The Butterfly Life Cycle:

Mary Enwemaya
CILR 610 Content Area Literacy
Spring 2019
 Science Education
• The purpose of science education is to help students develop
• critical thinking skills
• awareness of the world around them
 Science Perspective
• Parker (2012) describes teaching with inquiry as one of the five great
teaching strategies.
• Students must engage in inquiry to be capable of forming strong
hypothesis and showcasing curiosity
• It enables students to be critical thinkers and work together to be strong
collaborators
• Teachers need to understand the changes and teach in ways that ensure
equal opportunity to learn.
 Butterfly Life Cycle
Inquiry-based science instruction (American Association for the Advancement of
Science, 1993; Duschl, Schweingruber, & Shouse, 2007; National Research
Council, 1996) may be effective for developing both content area knowledge and
literacy.
• provides rich contexts where students can exert their natural curiosity by investigating the world
around them and engaging in language-and literacy-related activities (French, 2004)
• students should be able to learn science concepts and processes more effectively when they engage in
meaningful activities through manipulating materials (National Research Council, 1996)
• integrating hands on activities with concept-focused teaching, reading of science print materials, and
writing, both science understanding and reading achievement may be improved (French, 2004; Romance
& Vitale, 2001).
 Butterfly Life Cycle Rationale

• Students are exposed to inquiry-based learning

• Students are exposed to expository text
• Students are aware of the butterfly life cycle through observation, reading,
class discussions
 Week 1: Prior and New Knowledge
• Inquiry based
• SWBAT explain the different parts of a caterpillar
• SWBAT describe the stages of the butterfly life cycle
• Essential Question
• Activities – Science journals, literacy center vocabulary match, Butterfly life
cycle flow chart, read aloud
• Assessment – KWL chart
 Week 2: Observation and Data
• Inquiry based
• SWBAT explain why caterpillars molt
• SWBAT describe how a caterpillar forms into a chrysalis
• Essential Question
• Activities – Bar graph for caterpillar to chrysalis, caterpillar race, read aloud
• Assessment – Informal by teacher observation,discussions, science journal
entries
 Week 3: Metamorphosis
• Inquiry based
• SWBAT to describe what happens during the chrysalis to butterfly stage
• Activities: Bar graph of chrysalis to butterfly, Butterfly release,
Collaborative partnership in writing a small response about the different
butterfly stage
• Assessment – Student writing, presentation
 Week 4: Arts Integration
• Non-inquiry
• SWBAT to create reader’s theater of butterfly life cycle
• SWBAT to create physical tableau of the butterfly life cycle in ABA form
• SWBAT to create clay model of butterfly
• Activites – student created reader’s theater, tableau, clay model
• Assessment –Student created reader’s theater, Group observation with
tableau
Classroom
Activity
 Text Set
The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach

From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman

Butterflies and Moths, National Geographic

Butterflies and Moths, Julie Lundgren (EPIC online)

Great Migrations Butterflies , Laura Marsh

Butterflies and Moths, Nic Bishop

Face to Face with Caterpillar, Darlyne Murawski

Monarch Buddies: Munch a Bunch of Milkweed, Lynn Rosenblatt

Caterpillar to Butterfly

Goodbye Butterflies by T ricia Culligan

 Standards
● RI.2.3- Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical
procedures in a text.
● RI.2.5-Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons)
to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.
● W.2.7- Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., read a number of books on a single topic to produce a report;
record science observations).
● S.L.2.4-Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in
coherent sentences.
● 2.MD.D.10-Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories.
● 2.LS.4.1-make observations of plants and animals to compare diversity of life in different habitats.
● Cn11.2.2b- Collaborate on the creation of a short scene based on a non-fiction literary source in a guided drama experience (e.g.,
process drama, story drama, creative drama).
● Cr3.1.2.b-Use and adapt sounds and movements in a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama)
 Conclusion

•  Science curriculum teaches children a wide variety of ways to read and represent
information and ideas
• Assessment is natural and essential and needs variety.
• Science units typically are integrated (interdisciplinary) because they  provide a
content focus for the teaching of reading and writing skills.