Dragonflies have four wings.
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Terry Kelly/Alamy Stock Photo
Meet the Dragonfly
Will it become your favorite insect?
By Elizabeth Carney
From the May/June 2025 Issue
Learning Objective: Students will ask questions and obtain information about dragonflies.
Key Focus Area:
Structure & Function,
Other Focus Areas: Adaptations, Measurement & Data, Fractions & Decimals
Standards
Terry Kelly/Alamy Stock Photo
Like all insects, dragonflies have six legs. But they can’t walk. They can only use their legs to grab prey and perch to rest.
Huge curved eyes have 30,000 lenses and can see in every direction.
LorraineHudgins/iStock/Getty Images
This dragonfly caught a damselfly to eat!
Hotshot Hunters
What’s the animal kingdom’s best hunter? As far as scientists can tell, the award goes to dragonflies! Wolves catch prey on about 20 percent of their attempts. Some bats snatch their target 75 percent of the time. Scientists found dragonflies have a success rate of 95 percent. That’s nearly a perfect record!
Their favorite meal is mosquitoes. Dragonflies gobble up more than 30 of the bloodsuckers a day. Thank you, dragonflies!
Shutterstock.com
Fancy Fliers
Dragonflies are like the fighter pilots of the insect world. They can fly up, down, forward, and even backward at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour! The insects can even hover, like a helicopter, staying in place in the air.
They use these moves to nab prey, which they snag in midair with their legs.
MARK GARLICK/Science Source
2-foot wingspan!
Jumbo Ancestors
Three hundred million years ago, before dinosaurs walked Earth, massive dragonflies ruled the skies. The 1-pound giants had a 2-foot (600-millimeter) wingspan—about the size of a present-day crow! These ancestors of modern dragonflies were the largest insects that ever lived.
As time went on, dragonflies thrived. Today there are more than 3,000 species. They live on every continent except Antarctica.
Activities
(4)
Skills Activities
Answer Key
(1)
Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
1. PREPARE TO READ (10 minutes)
Use an article to make observations and ask questions about dragonflies.
- Project the article in presentation view. Use the spotlight tool to focus students’ attention on the main image.
- Distribute the graphic organizer I Notice, I Wonder to students and review the instructions. If needed, discuss what an observation is (something you notice with your senses, like something you see). Share an observation about the image with the class. Then have students record their observations in the left-hand column and questions in the right-hand column of the graphic organizer. Encourage them to write as many as they can!
2. READ AND ANALYZE (15 minutes)
Explore the article and describe key adaptations.
- Read the article aloud to the class while they follow along in the print or digital magazine. Discuss which students’ questions were answered in the text. Have students highlight questions that remain unanswered.
- Summarize what students have learned about dragonflies and their adaptations (e.g., Their huge curved eyes can see in every direction.) Encourage students to refer to the text as they complete the following sentences: “One adaptation that dragonflies have is ___________. This adaptation helps them survive because ____________________________.”
Then have volunteers share their sentences with the class.
Then have volunteers share their sentences with the class.
3. RESPOND TO READING (20 minutes)
Use the article and other sources to answer students’ questions about dragonflies.
- Read aloud the last prompt on the I Notice, I Wonder graphic organizer. Allow students to work in pairs to answer the questions, encouraging them to use the text. Then select volunteers to share their answers with the class.
- Revisit any students’ questions that are still unanswered. Discuss how those could be answered by using reliable sources. Let students conduct research to find answers to any remaining questions about dragonflies.
Text-to-Speech