Kings Park Elementary

Kings Park Elementary

Butterflies

Butterflies, Butterflies, Butterflies

When the butterfly kits came in, it was time to observe "real butterflies".
	When the caterpillar larva arrived, they were tiny but they quickly grew and were easily observable in petrie dishes.
Once the caterpillars were big enough, they climbed up to the top of the cage and formed their chrysalis.	All of sudden it seemed like they became butterflies.
	Students chose a state and then found a butterfly that lived in that state. A homework assignment gave them all the directions they needed to fill in a data retrieval chart about their butterfly. Then from that data retrieval chart, they created a report and a model which they shared with the class and put in the museum hall.
Some of the projects:	Students also worked on cinquains and realistic fiction stories in the classroom.
In art class, positive and negative space was used to create butterfly pictures and students also learned about printing.
Students read books about butterflies and created fold books to show what they knew about the butterfly life cycle.	Some students shared butterfly items at show and tell. Others brought in articles from the newspaper.
Small Groups:
Claymation: This group created two Claymation movies about the life cycle of the butterfly.	Class Photographers: These folks recorded all the activities that went on during the unit. They used digital cameras and had to write down each shot in their log.
PowerPoint: A group of students took the pictures from the photographers and organized them into categories. Then they wrote a storyboard for their presentation and put it together. They also narrated the show at the museum's Grand Opening.	Videographers: These students used the video camera to capture butterfly facts from each student in the class. They worked with an adult to edit the video and put it into one continuous video. The video was shown at the end of the museum Grand Opening.
Website Group: Six students created a butterfly life cycle website.
All students visited the computer lab to illustrate the parts of the butterfly and its life cycle.	They also created an invitation to the Butterfly Museum Grand Opening for their parents.
Grand Opening of the Butterfly Museum	The day of the Grand Opening started out with guests and students gathered in the Media Center to view the PowerPoint presentation of the highlights from the unit.
Next, parents visited the different halls to look at the exhibits.
Poems displayed in classroom	Digital photos taken by photographers.
Refreshments
Finally, it was time to release the classroom butterflies. Some wanted to stick around.

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Page created by Brooks Widmaier
April 14, 2002

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