LESSON PLAN FOR LIFE CYCLE OF BUTTERFLIES

JMU Elementary Education Program

The following information should be included in the header of the lesson plan:
Kelsey Williams
Amy Piner at Stuarts Draft Elementary School
Implemented: March 23,2017
Reviewed: January 29, 2017

A. Science Lesson Plan: Life Cycle of Butterfly

B. CONTEXT OF LESSON

For pre-assessment, we will read the Hungry Caterpillar and subsequently talk about how the
sequences in the book relate to the life cycle of the butterfly. During the discussion, I will assess
how much knowledge the children already have on the topic. The Hungry Caterpillar is
developmentally appropriate for this age range, and it will supplement the lesson well by
providing context for the it and background knowledge.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand The students will begin Know Students will know that the Do
to understand how the life cycle butterfly life cycle begins with eggs, 1. Students will go to stations to
works by going through four stages then transitions to caterpillars, then learn about each stage of the
of the butterfly life cycle. chrysalis, and finally they become butterfly cycle.
butterflies. 2. Students will create a
representation of each stage
of the butterfly cycle.
3. Students will put the butterfly
cycle in order from start to
finish with the understanding
that the cycle continues on.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
Students will create a representation of the life cycle with different materials which they will be able to
take home to their parents/guardians after the lesson is over. Additionally, students will be asked
discussion questions at the end of the lesson to clarify any misunderstandings.

E. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

F. MATERIALS NEEDED
- Construction Paper
- Dry noodles
- Recycled materials
- Glue
- Paper plates

G. PROCEDURE
 (Include a DETAILED description of each step. Write what you will SAY and DO.)
- I will read The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the students.
- After reading, we will talk about the different stages that the caterpillar went
through in terms of transformation. Additionally, we will talk about what the
children already know about the transformation of the caterpillar to butterfly.
- Then, I will explain there are four stations around the room.
- Each station will have fun facts about that stage of the life cycle for a
butterfly.
- At that station, there will be materials there for the child to create a
representation of that station of a butterfly.
- After spending 5-7 minutes at that station, reading the fun facts, and creating
their representation, they will switch to a different station until they get
through all of the stages of a life cycle of a butterfly.
- After they have created all their stages of the life cycle, they will glue the
stages on a plate in a circle to represent the continuation of the life cycle.
- Finally, I will lead students through a discussion talking about why the
caterpillar transitioned into a butterfly as well as clarify any
misunderstandings.

H. DIFFERENTIATION
Describe how you have planned to meet the needs of all students in your classroom with varied
learning styles and abilities, English language proficiency, health, physical ability, etc. How will you
extend and enrich the learning of students who finish early? How will you support the learning of
children struggling with your objectives?

I have one child with an individualized education program in my class, and he primarily has
issues with reading. Fortunately, this lesson already caters to him, because he can listen to the story,
instead of reading it himself.
I will differentiate for my higher students by encouraging them to label and utilize the books
in the classroom about the butterfly cycle to learn more facts about butterflies during the lesson. This
way, if they finish early, they can continue to learn in this environment.

I. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?
Think about this! It may help you avoid an embarrassing situation.

One major thing that can go wrong with this lesson is chaos, when the students get up to go
get their supplies. I will have to manage this transition carefully and be careful to explain how the
transition is going to occur. Also, during their collection of supplies, I need to be clear how to keep the
supply tables clean. This way students can continue to get supplies and return to an organized space.
Lesson Implementation Reflection
I. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and explain why
you made them.

a. This may be the first lesson that my teaching did not differ significantly from the actual plans. One
thing that did happen, that is worth mentioning, is one child spotted a factual error in The Very
Hungry Caterpillar. Butterflies do not come out of cocoons, they actually emerge from a chrysalis.
This initially made me nervous, because I did not realize the book had a factual error. However, I
decided to take the hiccup with stride, and I ended up rereading the last portion of the book, where
it said cocoon, and I said chrysalis instead. The children thought it was funny, but it helped to
make the read aloud be more educational.

II. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student learning? Did
they learn? Who learned? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are
valid?

a. At the end of the lesson, I noticed that the students had really picked up on what the lesson was all
about. Each of them had to create a representation of the butterfly life cycle, and each child did so
very easily. They appeared to really pick up on each stage, and they were all comfortable enough
to glue their life cycle down on paper. I did not notice a single child struggle with this lesson, and
we proudly displayed their paper plate life cycles in the hallway afterwards.

III. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or more
thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.

a. If I taught this lesson again in the future, I would like to incorporate more visual learning into the
mix. The students did have a picture book, but I think a video might help them fully understand
the stages even more so. My cooperating teacher does have caterpillars in her classroom for her
students to watch grow, so I would like to have incorporated something like that into my
classroom in the future.

IV. Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the classroom
teacher?

a. If I was the classroom teacher, I would just want to reinforce what they learned today. I think it
helps that my cooperating teacher has the caterpillars in her class. I think as the children watch the
transitions play out they will have that reinforcement. The students appeared to really have the
stages and transitions down, so I just want to see them retain that information.

V. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about young
children as learners?

a. I learned that children can truly get really creative, when you give them the opportunity. Each
student had their own way of making the life cycle stage representation. They each made
something that did not look like the persons next to them, so it was really cool for me to see them
each understand the four stages. Despite each project looking different, they all understood the
context.

VI. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about teaching?
a. I had the importance of classroom management reinforced. I really focused on keeping the space
clean and organized, and I also realized how important it is to not react to a child, who is looking
for bad attention. One of my students started talking about an inappropriate thing that her older
cousin did, and she said it very loudly to me across the room. I told myself to not react, and I
simply stated, I think thats a family conversation, not a classroom conversation. Then, she tried
 to say it again, so I just repeated myself. I felt like that was a good way for me to handle that
situation in the moment. However, I think I am going to do more research on how to respond to
things like that, so I can perfect my response.

VII. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about yourself?
a. I have learned that I am pretty decent at working on the fly. While I can always improve my
flexibility level, I was proud of my ability to respond to the child saying inappropriate things, and
I was proud of how I changed the words in the book to make them factually correct. I think if I
continue to fine tune that ability, it will truly benefit my future students learning.