Butterfly Life Cycle: Biography of a Caterpillar

Students write a biography of a caterpillar using appropriate vocabulary and time lines.

Materials:

• Chart Paper for K-W-L
• Story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle and other non-fiction titles about the topic.
• Caterpillar eggs, appropriate environment for development of caterpillars, specific food for type of caterpillar.
• Magnifying glasses and observation journals.

Lesson Plan:

1. Students dictate what they already know about caterpillars to establish prior knowledge. The information they give is charted.
2. Students then dictate what they want to learn about caterpillars. This provides a purpose and motivation for learning. This information is also charted on the K-W-L (What I know, What I want to find out, What I learned) chart and referred to throughout the unit.
3. Students listen to stories, fictional and non-fictional, about caterpillars and their life cycles.
4. At the same time, students begin to observe caterpillar larvae in the classroom and record their observations in an observation journal.
5. Students use a variety of resources to obtain information about the development of their “pets” including books, dictionaries, and of course, the Internet.
6. Finally, students dictate what they learned to complete the K-W-L chart and use the information to write “biographies” of the lives of the animals they raised.