The Butterflies Make Their Debut

The Vanessa Cardui butterflies finally arrived today, which was perfect timing since Lindsay and I's lesson was based on the parts of a butterfly.  The students were very excited and receptive to learning more about the insects that have been living in their classroom.  I was very impressed, during the introduction of the lesson, of how much information the 2nd graders remembered from last week's lesson. For example, one student said, "Caterpillars molt their skin a few times in order to create a chrysalis." This put a huge smile on my face. Hearing that assured me that Lindsay and I are are teaching our lessons in a meaningful way.  I believe part of our success can be attributed to the systematic way we have taught our lessons in.  Since we have created our own lessons, we have been able to start each one with a review, teach one new key concept, and then close by assessing whether students understood the key concept. We have focused on creating connections to prior knowledge, as well as connections to the students' lives.  So far from this experience, I have learned that it is more important to teach students concepts with quality lessons, rather than teach them a quantity of facts. 


In order to teach students about the parts of a butterfly and incorporate technology, which was one of the focus points of the lesson, Lindsay and I created a transparency to use on the overhead.  We had the students  work with us to label all of the parts of a butterfly on the board. This was a very visual activity, as well as an auditory one. We also used this instructional time, to have students make connections between the caterpillar parts they already learned, and the parts of a butterfly.  We taught them how some parts of the caterpillar has changed when it turned into a butterfly.  The students found the changes to be super interesting and they asked some very thoughtful questions, which Lindsay answered brilliantly.   This activity provided a review of the parts of a caterpillar as well as introduced the parts of a butterfly.  


During the next portion of our lesson, we incorporated writing.  We asked the students to observe their butterflies and draw what they saw; we also  had them write where they thought their butterfly was going to go once it was let free, and  what they thought their butterfly might do. I was awed to see that several students wrote that their butterflies were going to lay eggs on a mallow plant.  They already seemed to be grasping the idea of a life cycle.  I was surprised that they remembered most of the information we taught them a few weeks back about caterpillars being born from an egg, and the mallow plants they eat.  Having the students write about science was a good tool to assess whether they were grasping some of the big ideas we were teaching them.  It informed Lindsay and I what we should incorporate into our next lesson about the life cycle, and our one after that about migration.  Some students seemed to have a good hold on both concepts already, but others need more explicit instruction to gain a deeper understanding. I am already looking forward to next week! :)