Running head: REFLECTION OF EXPERIENCING BUGS TO BUTTERFLIES 1

Reflection of Experiencing Bugs to Butterflies with Preschool Students

Tiffany Elstad

Course Number (OTL502) Learning Theories and Modules of Instruction

Colorado State University Global Campus

Nella B. Anderson, PhD

May 7, 2017
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My Reflection of Experiencing Bugs to Butterflies

My lesson that I chose to teach for this course was based on my preschool children

expressing an eminent interest in the butterflies that were in the garden of our outside area. For

several weeks the children noticed the butterflies surrounding the flowers that were blooming

and every day they wanted to go to the garden area to see if the butterflies were there. This

prompted countless questions about why the butterflies were always by the flowers in the garden

area and many times they chose to go over to the garden area first before they played on the

playground equipment. Another class had planted the garden and over time the flowers and

plants grew which was intriguing to my class and this is when they expressed an interest in the

butterfly sightings.

The learning standard that I chose to focus on for my lesson was the Florida Early

Learning and Development Standard; Domain II Approaches to learning, II A. Eagerness and

Curiosity. I chose this learning standard because I felt that it directly aligned with the Imperative

of Being Supportive and incorporated the touchstone of Item 5 which is: I engage student interest

with every lesson. It also correlated with my teaching philosophy of the importance of teaching

to young childrens interests and the importance of an emergent curriculum. I believe that this

makes learning meaningful and young children learn best with hands on experiences. I also

believe very strongly in the exposure of nature to children. Children and nature go hand in hand.

According to Condie Wood in the article, Connecting Young Children with Nature she states,

Recent studies document the importance of introducing young children to the natural world,

beginning in the early years. Their social, emotional and physical health depends on this

exposure to develop. Humans are hardwired to need nature- because we are part of it. (Ward,

n.d.)
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Implementation of the lesson

I began my lesson several weeks before week 7. This was perfect as it was my goal to

use a project approach as well as my philosophy which incorporates many aspects of a Reggio

Emilia inspired activity. My class consisted of eighteen three year olds and after their interest in

butterflies my first thought when beginning to plan this lesson was to explore different kinds of

bugs and help them learn about a variety of bugs as well as butterflies. This quickly turned into

wanting to help the children learn about the butterfly cycle as a hands on learning experience.

We began by observing very small caterpillars in a container full of a sugar substance and over

two weeks they observed how the caterpillars grew and changed. They became quite big and

eventually climbed to the top of the container and began to form chrysalises. The children were

so excited to watch the change and transformation as the chrysalis also changed in the process.

We moved them to the butterfly net and made daily observations. It was amazing to listen to

their conversations throughout the day and how they would use the vocabulary of

metamorphous, chrysalis, larvae and became very familiar with the four stages of the butterfly

cycle. The excitement of watching the butterflies hatch and feed off of the sugar substance was

amazing. We took our butterflies out that day and released them one by one by our flower

garden. It was exhilarating as an educator to watch the wonderment in their eyes as they

watched the butterflies fly away.

Conclusion

If there was anything I would change it would be to have more than five caterpillars and

one container. I would have at least five containers of 5 caterpillars in order to have enough

caterpillar containers to observe for all eighteen children in small groups. It was a challenge to
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take turns with such a small container with three year old children. It would also be interesting

to observe the differences in the transformation of the different containers. Overall I am very

pleased with how this lesson worked out and I will definitely be doing this again next school

year!
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References

Goodwin, B., & Hubbell, E. (2013). The 12 touchstones of good teaching. Denver,

CO: McRel.

Ward, C. Connecting Young Children with Nature. Teaching Young Children, 8(1).