The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Kindergarten, First Grade Science,

by Mrs. Melendez August 18, 2015

Let your students spread their wings with this lesson that teaches them about the life cycle of a butterfly. A fun
song will get your class moving and a variety of different worksheets will suit any class.

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to identify the main topic of a text.

Students will be able to retell key details of a text.
Students will be able to identify the sequence of a butterfly’s life cycle.

Materials and preparation Key terms

"Butterfly, Butterfly!" by Harry Kindergarten butterfly

Music caterpillar
Pictures of real eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, chrysalis
and butterflies egg
From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah key detail
Heiligman retell
Busy Butterflies by Gail Tuchman topic
Class set of Life Cycle of a Butterfly worksheet
Class set of Draw the Life Cycle of a Butterfly
worksheet
Class set of the Color the Life Cycle: Butterfly
worksheet

Attachments

Color the Life Cycle: Butterfly (PDF)

Life Cycle of a Butterfly (PDF)
Draw the Life Cycle of a Butterfly (PDF)

Introduction (20 minutes)

Draw a KWL chart on the board.

Ask students what they already know about the life cycle of a butterfly. Fill in the "K" column.
Ask students what they would like to learn about the life cycle of a butterfly and fill in the "W" column.
Play the "Butterfly, Butterfly!" song.
Pick out key words from the song, such as butterfly, caterpillar, chrysalis, and egg. Include a picture
and a simple definition for each word.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (30 minutes)

Show pictures of real eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, and butterflies to your students.
Ask students to identify each.
Read one of the following informational texts: Busy Butterflies or From Caterpillar to Butterfly.
Pause throughout the read aloud to check for understanding about the concepts in the book.
Model a think aloud that shows students how to make connections between the book and what you know

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 about the topic of butterflies from your own life. For example, say, "One key detail I find interesting is
that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. A key detail is something the author tells us that connects with the
topic of the text...which is the life cycle of a butterfly. I find this key detail interesting because I've seen a
caterpillar before, and a butterfly, but I've never seen the caterpillar change to a butterfly! This also
reminds me of one of my favorite books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle."
Encourage students to think about their own connections to the text, using key details from the text to
support their ideas.
Ask student volunteers share their connections/ideas with the class.

Guided Practice (20 minutes)

Model to the class how to retell important details from the book. Discuss with the class what information
is really important to remember, and what other details are not needed in this lesson.
Jot down a few key details from the text (using words/phrases/illustrations) on the whiteboard and a few
facts or ideas from the text that are not important to the main topic of the text.
Have students think-pair-share which words/phrases/illustrations are key details and which are not.
Encourage students to justify their reasoning, using their knowledge of key details to support their
answers.

Independent working time (10 minutes)

Pass out the Life Cycle of a Butterfly worksheet and have students complete it independently.
Instruct students to jot down the main topic on the back of their worksheet (e.g. the life cycle of a
butterfly) and 2-3 key details (e.g. A butterfly starts as an egg or Caterpillars become butterflies.)

Differentiation

Enrichment: Give students the Draw the Life Cycle of a Butterfly worksheet to complete during independent
working time.

Support: Give students the Color the Life Cycle: Butterfly worksheet to complete during independent working
time.

Assessment (5 minutes)

Check students' worksheets for accuracy and clarify any misconceptions.

Review and closing (10 minutes)

Go through the KWL chart on the board and check off things in the "W" column that the class achieved in
learning today.
Add items to the "L" column to show students what they learned today.
Review the life stages of a butterfly as you do this.
Ask students to think-pair-share the answer to the following questions:
What is a main topic?
What is a key detail?
How does identifying the main topic and key detail of a text help us understand what we read?

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 Life Cycle of a Butterfly
Insects are invertebrates. This means that their skeletons are on the outside
of the body, instead of inside. It is called an exoskeleton. An insect’s body is
divided into three sections: the head, the thorax and the abdomen. They have
two antennae and six legs and they hatch from eggs. Some insects go through
three stages of a life cycle, and some go through four stages.
The butterfly goes through four stages of a life cycle.

2.

1. 3.
Cut out the pictures on
page 2 and paste them
in the correct order in
the life cycle.

4.

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 Life Cycle of a Butterfly
Butterflies start life as tiny eggs laid on top of leaves. The butterfly lays
them on leaves they like to eat. When the egg hatches, out comes the
larva, or caterpillar. They eat and eat. As they grow, they shed their skin
or exoskeleton. When the caterpillar has grown to its full size, it cocoons
as a chrysalis. This is called the pupa stage. When the caterpillar is done
forming inside the pupa, a butterfly will emerge. At first its wings are
folded, but within hours they pump blood into them and are ready to fly.

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 e life cy cle of a
Science Dr
aw
th
Butterfly
Draw in the four life stages of a butterfly

1 Eggs 2 Caterpillar
A butterfly lays her eggs on a plant, so that the caterpillars The job of a caterpillar is to eat, eat, eat! Caterpillars can
will have something to eat when they hatch. grow up to two inches long in just a few weeks.

3 Chrysalis 4 Butterfly
The caterpillar attaches itself upside down to a twig and transforms When the butterfly hatches from its chrysalis, it becomes
into a chrysalis to protect it while it turns into a butterfly. time to mate and find a place to lay eggs.

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3 4

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