Butterflies and Bloom's Taxonomy - Inquiry Unlimited practitioner formerly sited at Boston KidWeb at Joseph Lee School, Boston, MA
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Butterfly Curiosities
from Inquiry Unlimited
Butterflies and Monarch Butterflies (Danaus Plexippus)
Use non-fiction books and fiction book, poems, songs, encyclopedias, dictionaries,
and handouts as resources to complete ___ of the following activities.
KNOWLEDGE, COMPREHENSION:
(Use a variety of informational gathering resources)
1. Collect vocabulary words related to monarch butterflies including their body parts,
life cycle, food, and relationship in their ecosystem.
2. Read the non-fiction and fiction ("Butterfly Garden") books to gather information.
3. Observe the soft metamorphosis butterfly manipulative to be aware of the cycles
of butterfly life.
4. Observe pictures and three-dimensional butterfly objects.
APPLICATION:
(Student products: diary; puzzle; diagrams; dioramas; maps; models; illustrations)
1. Sketch a butterfly. Label the body parts.
2. Using "Butterfly: A Lesson In Symmetry," sketch the same pattern to the second
wing in a symmetrical pattern.
3. Interview a butterfly asking questions so that the answers will reveal the use
and purpose of the butterfly's proboscis, antennae, and scales.
4. Sketch each phase in the life of a butterfly in its natural environment.
5. In chapter book format, relate the life of a butterfly in its natural environment.
6. Compare a monarch butterfly to another butterfly using a Venn diagram.
7. In the first person, as if you were the future Monarch butterfly, describe each
phase of your life cycle, what you would be doing at that time, and any enemies or adventures
you might factually experience.
8. Report the daily activities of a caterpillar in an original song, poem, or rap.
9. Report the daily activities of a female, Monarch butterfly in an original song,
poem, or rap.
10. Organize the sequence of the butterfly in the "cut and paste" "Life Cycle of
a Butterfly"
11. On a map of the USA, using a book which has the migratory path of Monarch butterflies, chart the monarch's migration from Boston, MA through Texas toward Mexico. [Optional extension: Compute the mileage and total it.]
12. Using the Underground Weather online site, record the daily temperatures in a
list for the sites visited by the monarchs along their way to Mexico. (Optional synthesis extension: graph the temperatures)
13. Using the Highway Map across the United States in your Rand McNally Classroom
Atlas on pages 30-31, plan two different flight routes for your Monarch butterfly
as if it was flying over National Interstate Highways and U. S. Highways to Monterrey, Mexico.
14. As part of the "Send a Symbolic Butterfly to Mexico," design a Monarch butterfly
on 8-1/2 x 11 paper which is factually accurate in appearance. Tag the butterfly
with your name, school name and address, and a brief message in Spanish to the Mexican child that will care for your butterfly during our winter months.
ANALYSIS:
(Student products include: graphs, surveys, questionnaires; reports; diagrams; commercials)
1. Create a Venn diagram which compares and contrasts a moth and a butterfly.
2. Observe the Journey North survey information about the migration patterns of
the Monarch butterflies. Create a chart of prospective states you hypothesize the butterflies will fly through. Keep a tally. (Synthesis Extension: predict what will occur)
SYNTHESIS:
(Student products include: Stories; poems; plays; songs; cartoons; news articles;
new games;
puppet shows; TV, radio shows; inventions; recipes)
1. Using the "Butterfly Finger Puppets," create a skit about one or a few Monarch
butterflies.
2. With a partner, quietly sing "The Life of a Butterfly" (to the tune of "Eensy
Weensy Spider").
Create a web of the factual information used in the song.
3. With a partner, plan a creative drama demonstration of the life of a caterpillar
as one of you
reads aloud, "Fuzzy Little Caterpillar" and the other dramatizes it.
4. Create/draw a new species of butterfly explaining where it lives, what it eats,
and what its
enemies are.
5. Using your collected vocabulary words, create a caterpillar jigsaw puzzle. (Or
a butterfly
jigsaw puzzle)
6. Using your collected vocabulary words, design a butterfly word search puzzle
using your
vocabulary words. (Use the online program)
7. Using your collected vocabulary words, design a butterfly crossword puzzle.
8. Create an acrostic poem about a Monarch butterfly.
9. Design a "Butterfly" card game similar to "Fish" or "Lotto." Organize the rules
to include
your target age; the purpose of the game; the number of players; how to begin
the play; how
to keep score. After your card game has been approved, using blank index cards,
complete
the card game.
10. Using your collected vocabulary words, design and play a "Butterfly Jeopardy"
game.
11. Compose a song about a butterfly based on a well-known melody.
12. Using facts you have gathered about butterflies, design a board game about a
Monarch's
migration across the United States. Organize the rules to include your target
age; the purpose
of the game; the number of players; how to begin the play; how to keep score;
player moving
pieces. After your game has been approved, create the actual game on the board.
15. Predict what would happen to the migrating Monarchs if the oyamel trees in Mexico
burned
or were destroyed in some way.
16. Imagine you are a butterfly super hero. Create a comic book story about an incident
where
you survived to save yourself of other butterflies.
17. Invent the perfect butterfly feeder. Before you begin, ask Miss Duby to tell
you about
Rube Goldberg inventions. Sketch your feeder it. In your explanation of how
it works,
explain why it is the perfect butterfly feeder.
EVALUATION:
(Student products include: letters; group discussions; surveys; court trials; panels;
recommendations; news items; conclusions; self-evaluation; values)
1. In an editorial, use 2-3 paragraphs to persuade people of the need to plant butterfly
gardens on their property.
2. In a letter to the Franklin Park Zoo, recommend your reasons for them to continue
the Butterfly Landing exhibit.
[ Looney Lobster | Revolutionary Period | "Insect Matching Quiz" | Class webpage was sited at http://lee.boston.k12.ma.us/d4/d4.html
Last modified: September 19, 2005
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