) "How can prairies be created and maintained?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Yucky Roach World
http://yucky.kids.discovery.com/roaches/

Have you ever wondered how long a cockroach can live without its head? Well then check out this site. It is loaded with lots of cool information. On this site they have a quiz mostly about bugs and insects. You will learn a lot about cockroaches. Another feature about this site is it has a couple of games. One of the games is X-termite. What you have to do is try to click on as many Ralph roaches as possible before the time runs out. Another game they have is Toxic Waste, which is like Tetris. This site was created by Discoveryschool.com.

• Student Author: Elliot N and Zachary H
• Teacher: Toni Tredinnick
• This site helped Toni Tredinnick's class answer the question(s) "How can prairies be created and maintained?"
• Librarian: Marcy Voss
• Technology Teacher: Tina Krouth
• School: Whitehorse Middle School
• Year: 2002-2003

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Internet Detectives is a publication produced by Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) middle school students as a resource for other K-12 students. It is an ongoing, cooperative effort of middle school Social Studies classrooms. Students find, evaluate and recommend Internet resources related to the curriculum. This project is supported by MMSD's Teaching and Learning Department and Library Media Services.

These Internet resources were evaluated on the basis of Site Selection Guidelines. Questions and comments regarding specific sites can be sent to the classroom teachers listed with the student author and school.

Questions or comments regarding the Internet Detectives project can be sent to Barb Spitz at bspitz@madison.k12.wi.us or (608) 663-1976.

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