BUTTERFLIES
Literature Focus Unit
EDU 315
Kirsten Welk
LITERATURE SELECTION
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The Big Butterfly Book by Susanne Santoro Whayne
Becoming Butterflies by Anne Rockwell
Butterfly Count by Sneed B. Collard III
Butterflies (Animal World) by Donna Bailey
Butterflies (First Discovery Book) by Gallimard Jeunesse
Butterflies: Monarchs, Moths, &More – Up Close and Unexpected by Joni Phelps Hunt
Butterflies for Kids (Wildlife for Kids Series) by E. Jaediker Norsgaard
Butterfly House by Eve Bunting
Butterfly Hunt by Yoshi
Caterpillar Caterpillar by Vivian French
Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom Deluise
Caterpillar to Butterfly by Oliver Owen
The Magic School Bus: Butterfly and Dog Beast: A Book About Butterfly Camouflage by Nancy E. Krulik
Monarch Butterflies: Mysterious Travelers by Bianca Lavies
The Butterfly: A Circular Pop-Up Book by David Hawcook
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The Little Butterfly by Sherry Shanan
The Swallowtail Butterfly by Hidekazu Kubu
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
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Flutterfly Butterflies by Sonja Lamut
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THEME STUDY
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Students will take part in a thematic unit on
butterflies. This unit will integrate reading and
writing with social studies, science, mathematics,
art, music, and physical education.
Students will develop a better understanding
about different types of butterflies, their life
cycle, their environment and also terms that go
along with butterflies.
LANGUAGE ARTS: READING ACTIVITIES
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Students will read various fiction and non-fiction
books about butterflies using a variety of reading
styles.
Students will read instructions on how to properly
care for their caterpillars/butterflies.
Students will read butterfly poetry.
Students will share their descriptions of butterflies.
Students will share their butterfly stories.
Teacher reads aloud the book The Very Hungry
Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Teacher reads aloud the book Butterfly House by Eve
Bunting.
Students will read the butterfly terms from the word
wall.
LANGUAGE ARTS: WRITING ACTIVITIES
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Students will write a short story about a
butterfly.
Students will write about how a caterpillar
becomes a butterfly.
Students will add butterfly terms to the word
wall.
Students will describe many different butterflies
and choose their favorite.
Students will journal daily about the
caterpillar/butterfly in the classroom.
LANGUAGE ARTS: SPEAKING ACTIVITIES
Students will participate in a game of “I Spy”
using the butterfly terms on the word wall.
 Students will participate in small group
discussions about their favorite type of butterfly.
 Students will use the author chair to read their
butterfly story aloud.
 Students will participate in a class discussion on
the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric
Carle.
 Students will talk about the life stages of a
butterfly.
 Students will act out the story The Very Hungry
Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
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LANGUAGE ARTS: LISTENING ACTIVITIES
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Students will listen respectfully as classmates
share their butterfly descriptions and stories.
Students will listen as the teacher reads the
books aloud.
Students will listen as the teacher discusses the
different types of butterflies and the life cycles of
butterflies.
Students will listen to their peers opinions and
ideas during class discussions.
LANGUAGE ARTS: VIEWING ACTIVITIES
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Students will view different types of butterflies.
Students will view the life cycle process of a butterfly.
Students will view photographs of butterflies.
Students will view the butterfly art.
Students will view the butterfly word wall.
Students will view pictures of the different life cycle
stages of a butterfly.
Students will watch a National Geographic Video on
Monarch Butterflies.
Students will view the following websites:
www.kidsbutterfly.org and www.thebutterflysite.com
LANGUAGE ARTS: VISUALLY
REPRESENTING ACTIVITIES
Students will draw pictures of butterflies.
 Students will take pictures of the classroom
caterpillar and butterfly to show the changes.
 Students will create a butterfly word wall.
 Students will divide the paper into four different
sections and use pasta to show the life cycle of a
butterfly. (Rice=eggs, Bite-size
lasagna=Caterpillar, shells=chrysalis, bow-tie=
butterfly)
 Students will draw pictures of a caterpillar’s life
cycle from beginning to end.
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SCIENCE ACTIVITIES
 Students
will investigate the different
parts of a butterfly.
 Students will observe a butterflies life
cycle in class with the class caterpillar.
 Students will learn about the
environment and eating pattern of a
butterfly as they care for the one in the
classroom.
 Students will investigate why butterflies
are important to the environment.
MATHEMATICS ACTIVITIES
Students will measure the length of caterpillars
and compare sizes.
 Students will sort fake butterflies by size and
color.
 Students will measure the temperature of the
environment that the caterpillars are living in.
 Students will chart the growth of the caterpillar
each day and figure out how much the caterpillar
grew each day.
 Students will take a survey on favorite butterflies
and will graph the results.
 Students will find the line of symmetry on
butterflies.
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SOCIAL STUDIES ACTIVITIES
Students will map out where different types of
butterflies live on a map. They will identify
where most of the butterflies live.
 Students will learn about the migration of the
Monarch Butterfly.
 A worker from the zoo will come in to talk about
butterflies.
 Fieldtrip to the zoo.
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MUSIC AND ART ACTIVITIES
 Students
will create a coffee filter butterfly.
 Students will create butterfly wings.
 Students will listen to butterfly songs.
 Students will create a butterfly using their feet.
 Students will decorate the lifecycle project they
created.
 Students will make flying butterflies.
 Students will make edible caterpillars.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION ACTIVITIES
Students participate in a scavenger hunt looking
for different items that pertain to butterflies.
 Students act as caterpillars, wrap them with
toilet paper (represents chrysalis) then have
them spread their wings and “break free”.
 Students practice different butterfly/caterpillar
movements.
 Students will perform a relay performing certain
“butterfly” skills such as moving like a caterpillar
or butterfly.
 Students will go on a nature walk to look for
different butterflies or caterpillars.
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TECHNOLOGY
www.kidsbutterfly.org
 www.thebutterflysite.com
 http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/instructor/
monarchs.htm
 National Geographic Video on Monarch
Butterflies
 Eyewitness Butterfly and Moth Video
 The Very Hungry Caterpillar Video
 The Magic School Bus Video Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!
 Digital Photography
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LANGUAGE ARTS STRATEGIES
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Activating Background Knowledge: Students will think
about what they already know about butterflies.
Brainstorming: Students will think of many ideas related
to butterflies through different writing activities.
Connecting: Students will connect butterflies to
themselves, the world around them, and literature by
writing.
Monitoring: Students keep track of their understanding or
success through many different activities.
Predicting: Students anticipate events in stories we read.
Questioning: Students ask questions about butterflies to
clarify or expand meaning.
Summarizing: Students pick out the big ideas about
butterflies to remember.
LANGUAGE ARTS SKILLS
Print: Students will recognize words on the word
wall.
 Comprehension: Students will compare and
contrast different butterflies.
 Language: Students will use proper sentence
structure in their writing assignments.
 Reference: Students will graph data collected on
butterflies.
 Study: Students will follow simple directions
pertaining to different projects.
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GROUPING PATTERNS
Large Group: large group conversations, reading
books, butterfly games, word wall, class survey,
mapping where butterflies live, scavenger hunt, relay
race, nature walk
 Small Group: small group discussions, taking pictures,
measuring caterpillars, measuring temperature,
caterpillar movement activity, graphing data
 Individual: reading stories, writing stories and
descriptions, journaling, drawing butterflies, creating
the life cycle of a butterfly, art projects
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ASSESSMENTS
Portfolio of work: artwork, graphs, science
experiments and different writing assignments
 Participation in group conversations
 Checklist of the butterfly unit
 Informal observation of small group discussions
 Journal Entries and KWL Chart: Rubric
 Analytic Writing Traits Rubric for stories
 Checklist for Science Journals
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