Lifecycle of the Monarch Butterfly

Julie Hammel

Grade: 2^nd

Subject: Science

Content Standard: Know and apply the concepts, principles and processes of scientific inquiry.

         11.A.1e: Arrange data into logical patterns and describe the patterns.

Objective: Students will be able to describe and properly identify the four stages in the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly.

Vocabulary: egg, milkweed plant, caterpillar, larva, chrysalis, metamorphosis, adult

Assessment: Poster of the lifecycle of the monarch and test.

Day 1:

         I will hold up a plastic model of a caterpillar and a monarch butterfly. I will ask the kids if they know what those two items have in common. After several students answer, I will say that the caterpillar and the butterfly are two stages in the lifecycle of a butterfly, how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly otherwise known as metamorphosis.

         I will put the above vocabulary words on a poster and go over the meaning of the words. Then I will read the book “Monarch Magic” by Gail Gibbons. After reading this book I will have the students watch the I-movie about the lifecycle of a monarch at: http://education.apple.com/education/ilife/project_template.php?project_id=83&subject_id=4

Day 2 and 3:

         For two days students will have time to research on the computer. When students are at the computer they will fill out four cards that I will have photocopied from the site below. They will write two important facts about each stage on each card. They can work with partners.

http://www.abcteach.com/dykcards/dykbutterfly.htm

In small groups, students will take turn at the computers in the room gathering information at the following sites:

http://www.adver-net.com/Monemerg.html

http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/monarch_butterfly.htm

(At this site they can do the puzzles and print out coloring pages, if research is done.)

http://www.billybear4kids.com/butterfly/flutter-fun.html

(Again they can do the activities on this site, if research is done.)

http://www.shrewsbury-ma.gov/schools/beal/curriculum/butterfly/cycle/index.htm

http://www.units.muohio.edu/dragonfly/cycle/index.htmlx

Day 4:

         Having gathered information about the lifecycle of the monarch on their cards, with a partner, students will now make a poster about the lifecycle of the monarch. The poster will have a picture of each stage along with at least two sentences explaining the stage. The poster must be in the correct order and properly numbered 1-4.

Day 5:

         Students will share their posters with the class and take a quick test about the lifecycle of the monarch. The test will have pictures of the four stages and a word bank. Students will have to number the pictures in the right order and write the word that correctly describes the stage.

Extension:

This is a lengthy assignment and some children will finish before others. Those who are done can go back to the websites above and play the games or print out things they might not have had a chance to do. Also students can choose to do another project from the following site:

http://www.abcteach.com/Butterflycenters/bflyprojects.htm

Modifications:

This project can be modified easily by having special needs students only find one fact about each stage and have them partnered with a higher level student when researching at the computer.