Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Explore our NEW Text Set: Celebrating Black History and Voices!
How Students and Families Can Log In
1 min.
Setting Up Student View
Sharing Articles with Your Students
2 min.
Interactive Activities
4 min.
Sharing Videos with Students
Using Scholastic News with Educational Apps
5 min.
Join Our Facebook Group!
Exploring the Archives
Powerful Differentiation Tools
3 min.
Planning With the Pacing Guide
Subscriber Only Resources?
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Scholastic News magazine.
Lesson Plan - Stop This Bug
Read the Article
Print this Lesson Plan
Get the Answer Key
Learning Objective
Students will identify reasons the spotted lanternfly is considered a dangerous invasive species in the U.S.
Text Structure
Sequence, Cause and Effect
Content-Area Connections
Life Science
Standards Correlations
CCSS: RI.4.1, RI.4.2, RI.4.3, RI.4.4, RI.4.5, RI.4.6, RI.4.7, RI.4.8, RI.4.10, L.4.4, SL.4.1
NGSS: Earth and Human Activity
TEKS: Science 4.9
1. Preparing to Read
Watch a Video: What You Need to Know About the Spotted Lanternfly
Discuss: Why are lanternflies seen as a problem here in the United States?
Preview Words to Know
Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.
Set a Purpose for Reading
Note the “As You Read” question. Have students think about ways kids can help stop the spread of lanternflies.
2. Close-Reading Questions
1. Why does entomologist George Hamilton say that spotted lanternflies are “good hitchhikers”? Lanternflies are good hitchhikers because they can be on shipping containers or cars without people noticing. In this way, they “hitch” rides from place to place.
(RI.4.1 MAKE INFERENCES)
2. What are two ways that lanternflies harm plants? Lanternflies harm plants by sucking out nutrients plants need and by making honeydew, a substance that causes mold to grow.
(RI.4.5 CAUSE/EFFECT)
3. Summarize the sidebar, “Leave Us Alone.” The sidebar explains that unlike lanternflies, many insects are helpful to ecosystems. Ladybugs and praying mantises help crops by eating harmful insects. Honeybees pollinate plants.
(RI.4.2 SUMMARIZING)
3. Skill Building
FEATURED SKILL: Public Service Announcement
Use the skill builder “Spread the Word!” to have students write a public service announcement about lanternflies.
(W.4.2 INFORMATIVE WRITING)
Multilingual Learners
Use the skill builder “What I Learned” to assess comprehension. Sentence stems and other question formats help scaffold understanding.
Striving Readers
Point out the red section headings in the article. Discuss how each heading hints at the main idea of the section it introduces. Invite students to come up with alternate headings.
Writing Extension
Group students who need to review the cause/effect text structure and have them use the Find the Causes and Effects skill builder in SN’s online Graphic Organizer Library.