The Life Cycle of a Butterfly Lesson Plan

Synopsis: Students will learn about the life cycle of a butterfly

Time: 2 hours
Grade: 2nd
NGSS Standard: SC.2.L.16.1- Observe and describe major stages in
the life cycle of plants and animals, including beans and butterflies.
Clarification Statement: Students will observe the major life stages
of a butterfly.
Assessment Boundary: Students have not learned about the life
cycle of a butterfly before so they will not be going into real specifics,
but will focus on the different stages.
Students will look at a couple of pictures of butterflies in there different
stages. The teacher will also read to them a book called Butterfly Life
Cycle (Science Vocabulary Readers) by: Jeff Bauer and they will read
the Very Hungry Caterpillar. Students will also watch the Magic School
Bus: Butterfly and the Bog Beast. Students have learned the basics
about each part in the butterfly life cycle, now they are going to test
what they know. The class has also acquired a caterpillar so they can
look at observations. They now have learned a little bit about each
stage, but they havent had any real practice to make sure they know
what they are doing. This is a citizens science project by Scistarter.
This app covers monarch identification in all life stages of the
butterflies life cycle. This app collects information about Monarch
butterfly population and migration.

Students will be move around the room in their table groups to

different stations throughout the room.
There will be a table were they will cut out booklet of the cycle
and they will staple that together so they can remember the
cycle and they can color it
Another table will have a articles with more information about
butterflies
Another table will have our classroom Ipads were the students
will use the app Monarch SOS. This app is Citizen Science project
from Scistarter. This app They will look at the caterpillar that we
have had in our classroom and they will collect data about what
life cycle they believe it is in.
Students will look at pictures of different butterflies in the
different stages and they will compare it with the app to see
what stage the butterfly is in. The teacher will be sitting at this
station to make sure that they are making observations and
coming up with a conclusion when it comes to what life stage the

butterfly is in. Once they have decided which life cycle a picture
or what stage our classroom example is then they will write in
there journal what they observed and they will identify what
stage they believe it is, then they will draw a picture of the
example. The students will also take there weekly picture of the
class example, so they can see the progression the butterfly
goes through.