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Elementary Lesson Plans - I have had increasing interest in Science Project Ideas on this website.
As a result I decided to write some Butterfly Lesson Plans.
These Free Lesson Plans are on the Butterfly Stages, specifically, the Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle.
It is fascinating to study the Monarch egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and butterfly. I am sure this will be a favorite of your students.
Teacher Lesson Plans
I have noticed that kids love butterflies...and especially the process of raising butterflies and observing the Butterfly Stages.
So, I did some research on writing lesson plans and got some input from my daughter who is a Elementary Ed major in college.
I wrote these Elementary Science Lesson Plans so you, as teachers, can share this fun, interesting topic with your students.
"Life Cycle of a Butterfly" Unit - Four Lessons
These Elementary Lesson Plans can be used as:
- Kindergarten Lesson Plans
- First grade Lesson Plans
- 2nd grade Lesson Plans
- 3rd grade Lesson Plans
If the lessons are used for grade 4 and higher, they would probably need to be expanded.
They could also work and easily be used or changed for Preschool Lesson Plans.
As Homeschool Lesson Plans they would be an interesting Science unit, where you could actually create a Butterfly Garden and raise Monarch Butterflies at home.
Raising Monarch Butterflies
Ideally your students would actually watch and observe the miraculous Monarch Butterfly Stages by Raising Monarchs IN the Classroom.
The problem is timing, though. The Monarch Butterflies don't arrive until late May or early June (here in Minnesota). Their life cycle takes place during summer months when school is not in session....except for a few places with year round school.
If you are in the Southern States where the Monarchs arrive earlier, April and on, you could possibly plant a butterfly garden or go to a "swampy" area and find some Common Milkweed, and get some Monarch Butterfly eggs or caterpillars to hatch in your classroom.
The other option is to buy a butterfly raising kit from a Science Supply store. Usually these include Painted Lady caterpillars which you can raise in your classroom. I think there are also some Monarch Butterfly raising kits, but I don't want to recommend them because I don't know anyone who has used them.
Personally, I find the Monarch Butterfly Stages most interesting and beautiful.
Make sure and give the parents of your students a link to this website so they can share the wonderful experience of Raising Butterflies with their kids at home this summer.
Resources for Butterfly Lesson Plans
I am going to try and put together a DVD slide show of my Butterfly Pictures on the Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly (and possibly some video) and make it available here. It would make a great teaching tool in the classroom to complement these Elementary Lesson Plans.
Please Contact Me if you would like to be notified when the slide show is ready and/or you might be interested in 8X10 photographs for a Bulletin Board of the Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly or as an aid with these Science Lesson Plans. Also, let me know if you have any other suggestions or ideas for this website.
So here we go exploring the miraculous Life Cycle of a Butterfly with your students.......
Lesson 1 - Monarch Egg
Lesson 2 - Monarch Caterpillar
Lesson 3 - Monarch Chrysalis
Lesson 4 - Monarch Butterfly
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