Jane Horstmann
Jackson Mann Elementary School 3rd Grade
Life Cycles
November 2007
Ms. Mary Francis McAuliffe
Science
Content Area: I will be covering the life cycles of various animals. I will give a
description of what a life cycle is and then talk about different examples. I will focus
specifically on butterflies, frogs and beetles.
Topic: Students will learn that some animals experience life cycles. They will discuss
three specific animals that do, and the various occurrences at each phase of the life cycle.
They will understand the environment that the changes occur in, and the different names
for each stage of the cycle. The students will also work on navigating a website, using
their creativity to explain the life cycle, and using technology for learning.
Goals: Students should understand why some animals experience life cycles and others
do not. Students will also be able to visualize and understand each stage of the cycle.
Students will navigate websites with ease, and understand that they can revisit the site for
more information and links to other sites on the topic.
Objectives:
My students will be able to navigate a website.
My students will be able to answer all the questions on a quiz about the life cycles
covered on the website.
My students will be able to discuss animals that have life cycles.
My students will be able to define activity at various phases of a specific animal’s life
cycle.
My students will be able to see a picture of a phase of a life cycle and identify it.
My students will be able to draw the life cycle of an animal.
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Technology, Materials, and Aids: I will need a computer that is linked to a projector or
Smartboard. It would be nice if each student had a computer to individually explore the
website. If this is not possible, it is not necessary or the students could share computers.
Procedures/methods:
Overview: Students will be asked to navigate the website along with the teacher.
The website will be used to provide definitions, video and pictures to aide the
students in their understand of the life cycles of animals. The students will
participate in discussion, an art activity and a concluding quiz to review the
material. The quiz will be provided on the site with answers so the students and
teachers can gauge how well they understand the material.
Introduction: I will present a series of questions to students to help them
consider different life cycles. They will be asked about caterpillars, mealworms
and if anyone they know has grown tadpoles. I will ask them if they have seen the
animals we are discussing. The children have plenty to talk about so this should
get the conversation about life cycles started.
Activities: The students and I will both use the website I have created as a source
of information and interaction. We will first cover what they think a life cycle
might be. We will cover other words that they know that might relate to it like a
bicycle, the water cycle, and a circle. After they come to a conclusion about what
it could be, we will all open the website’s homepage and review the definition.
We will move on to different specimens that have life cycles.
Each page covering different life cycles will include pictures and a flow
chart explaining the cycle. There will be definitions of each phase in the cycle.
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We will think about what happens after you plant a seed. Some students will be
asked to tell about their experience growing flowers or grass. Then we will
review the life cycle of plants. Pictures on the website will help the students
visualize each stage of the cycle. The students will watch a video of a butterfly
and a frog going through its life cycle. The students will be asked to draw a
picture of the life cycle or either a butterfly, frog or beetle.
As a class we will take the quiz on the website to review the information
and ensure that the students understood the concepts, especially the definitions of
different phases that were covered during class and on the site.
Follow-up: I have a homework assignment prepared for the students, but the
teacher can choose if she wants to give it to them. It will be a worksheet that
contains fill in the blank questions with a word bank and a matching section in
which students match animals to different phases of their life cycle.
Technology Frameworks:
1.7 Collaborate with classmates to use teacher-selected Web sites.
2.1 Follow classroom rules for responsible use of computers.
2.4 Develop understanding of how the computer is a tool for learning.
Assessment:
Simple Understanding – Knowledge and Skill based
The students will know and understand the life cycle of a butterfly, frog and beetle. They
will be able to apply this knowledge in discussion and class work.
Goal Level of Expertise:
Cognitive - Knowledge, Comprehension and Application
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Students should be able to understand the life cycles of beetles, butterflies and
frogs. They should know how each animal changes from one form to another.
For instance how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, how a tadpole becomes a frog
and how a grub becomes a beetle. They should also be able to identify other
animals or plants that undergo life cycles, and what different stages of the life
cycle may be.
Affective - Receiving and Responding
Students should participate in navigating and exploring the website on their own.
They should engage in discussion guided by the teacher during class. Also, they
should be able to complete the quiz and the art handout (drawing a life cycle of an
animal) individually.
Skill-Based Goals – Mechanism
Students should be able to answer the quiz correctly and confidently. If they are
unsure, they should be able to reason through the answers to choose the best
option.
Quiz
1. Who or what experiences a life cycle?
a. Plants
b. Insects
c. Fish
d. All of the above (Correct)
2. Which animals go through the stages of egg, larva, pupa, and adult?
a. Frogs
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b. Frogs and Beetles
c. Beetles and Butterflies (Correct)
d. Frogs, Beetles and Butterflies
3. At which phase does a beetle grow wings?
a. Egg
b. Larva
c. Pupa (Correct)
d. Adult
4. Which phase of the frog’s life cycle is pictured below?
a. Egg
b. Tadpole (Correct)
c. Metamorphosis
d. Adult
5. What happens at the larva stage of a butterfly’s life cycle?
a. It is a caterpillar, and eats lots of food. (Correct)
b. It is a butterfly, and can fly.
c. It is inside of a chrysalis.
d. It grows wings and antennae.
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