The Life Cycle of a Butterfly

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling

• Show pictures of real eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises, and butterflies to your students.
• Ask students to identify each.
• Read one of the following informational texts: Busy Butterflies or From Caterpillar to Butterfly.
• Pause throughout the read aloud to check for understanding about the concepts in the book.
• Model a think aloud that shows students how to make connections between the book and what you know about the topic of butterflies from your own life. For example, say, "One key detail I find interesting is that a caterpillar turns into a butterfly. A key detail is something the author tells us that connects with the topic of the text...which is the life cycle of a butterfly. I find this key detail interesting because I've seen a caterpillar before, and a butterfly, but I've never seen the caterpillar change to a butterfly! This also reminds me of one of my favorite books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle."
• Encourage students to think about their own connections to the text, using key details from the text to support their ideas.
• Ask student volunteers share their connections/ideas with the class.

Guided Practice

• Model to the class how to retell important details from the book. Discuss with the class what information is really important to remember, and what other details are not needed in this lesson.
• Jot down a few key details from the text (using words/phrases/illustrations) on the whiteboard and a few facts or ideas from the text that are not important to the main topic of the text.
• Have students think-pair-share which words/phrases/illustrations are key details and which are not. Encourage students to justify their reasoning, using their knowledge of key details to support their answers.

Independent working time

• Pass out the Life Cycle of a Butterfly worksheet and have students complete it independently.
• Instruct students to jot down the main topic on the back of their worksheet (e.g. the life cycle of a butterfly) and 2-3 key details (e.g. A butterfly starts as an egg or Caterpillars become butterflies.)