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The Life Cycle of the Butterfly is a Science unit for second
grades in our community, so this project fit in perfectly with
our curriculum. The unit includes each child having her/his own
caterpillar to observe, along with a notebook in which findings
are recorded. Click
here for a Quick-Time movie about the unit.
Implementing the UDL Principles - Firstly, I wanted to be sure
that I followed UDL principles in designing my lessons. I also
met with our district Technology Integration Specialist, Gail
Treanor, to discuss
Assistive Technology available in Arlington. The following
are the UDL principles I considered and how I addressed them:
1.
Multiple formats and media are used to present information.
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Shared reading -
A Butterfly is Born big book
- Read
alouds -
I�m a Caterpillar
Waiting for Wings Special Note: This is a GREAT book for
making predictions. We ALL guessed that the title meant that
the butterfly was waiting for its wings, but we were wrong!
What does it mean? You'll have to read the book to find out!
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Notebook - part of our unit, many diagrams included
Student Notebooks - Teacher Notes on each lesson
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Movies on websites
The Butterfly Life Cycle - movie clip of painted lady
metamorphosis
Life Cycle Animation - movie clip of monarch
metamorphosis
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Videos
The following videos are RECOMMENDED
The Life Cycle of the Painted Lady - produced by Carolina
Biological - short, but excellent
See How They Grow: Insects and Spiders - life cycles of
several insects, including painted lady and spiders
Reading Rainbow "Bugs" - focus is on insects, but wonderful
segment on monarchs
The following videos are NOT RECOMMENDED due to too many
images of animals devouring butterflies
Moths and Butterflies (Eyewitness Series)
Wild America: Butterflies
- Text
to speech (using Appleworks feature and information found at
enchantedlearning)
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Hands-On Experiences
Observations of individual caterpillars, chrysalides,
butterflies (we would "snack" with our friends for more
observation time)
Class trip to Butterfly Landing at Franklin Park Zoo
2.Multiple
Strategies to engage and motivate students. For this principle,
I decided to focus on learning styles and incorporated the
following throughout our project:
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LEARNING BY SEEING - Use clear, simple, and well designed
visual references and aids such as posters, charts, and
diagrams. Make use of the whiteboard, overheads, and
computer generated imagery. Use graphic organizers and
visual learning strategies. Highlight and organize
information using color.
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LEARNING BY SAYING ("verbalizing") - Encourage students to
verbalize by explaining, summarizing, expressing personal
reactions, asking and answering questions, and participating
in discussions. Have students teach or explain information
to another student. Work in pairs and small groups.
-
LEARNING BY DOING - Provide opportunities to participate in
labs, do projects and field studies, role-play, and perform
demonstrations and simulations. Build physical models of
concepts. Capitalize on students' interests and areas of
expertise. Incorporate physical activity into classwork.
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LEARNING BY LISTENING - This area, sometimes a weak channel
for students with learning differences, can be enhanced by
teaching active listening and notetaking skills.
3 .Students
demonstrate learning through multiple performance and product
formats. As I was planning our work for the project, I actually
considered this principle first. I wanted the children to have
many options in presenting their knowledge of the Life Cycle of
the Painted Lady to the class and me. You can view the
assignment given to my students
here. It should be noted that my students came up with even
more ideas than those on the assignment!
Their presentations served as an
assessment, as well. Here is a sampling of the amazing work they
produced.
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Flutter's
Journal
by Erin |
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Saturday, June 3,
2006
My Painted Lady
mother just laid me on the leaf of a mallow
plant. I'm waiting to hatch. It will probably take
3-5 days until I hatch from my egg. Inside, I
dream about flying from flower to flower sipping
sweet nectar. Also, I'm wondering what my
mother looks like. Soon I'll be ready! |
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Thursday, June 8,
2006
Hi! I'm Flutter
the caterpillar. Right now I am munching on
leaves. I do this all the time because I'm a growing
larva. Soon I will be molting. I'll molt 2 or
3 more times before I become a chrysalis. Now
I am going to climb higher in this plant and hang in
a J-shape. |
Sunday, June 18,
2006
Now I am in the
pupa stage and I have formed a chrysalis.
I'm hanging from a stem and I am brown with a streak
of gold. Inside my wings are forming and I'm
becoming a butterfly. Making big changes like this
is called a metamorphosis. When my
chrysalis is very dark, you'll know I'm about to
emerge. Wow! I think I'm ready! |
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Sunday, June 25,
2006
Finally I'm a
beautiful adult butterfly. My wings are
folded up and damp so I have to shake them out and
dry them. After I do that you'll be able to see my
wings. They are orange on the inside and brownish on
the outside. When I feel hungry I'll fly to a flower
and sip nectar with my proboscis.
Soon, I'll find a mate and lay eggs of my own. Watch
for me in your garden! |
A NOTE FROM MS. JACOBY
This online version of Erin's journal does not do it
justice. The actual journal is hand-written in
Erin's precious perfect printing. Each page also
includes photos of the stage with Flutter's comments
beside each; for example, on the chrysalis (pupa)
page there is a photo of a painted lady in a J shape
and Flutter is saying "It takes perseverance to make
a chrysalis."
Simply fabulous!!! |
Other
Alternative Assessments
Interactive
Assessment Worksheets - Scroll down to the Life Cycle
section for Butterflies
Butterfly Online Quiz
Interactive Circle Diagram - Ask children to create the life
cycle of the butterfly or another animal
More
Resources
Teaching
Strategies
Multiple Teaching Strategies
Good Classroom Teaching for All Kinds of Learners
Differentiated Instruction Resources
Differentiated Instruction and Implications for UDL
Implementation
Differentiated Learning Rubric
Butterfly Life Cycle
Painted Lady Life Cycle - Click on other butterflies, as
well
Butterfly Life Cycle Chart - from Earth's Birthday
Painted Lady Life Cycle Sequencing Cards
Painted Lady Life Cycle Book for Fluent Readers
Butterfly Life Cycle Book for Early Readers
Butterfly Life Cycle in French
Butterfly Life Cycle in Spanish
Butterfly Life Cycle in Italian
Pasta Butterfly Life Cycle
Yukon Butterflies - Click on Life Cycle for online
sequencing game, online �book� and coloring pages to print out
The Butterfly Life Cycle - Movie clip of painted lady
metamorphosis
Life Cycle Animation - Movie clip of monarch metamorphosis
Butterfly Life Cycle - Movie clip of a painted lady emerging
Life Cycle of the Butterfly - a movie made in my classroom a
few years ago by Tech Instructor Gail Treanor
Butterfly
Fun and Games
Live
Butterfly Cam
Butterflies at Enchanted Learning - an AMAZING resource - be
sure to check out entire page!
Billy Bear�s Butterfly and Bugs Page - Lots of info, ideas,
and games
Fun
Butterfly Activities
Yukon Butterflies - lots of games and activities
Teacher
Tools
Study Life Cycles with Butterflies - A lesson plan for
teachers from Scholastic
Caterpillars to Butterflies - Written for younger children,
but many great ideas
A Butterfly is Born - Series of lessons
Symmetrical Butterfly Project
Grade 2 Butterfly Project - a curriculum integration project
written by Gail Treanor in collaboration with myself
Addressing the Standards
Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum
Framework
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Recognize that plants and animals go through predictable
life cycles that include birth, growth, development,
reproduction, and death.
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Describe the major stages that characterize the life cycle
of the frog and butterfly as they go through metamorphosis
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Recognize that animals (including humans) and plants are
living things that grow, reproduce, and need food, air, and
water.
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Describe ways in which many plants and animals closely
resemble their parents in observed appearance.
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Recognize that people and other animals interact with the
environment through their senses of sight, hearing, touch,
smell, and taste.
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Identify the ways in which an organism's habitat provides
for its basic needs (plants require air, water, nutrients,
and light; animals require food, water, air, and shelter
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