Transcript The Case of the Missing Caterpillar: A First Look at the

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.