Welcome to the World of Butterflies!

You guys did such a wonderful job yesterday with your K-W-L Charts. I loved hearing about all of the things that you know about butterflies and what you would like to learn about them. Hopefully by the end of this month all of your butterfly questions will be answered.

By the end of this unit on butterflies you will be able to answer:

1. What do butterflies look like?
2. What do they eat?
3. Where do they live?
4. What are the stages of a butterfly's life cycle?

How are we going to learn all of this information on butterflies?

Everyday I will be reading big books to you on butterflies, you will be able to borrow books from the classroom library to research butterflies, we will watch videos on butterflies, you will go online and visit websites to learn more about this insect, we will observe the butterfly life cycle in our classroom when our butterfly eggs arrive, and we will do various other fun activities about the butterfly.

What do we have to do?

Everyone will be working with a partner to complete a life cycle poster on the butterfly, and to write an All About book on butterflies. I will let you know who your partner will be! It is very important that you work well with your partner and that you share ideas. You will be graded upon how well you work together.

You will also be responsible for filling out observation logs everyday when the butterfly eggs arrive. Everyday you will have to write what you see and draw a picture of what you see. I will collect these logs at the end of the month.

How do we create our life cycle posters?

It's up to you about how you create your posters. You and your partner can use paper and crayons to make your poster, or you can use the computer! It is all up to you. The most important thing is that you include all of the stages and in the right order (the egg-> the caterpillar-> the chrysalis->the butterfly).

Here is a link to a website that has great pictures that you can print out, color, and glue onto construction paper in order to make your posters:

http://www.billybear4kids.com/butterfly/colorbook.html

There are a lot more images online of the various stages of the life cycle that you can print out and color if you do not like how you draw. When we work on our posters, I will give you more possible websites to look at.

How do we create our All About books?

I will give you in class blank writing paper to write your All About books on. You will also get planning pages to help you write your books. During reading time, you will have time to research butterflies and take notes on them on your planning pages. Don't worry or get scared, we are going to work on these books together! I will show you how to write All About books, use your planning pages, and how to take notes when you research. Every All About book must have a cover, a table of contents page, a glossary page, and at least 4 pages with the headings: What do butterflies look like?, What do they eat?, Where do they live?, and a page describing their life cycles. You could write one page for each heading, or more if you wish. Every page must also have a drawing that relates to what the page is about. You must answer all of the questions and describe the life cycle in your books in order to get a good grade.

Questions You and Your All About Books Must Answer

• What do butterflies look like?
• Do all butterflies look the same?
  
• What do they eat?
• Where do they live?
• Do butterflies grow up differently from people?
• How do these bugs change as they grow?
• How many stages do butterflies have in their life cycles?
• What do the stages look like?

How will you be graded?

Here is the rubric for the Life Cycle Poster:

Butterfly Life Cycle Poster Rubric - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Butterfly Life Cycle Poster Rubric

Here is the rubric for your All About books:

Rubric for All About Books - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Rubric for All About Books

You will get a grade for the Life Cycle Poster, a grade for your All About books, as well as an overall grade of how you did throughout the whole unit.

Here is the rubric that I will use to evaluate how you did overall throughout the whole unit:

Overall Rubric - Upload a Document to Scribd

Read this document on Scribd: Overall Rubric

I am really excited to start this unit and I think we're going to have a lot of fun and learn a lot! Don't be scared, we are going to work through all of these projects together. As we start working on the writing projects, I will give you guys easier to read checklists than the rubrics. You will also get plenty of class time to work with your partners on the projects.

If you have any questions, please let me know either in class or on this blog.

Good luck with your projects and I know that you will do great!