Lesson Summary In the first lesson students will get an introduction to the Life Cycle of Butterflies unit.  Students look forward to the arrival of their caterpillars.  Students brainstorm what they already know about caterpillars and they ask related questions.  After brainstorming these ideas on a class chart, students are then asked to draw a picture of what they think a caterpillar looks like.  On another sheet of paper students are asked to draw how they think a caterpillar changes during its life.  These drawings can be used as a pre-assessment to assess what students already know about caterpillars.  The teacher and students also use these drawings at the end of the unit, following Lesson 16, to help assess student growth and understanding. Teacher Background The Life Cycle of Butterflies is designed to be a 4- to 6-week, 16-lesson unit. In Lessons 1-8, students study the caterpillar and chrysalis stages In Lessons 9-12, students focus on the adult stage. In Lessons 13-15, students concentrate on the life cycle concept. In Lesson 16, students revisit their initial thoughts concerning caterpillars. The Painted Lady butterfly is the most widely used classroom butterfly.  It can be found on almost every continent.  Painted Lady butterflies eat some common plant foods like: mallow, thistle, plantain, and dandelion.  During the course of this unit, students will witness complete metamorphosis as they will get to watch the complete life cycle of a painted lady butterfly consisting of four stages: the egg, the caterpillar or larva, the chrysalis or pupa stage, and butterfly or adult stage. Set-up/Management Tips Order caterpillars at least 20 days prior to beginning unit.  Ordering information including phone numbers and website address are in the kit. Prepare student journals and any other paper material you’ll be using.  Become familiar with all material in the kit so that you’re ready to begin the unit as soon as caterpillars arrive. Read the whole manual in advance as some lessons may need to be taught out of order.  This is a “flexible” unit and there can be a lot of “in the moment” and/or “on the spot” teaching as you or your students see changes occurring among the caterpillars and butterflies. You will not be releasing the butterflies at the end of this unit like the manual suggests.  Please see teacher’s manual and kit for more information.  Accept all student ideas when recording what they know and would like to learn about caterpillars.  These charts are valuable in providing pre-unit assessment information and are useful for comparison in post-unit assessment. The caterpillar drawing is an important pre-assessment tool.  It is a good idea to save this drawing and compare it side by side with their post-assessment drawing for comparison and to help illustrate to students how much they have learned. Literacy Support There are currently no VAST Mediagraphies listed for this unit.  There are a number of great nonfiction titles about butterflies and caterpillars available.  Check with your school’s media center and/or local library about books and movies, which will relate to the learning associated with this unit.  There are also some videos that could be used with this unit that would fit in after many of the butterfly lessons (any lesson after Lesson 10). The Magic School Bus: Butterfly and the Bog Beast Eyewitness Video Series: Butterflies and Moths GWAEA also offers a number of videos related to this unit. Scientific Vocabulary The following words are key vocabulary words that will be introduced in this lesson and reinforced throughout the unit: caterpillar Painted Lady butterfly