Guiding Comprehension

Setting • Literal

Where and when does the beginning of the story take place?

Underground in an ant home, late in the day.

Cause and Effect
• lnferential

What was the cause of the ants’ decision to make a long and dangerous journey?

The queen wanted more crystals.

then… use the skill
and strategy instruction
on p. 361.

If… students are unable to determine the cause and effect relationship,

Cause and Effect

Students can find out more about ant communication by searching the Internet. Have them use a student-friendly search engine and the keywords ant communication.

SKILLS

STRATEGIES IN CONTEXT

Cause and
Effect

TEACH

Remind students that understanding cause and effect relationships can help them better understand why characters do certain things.
A cause is something that
makes another thing happen.
An effect is what happened.
Model identifying the causal relationship.

MODEL I know the effect: The ants go on a long and dangerous journey. I need to find out why. I read that because the queen wanted more crystals, the ants went to get more. This is the cause of their journey.

PRACTICE AND ASSESS

Have students reread the last
two sentences on p. 360 and
identify a causal relationship.
Remind them to ask
themselves "What happened?"
and "Why did it happen?"
(Effect—The ants are eager to
gather more crystals for the
queen. Cause—The queen is
the mother of them all.)
To assess, use Practice Book 3.2, p. 136.

Practice Book 3.2 p. 136

with | without Answers

"Two Bad Ants"
by Chris Van Allsburg

Student Edition
Unit 6, pp. 358–375

An animal fantasy is a story with animal characters that behave like humans. What is unusual about these two ants?

The scout came back to the ant hole carrying a huge, white crystal. The queen ant tasted the sugar. It was sweet and delicious. The discovery of the crystal made her joyful. The scout said that to please her, he would take other ants with him to get more.
The ants prepared for the long journey, and the scout led them through a forest of grass. Then they came to a large mountain of bricks. The line of ants climbed up the wall to a large, rectangular opening and entered a strange place. They crossed a huge shiny land and came to the curved wall of a sugar bowl. Each ant climbed in, picked up a crystal, and headed back out. They would give their crystals to the queen. Their goal was to make her happy. When she was happy, the entire kingdom was happy. Two ants decided to stay behind. They liked the land of the crystals. They ate and ate the sweet-tasting stuff until they could eat no more.
They fell asleep and so were unaware that a huge scoop was digging into the bowl. They ended up on the scoop with some crystals and fell into an ocean of hot, brown water. The scoop stirred and stirred. Finally it stopped, and the ocean was lifted up. Some of the brown water poured into a huge mouth. They had to get out of the water! They climbed the walls of the cup and ran to hide in a slice of bread.
Oh, no! The bread was lifted and dropped into a slot. They saw a red glow, and the slot became very hot. Then they were popped up and into the air. They landed near a fast-running stream of water. They went over to get a drink and cool their feet. But they fell in, and the stream swirled them into a dark hole. Half-eaten food was everywhere. Then a grinding noise began, and the food began to spin and break up. The food bits disappeared as water washed the bits down into pipes below. Finally the spinning stopped.
Tired and sore, the two ants climbed the walls and once again saw light. They saw something else too. A long line of ants was heading toward the sugar bowl. The two ants went to the back of the line and pretended to have been there all along. Each grabbed a crystal and marched with the others back to the ant nest.
The two bad ants were happy to be safe at home again. They had had enough adventure!



	Close
	Build Background Help students understand the workings of an ant colony, including their home, way of life, and communication. Species There are about 10,000 different kinds of ants. They can be grouped according to their way of life. Army ants hunt insects and spiders. Slave makers raid other ants’ nests. They take young ants that later work in the slave makers’ colony. Harvester ants collect and store seeds. Dairy ants and honey ants eat a sugary liquid called honeydew that they gather from insects and plants. What kind of ants might the two bad ants be?

"Two Bad Ants" by Chris Van Allsburg

"Two Bad Ants"
by Chris Van Allsburg