Story Elements
What was the setting of the story?
kitchen (and colony, grass)
What caused the ants the leave the colony?
The queen requested volunteers to get new crystals.
1. Details from the text
2. Information you already know
Where did the ants land first once they entered the kitchen?
the sugar bowl
Who's point of view is the story from?
the ants
Who were the characters in the story?
Two bad ants, the queen ant, other ants
The ants fell into a garbage disposal down a drain. What caused them to fall?
The faucet / running water
Text: smooth sides, crystals, giant silver scoop
Me: I know sugar looks like small clear crystals. The ants are small, so it looks larger to them.
Where did the ants land after the sugar bowl?
cup of coffee
Is this story written in first or third person point of view?
third person
What was the problem in the story?
The ants kept getting into trouble and couldn't get out of the kitchen.
Why didn't the two bad ants follow the rest back to the colony right away?
They wanted to stay in the sugar bowl and eat the crystals forever.
How do you know the ants were in a toaster? Use information from the text and from your own knowledge to make an inference.
Text: "Their hiding space was lifted, tilted, and lowered into a dark space." "They were surrounded by a strange red glow." "The temperature was rising."
Me: I know a toaster has red/orange lines that glow. The toast gets lowered into it before it turns on.
Where did they hide after they left the coffee cup?
How do you know this story is written in third person point of view?
"they", "she", "he"
What was the solution to the story?
They left the kitchen with the crystals and returned to the colony.
How did the ants get into "the boiling brown lake"?
The spoon scooped them out of the sugar bowl
How do you know the ants were in a sink? Use information from the text and from your own knowledge to make an inference.
Text: "a waterfall pouring from a silver tube"
Me: I know sinks have faucets. When they fell, they went into a spinning drain. Many kitchen sinks have garbage disposals that spin and break up food scraps.
Where do they end up after the toaster?
Who is the person called that tells the story from the third person point of view.
Narrator
How were the ants feeling once they returned to their colony?
grateful
Name one cause and one effect from the story.
Answers vary - teacher decides if it is right or wrong!
What do you think the force was that caused the ants to shoot out of the outlet? How do you know?
Electricity
I know because outlets hold electricity that can be a very strong force.
the outlet
Pretend the story was written in first person point of view. How would this change the story and what we learn as the reader?
We would know what the ants were thinking. It would use different pronouns, like "I", "we", and "us".