Let's Learn About Mosquitoes School Program

Jump to
About the school program
Program and activities
How to schedule
Resources

About the school program

The Let's Learn About Mosquitoes! school program is a fun and hands-on program for 4th/5th grade classes. It teaches students about:

the mosquito lifecycle
how mosquitoes can make us sick
how to stay safe from mosquitoes

Students complete an in-class activity with their teacher, and then hear a talk by Vector Control staff. Presentations are about 45 minutes to 1 hour long. We can come to a single class, visit multiple classes at the same school, or even combine classes for an assembly.

Our program follows Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for 4th/5th grades.

Program and activities

There are three parts to the program:

In-class activity done by the teacher
Take home activity
Classroom presentation

The in-class portion should only take about an hour of time and helps prepare the students for the talk. The activity box will be dropped off about a week before the talk to give you time to finish the activities. Materials and a guide are included. Links to the materials can also be found below.

In-class activity

The pre-activity is done by the teacher before the presentation. Students learn about the mosquito life cycle by looking at real insect samples with magnifying glasses! Then they fill out a lab notebook with their findings.

Take home activity

The take home activity helps students learn where mosquitoes might be breeding. They will look for water sources that can causing mosquito problems around their homes. This can be done around students homes, but can also be done as a class around the school campus.

Classroom presentation

The talk builds off what students learned in activities 1 and 2. They will learn more about mosquitoes, why they bite us, how they can spread diseases, and how to stay safe!

How to schedule

To schedule a presentation for your classroom, email fightthebite@sdcounty.ca.gov. You can also fill out this interest form.

The activity box will be delivered about one week before the presentation. Activities 1 and 2 must be completed before the presentation as it includes a review of the material.