Our Ladybug experience was exciting! We had real live ladybug larva in our classroom. We were able to view their metamorphosis first hand. This was a first for all of us. It was truly amazing to watch. Once they were full grown ladybugs and we observed them for a few days we released them into our field area.

To learn about our ladybugs the students in room 22 watched videos, read and listened to books on ladybugs and conducted an internet workshop to find ladybug information. They were very engaged in this process and have learned a lot about ladybugs, from how they grow to how they spend their winters, to vast diversity of the ladybug. Who knew there were so many varieties!

The students were free to choose which way they wanted to demonstrate what they learned. Many students drew or cut out ladybugs from construction paper, while others were very creative in their projects. Shaina chose to focus on the way ladybugs spend the seasons in Ohio. Amari created a ladybug mobile showing the different stages of the life cycle using construction paper and string. Emily created a Play-Doh ladybug and Joe drew all the stages and glued them together to show the stages in order.

Because the information was provided in a variety of ways and the students were able to choose which format they wanted to demonstrate their knowledge, this lesson follows the principles of the UDL design. Not only was this project informative in science and life cycles, it was also fun and covered language art learning goals. This project is a perfect example of integrating the curriculum across the board.

Ladybug Mobile

Emily's Play-Doh Ladybug

Joe's Life Cycle Display

Shaina's Picture on ladybugs in Ohio