Butterfly Life Cycle
A WebQuest for 1st Grade Science
Designed by
Lori Weider
mrsweider@excite.com
Lincoln School, New Bedford, MA.
Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher
Introduction
Do you know where butterflies come
from?
In this WebQuest you and your partner will
learn about butterflies. You will use the Internet to see each of the 4
stages of the butterfly life cycle.
·
The egg
·
The caterpillar
·
The chrysalis
·
The butterfly
After listening to stories about
butterflies you and a partner will learn more about the butterfly life cycle by
visiting web sites to see the life cycle stages and different types of
butterflies to learn more about this insect.
Your job will be to complete a life cycle
poster, make art projects of the life cycle and write with your partner about
what you learned.
The Process
1. Your
teacher will ask students what they know about butterflies and read you some
great books about them before starting this webquest.
2. The
teacher will assign a partner for you to work with. It is important that you
work well together and share ideas.
3. You and
your partner will look at the webquest sites to see pictures of the life cycle
of the butterfly and different kinds of butterflies.
4. You and
your partner will find a poster of the 4 stages of the Painted lady Butterfly.
You will each print out and color the poster. The poster tells the correct
colors for each stage of this butterfly’s life cycle. The teacher or an older
student will give you directions.
5. You will
make art projects of the butterfly life cycle. These are an egg on a leaf, a
caterpillar, a butterfly that will emerge from its chrysalis and an adult
butterfly. The teacher will give you the materials and directions.
6. Discuss with
your partner what you have learned. Write 4 complete sentences about what you
learned.
Task #1
With your partner visit the following Web
Sites:
The
teacher or an older student will help you view the sites.
Where do
butterflies come from? Do butterflies grow up differently from people? Do
they change as they grow? Find the names of the 4 life stages of the butterfly.
This web page will be used for one of our crafts too!
Watch a Caterpillar Hatch
from its Egg! What do you see? What type of caterpillar is this?
Anise Swallowtail Butterfly
- View eggs, caterpillar, chrysalis, and the adult Anise Swallowtail butterfly.
Monarch
Butterfly – View the images of the four stages for this butterfly.
Color
a Butterfly life cycle poster Print out this poster and color it. The
teacher or an older student will give you directions. Follow the directions for
Painted lady butterfly colors.
Task
#2 Create your art projects:
· Eggs on a Leaf
MATERIALS
NEEDED:
Green
construction paper with a leaf drawn on it, crayons or markers, scissors, and
Q-Tips (the Q-Tip ends will be the eggs).
DIRECTIONS:
Cut
the leaf from the construction paper with scissors.
Draw
in the leaf veins (optional)
Glue
Q-Tip ends onto the leaf for eggs.
·
Egg Carton Caterpillars
MATERIALS NEEDED:
Egg cartons,
crayons or markers, scissors, and pipe cleaners. (Googly eyes are optional)
CATERPILLAR
DIRECTIONS:
Separate
4, 5, or 6 cups from an egg carton.
Using
the point of a scissors, an adult should make 2 small holes at one end for the
antennae.
Insert
pipe cleaners for the antennae.
Add
eyes, a mouth, and decorate.
· Butterfly Emerging from Chrysalis
MATERIALS
NEEDED:
Toilet-paper
tube
Tongue
depressor or ice cream pop stick
Butterfly
graphic printed on heavy paper (see Billy Bear
Butterflies and Bugs for images)
6"
(150 mm), piece of pipe cleaner, folded in half
Markers
or crayons
Scissors
and glue
DIRECTIONS:
- Cut out and color a butterfly image. Make both
halves look the same. The life cycle poster gives the colors for the
painted lady butterfly. Put a small hole at the top of the butterfly's
head.
- Color the toilet paper tube to look like a
chrysalis. (A monarch butterfly's chrysalis is green, the painted lady
chrysalis is reddish brown.)
- Take a piece of pipe cleaner and shape it like
the letter "V". Put one point through the little hole in the
butterfly's head and then twist it to look like antennae. Butterflies use
these "feelers" to learn about their environment.
- Glue the butterfly to one end of the tongue
depressor or pop stick. Let the glue dry.
- Curl the butterfly's wings and slide it into
the chrysalis.
- Pull the stick to make the beautiful butterfly
come out of the chrysalis. Fly your butterfly like a real one!
· The Adult Butterfly
MATERIALS NEEDED:
A butterfly image
that may be colored in. (see Billy Bear
Butterflies and Bugs for images)
Task
#3
1.
You have seen and learned a lot about butterflies.
Discuss what you learned with your
partner.
Do butterflies grow up differently from people?
How do these insects change as they grow?
How many stages do they have?
What do the stages look like?
We saw pictures of different kinds of butterflies. Do
they all look the same?
2. Write 4 sentences telling what you learned.
This
rubric will show how well you worked with your partner and completed each of
your tasks. The teacher will talk to you about how you did and give you ideas
about what you did best and how you might do better next time. You are in
school to learn and will want to do your best. The teacher will try to help
you.
Name______________________
|
|
Minimum Effort 1 |
Satisfactory 2 |
Excellent 3 |
Score |
|
My partner and I worked well
together. |
My partner and I could not get along and share ideas. |
My partner and I could get along and share ideas sometimes. |
My partner and I worked well together and shared our ideas. |
|
|
The butterfly stages |
My partner and I can not name the 4 stages of the butterfly. We don't know how they change as they grow. |
My partner and I can name some of the 4 stages of the butterfly. We know something about how they change as they grow. |
My partner and I can name all 4 stages of the butterfly. We know how butterflies change as they grow. |
|
|
The life cycle poster |
My partner and I did not complete the life cycle poster. |
My partner and I completed the life cycle poster but it had errors. |
My partner and I completed the life cycle poster correctly. |
|
|
Life cycle projects |
The projects were incomplete. |
_ |
The projects were completed correctly. |
|
|
My partner and wrote about what we learned. |
We had less than 3 sentences and our sentences were not complete. |
We had 4 sentences but they were not complete. |
We had 4 well written sentences. |
|
I hope you and your partner enjoyed
learning about butterflies. You worked hard and learned a lot about these
beautiful insects. Great job!
If you would like to learn more, you can
find the following books in our library:
Reading level: Preschool
A New Butterfly: My First Look at
Metamorphosis (My First Look at Nature) by Pamela Hickman, Heather Collins
(Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 4-8
Amazing World of Butterflies and Moths by Louis
Sabin, Jean Cassels Helmer (Illustrator)
Butterflies (All Aboard Reading, Level 1) by
Emily Neye, Ron Broda (Illustrator)
The Butterfly House by Eve Bunting, Greg
Shed (Illustrator)
Butterfly Story by Anca Hariton
From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah
Heiligmam Published by HarperCollins Publishers
Look...a Butterfly (Now I Know Series) by
David Cutts, Eulala Conner (Illustrator)
Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons Reading
level: Ages 4-8
Where Butterflies Grow (Picture Puffins) by
Joanne Ryder, Lynne Cherry (Illustrator)
Reading level: Ages 9-12
The Life Cycle of a Butterfly (The Life
Cycle Series) by Bobbie Kalman, Margaret Amy Reiach (Illustrator)
More Web Site Resources: (They may be used
to extend the webquest)
For fun, try Butterfly
math.
The Fascinating World of
Butterflies - This site has interesting facts about butterflies and great
photos.
Take A Closer Look! -
These images let you see butterflies in a very different way. These were
created using a scanning electron microscope.
What is
a Butterfly? - Lots of information about butterflies and moths.
Butterflies
of North America - Discover the butterfly species in your state.
Butterflies
for Kids - Butterfly information, printables, puzzles and a quiz to test
your knowledge.
Butterfly School - Learn
more about butterflies, their behaviors and how to build a butterfly house.
Billy Bear
Butterflies and Bugs – Butterfly activities, games, crafts and graphics.
Parts of a
Butterfly – This site shows the butterfly body parts.
The images of the caterpillar and butterfly in
the heading of this page came from the Thinking
Fountain Metamorphosis page.
The remaining images were
downloaded from Microsoft Design
Gallery Live
Watch a Caterpillar Hatch from its Egg!
Available April 2002
http://www.milkweedcafe.com/hatchingegg.htm
Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) life
cycle Available April 2002
http://www.aa6g.org/Butterflies/anise.html
Monarch Butterfly images from Billy Bear
Available April 2002
http://www.billybear4kids.com/butterfly/flutter-fun.html
The butterfly life cycle poster Available
April 2002
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/butterfly/activities/printouts/paintedladylifecycle.shtml
Egg Carton Caterpillar art project Available
April 2002
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/Eggcarton.shtml
Butterfly Emerging from Chrysalis art
project Available April 2002
http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/butterfly/index.html
Billy Bear Butterflies and Bugs – Butterfly
activities and graphics Available April 2002
http://www.billybear4kids.com/butterfly/flutter-fun.html
Last updated onMay 4, 2002. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page