Butterflies
Flutter through the last weeks of winter by exploring the science and beauty of the butterfly. Each of these activities meets a variety of state and national standards for technology and core subject areas.
Grades K-2
Read the class a book that covers the lifecycle of a butterfly, such as The Life Cycle of a Butterfly or The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Discuss with students the four stages of a butterfly’s life. Then have them use Visual Mapping software to diagram the butterfly’s life, from egg to caterpillar/larvae to pupa to butterfly. Students should draw pictures of each stage, use arrows to show the progression, and label each stage with the appropriate title.
EasyTech units: Visual Mapping Basics
Grades 3-5
Have students use the Web to research butterflies and then use Word Processing software to write a report about butterflies. The report should include information on lifecycles, habitats, parts of a butterfly, kinds of butterflies, and interesting facts. Encourage students to use headlines and to include graphics. Next, have students exchange their finished reports with a classmate and provide each other with feedback and suggestions, using review and editing tools.
EasyTech units: Web Browsing Basics, Word Processing Basics
Aha!Science units: Introduction to Life Science, Plant and Animal Biology
Grades 6-8
Split the class into four groups and assign each group one of the butterfly’s lifecycle phases. Have each group create a Web page about its assigned phase, including images and information. Groups should also include a link to “Next Phase” and “Previous Phase” on their pages (as appropriate for each phase). When finished, have the groups work together to link their pages to each other to create a Butterfly Lifecycle Web site, where clicking the links moves the user through the four phases.
EasyTech units: Web Browsing, Basic HTML
