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.

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Last modified: September 19, 2005
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