unit

MONARCH BUTTERFLY

Students will observe the Monarch throughout the stages of its life cycle.

The students will observe the changes in the life cycle and be able to write in their own words important facts concerned with this process.

Excite the students for the miracle to come, by encouraging them to hunt for monarch caterpillars on milkweed plants around the area. Show pictures of the egg and caterpillar so they will know which one to look for and possibly avoid all of the little, fuzzy ones!

Create a Monarch Journal which students will use daily to chart progress, changes, and growth.

Day 1: The first day will begin whenever the monarch caterpillar comes to class!

Create the habitat for the caterpillar. A small plastic aquarium with the slotted top works well.

Stock the habitat with fresh milkweed and a couple of sticks leaning upright.

Observe the caterpillars. Measure the caterpillar. Document the size by creating

a graph. Measure daily and post results on graph.

ACTIVITIES TO USE THROUGHOUT THE UNIT

Computer Lab:

v Internet Search. Use butterfly, monarch, and migration as Key Words and search for information. Students should come up with 5 facts about one, two or all of the key words and put their informative sentences in their Journal. Share information after returning to classroom.

v Enchantedlearning.com (Zoomschool.com) has much information about monarchs.

v Puzzlemaker.com is great for making crossword puzzles and word searches.

v More websites are available under resources.

Writing Projects:

v Monarchs have been on earth for more than 10 million years…more than twice as long as the first people. Yet, in the short time humans have been on this earth we have had such a negative impact on the monarch’s habitat that monarchs and their migration are in danger of extinction. What do you think we can do to protect the monarchs and their habitat?

v Pretend you are a tiny, baby caterpillar on a giant milkweed plant. Write a story or take turns creating a story based on fact or fantasy. “The wind was howling and the thunder roared on “Planet Milkweed” the day I was born………” Either write individually or take turns with a partner

v Create a Diamante Poem. Diamante poems have 7 lines.

Lines 1 & 7—nouns

Lines 2 & 6—2 adjectives

Lines 3 & 5—3 verbs

Line 4—2 nouns about 1^st noun

2 nouns about 2^nd noun

This creates a diamond shape poem, which compares 2 nouns:

Caterpillar

Bright bumpy

Crawling munching shedding

Chrysalis monarch seeds nectar

Growing flowering bursting

Pink white

Milkweed

Students may choose 2 subject-related nouns to compare.

v Make believe you are a migrating monarch. Your trip begins in South Dakota. You soar as high as 10,000 feet for 6-8 hours a day. You are heading towards Mexico. Some days you travel 100 miles. It will take about 600 miles to reach your destination. What might you see along the way? Write a story about your journey. Give your tale a title and draw a picture to go with it.

Hands-On Activities

v M&M Camouflage Game:

Mix together: M&M’s and candy corn (yellow m&m’s and candy are camouflaged)

Students pick out 5 m&m’s from bowl. DON’T EAT YET!!

Tally the number of each color students picked. (Usually there are less orange and yellow because they blend with the candy corn)

QUESTIONS: Why were some colors chosen more often?

Why would this be helpful to the butterfly?

v Protective Coloring Experiment

Peel off and discard crust of 4 pieces of bread.

Break each piece into 20 pieces.

Color 3 pieces (leave one white), by using ¼ cup water and adding 10 drops of food coloring. Use red, blue, green coloring.

Soak the bread.

Spread on cookie sheet to dry.

Spread out on grass…each in a 12” circle about 6 feet apart.

PREDICT and write in Journal what students think will happen. (or use Kidspiration to make a web of predictions).

Later in the day, gather the bread is left. There should be more GREEN pieces left because they are not seen on the grass as easily as the other colors.

QUESTIONS: What if bread pieces were insects or butterflies…which would have been eaten by birds? How could this extend the life of the butterfly?

v Life Cycle Chart

Divide a paper plate into 1/4ths. Use a marker rather than fold.

Section 1: Cut out a leaf shape from green construction paper and glue one pea on it. This is the egg.

Section 2: Cut some pieces of green yarn and glue on for the grass. Color one piece of spiral pasta to resemble the caterpillar. Glue the spiral pasta to the grass. This is the caterpillar.

Section 3: Glue a small twig and glue one shell pasta hanging from it. This is the chrysalis.

Section 4: Color one piece of bow tie pasta with a marker to resemble the monarch. Twist a small piece of pipe cleaner around the pasta and add 2 wiggle eyes. This is the monarch butterfly.

v Symmetry Painting

Put the outline of a butterfly on construction paper. Fold the paper in half. Choose tempera paint (only offer orange, black and white). Place dots of paint on only one side of the butterfly.

Fold the paper in half again.

Open and let it dry.
Cut out and put on antennae.

This shows the symmetry of the design on the wings.

Digital Camera Use

v Use the digital camera to take pictures of the changes showing each stage of the formation. Include students in the pictures if possible. After the monarch has hatched and is ready for release, include students again in the process of releasing the monarch.

v Make copies of the pictures and make booklets for each child of this experience. Either alone or as a class, write picture captions under each picture.

v If possible, use the pictures to create a PowerPoint detailing the life cycle of the monarch. Check with parents for permission before publishing any materials with student pictures.

Assessment

Assessments will consist of Teacher Observation and products of classroom activities. The Journal will be checked for accuracy. Spelling and sentence structure will not be the focal point, but will be counted in the overall grade. More weight will be given to life cycle information, migration accuracy and their diary of daily events (such as the graph measuring the caterpillar's growth).

The digital pictures which are made into a book will be used as an assessment tool.

Accuracy in symmetry, life cycle chart, and writing projects will be used in assessment.

A final test will be used as an assessment tool.

Resources

Books

v Butterflies by Raintree Publishers

v Butterfly by Mary Ling

v Butterfly Alphabet by Kjell B. Sandved

v A Butterfly is Born by Melvin Berger

v Butterflies and Moths by George Fichter

v Butterfly by Paula Hogan

v An Extraordinary Life by Laurence Pringle