Publisher Story Summary: Did you know that ants have jobs? Ants may not look like they are doing anything important, but each ant that lives in a hill has a special job, whether it is cleaning the nest, digging new tunnels or gathering food. And in each ant city there is a queen ant who is busy laying eggs.

In this popular Stage 2 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science book, Arthur Dorros explores the fascinating and complex ways in which these industrious insects work together to keep their ant cities alive.

LESSON: ANT CITIES

Lesson Summary

This book explains how ants work together to survive in their ant cities. The book describes the different tasks that each ant does in the ant city. Your students will learn many interesting facts about ants, including how to make a simple “ant farm!”

Concept: Interdependence

Definition: Interdependence occurs when people or countries depend on someone else to provide the goods and services they consume.

Comprehension Questions:

In economics, what does it mean to be interdependent?
People are interdependent when they depend on each other to provide the goods and services they consume.

In what way does an ant city illustrate interdependence?
The ants in an ant city specialize in their jobs. In doing so, they all depend on each other for survival. 

What are some of the special jobs/tasks done by the bees?
Queen – lays eggs; Workers – do all the work in the ant city and also fight to protect the nest; New Queens – have wings to fly away and start new ant cities; Males – fly away with new queens to mate, then die.

What would happen if different types of ants didn’t do their special job(s)?
The ants could not survive unless they worked together. All the ants have a special job that helps ensure the survival of the ant city.

What are some of the special jobs in your city or community that people do?
Teachers, plumbers, TV repair people, doctors, factory workers, police officers, store owners, etc. There are countless examples.

How do these people in your community depend on one another?
The people in the community specialize in the jobs they do. Then, they exchange the money they earn and pay others for the goods and services they provide. All of us are interconnected/interdependent in that we rely on others to provide most of the goods and services we consume.

Is it good to be interdependent?
Specializing in production and then exchanging/trading to get the goods and services one wants makes production more efficient, providing society with more goods and services. Generally, this is good for everyone. However, sometimes interdependence can be troublesome. For example, our country relies heavily on oil produced from other countries. In most cases, that is not a problem, but when there is political instability, prices may rise dramatically and our dependence becomes very costly.

Other Concepts: Specialization, Trade (Exchange)

  Interdependence 

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