The Case of the Missing Caterpillar:

A First Look at the Life Cycle of a Butterfly

By Sam Godwin Illustrated by Simone Abel Book review 1

Summary
The story explores the life cycle of a butterfly through dialogue among other insects about what is happening at each stage of the life cycle. The book breaks down each stage and illustrates it well to make it easy for young students to understand.

Summary (continued)
The illustrations are big and colorful, and interesting to look at. A great book for introducing the life cycle of a butterfly. Appropriate for ages 4-8

Summary (continued)
One aspect of the book I really liked was that it had a picture of the life cycle in the back of the book; as well as important words with definitions, fun facts, and ways to learn more from other books and on the internet.

First Grade GPS

S1L1. Students will investigate the characteristics and basic needs of plants and animals.
b. Identify the basic needs of an animal.
1. Air 2. Water 3. Food 4. Shelter

d. Compare and describe various animals appearance, motion, growth, basic needs.

GPS Continued
S1CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly.
a. Describe and compare things in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion. b. Draw pictures (grade level appropriate) that correctly portray features of the thing being described. c. Use simple pictographs and bar graphs to communicate data.

Activity to Support GPS and Book

Introduction:
Show the students pictures of butterflies. Ask students what they know about a butterfly. Begin a K-W-L chart. Read the book The Case of the Missing Caterpillar: A First Look at the Life Cycle of a Butterfly. Watch a mini-movie on butterflies C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Videos\ECED 7260 lifecycle lesson.MSWMM

Activity
Walk students through the different stages of a butterfly life cycle. Students will break into groups of 2 or 3. Each group will get a caterpillar and leaves. Students will predict how many leaves a caterpillar will eat, and discover how much a caterpillar eats before turning into a pupa. Over the course of a week, students will observe and take data of how many leaves are eaten each day by using a graph. C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\How Much Does a Caterpillar Eat.doc

Activity
Each day students will review the lifecycle of a butterfly, and take data using a picture graph of how many leaves are eaten by their caterpillar.

We will discuss their finding as a class at the end of the week.

Activity
Lesson Closing:
Complete the K-W-L chart as a class, and discuss what they discovered about caterpillars. Review the lifecycle of a butterfly.

Activity
Student evaluation:
Students will create a mini-book about the lifecycle of a butterfly:
Creating their own character name for their caterpillar Discussing what it looks like and what it does at different stages. Both write about and illustrate each stage.

Copyright
Godwin, S. (2005). The Case of the

Missing Caterpillar A First Look at the Lifecycle of a Butterfly. Minneapolis,

Minnesota: Window Picture Books.

References
Lesson 2, Data Collection. How Much Do Caterpillars Eat in One Day? (2000). Monarchs in the Classroom. ProTeacher. http://www.proteacher.com/cgibin/outsidesite.cgi?id=11964&external=ht tp://www.monarchlab.umn.edu/Teachers/r esearchideas.html#Lesson%20Plans&ori ginal=http://www.proteacher.com/110012. shtml&title=Monarchs%20in%20the%20Cl assroom.