Poetry and Painting and Butterflies, Oh My!

I know many of you are on Spring break this week 

and I hope you're enjoying some time resting and relaxing! 

Our spring life cycle study continues and over the 

next few weeks we'll be raising butterflies, learning about 

the life cycle of frogs and writing poetry!

These little guys sure eat a lot and grow QUICKLY!

We used the little journal that came with our 

caterpillars to record their daily change and growth.

While learning about pollination and the part that insects 

play in the life cycle of plants I came across this fun activity

 on one of my all-time very favorite blogs 

Hope King's Second Grade Shenanigans.

Hope has so many great ideas and this one is perfect 

for illustrating how butterflies and other insects help 

pollinate a plant and continue its life cycle.  

Each student had a juice box, Cheetos, and a die cut flower.  

The bright colors and smell attracts the butterfly to a flower 

and students chose the flower color that most appealed to them! 

 As my little butterflies landed on their flowers they used their 

proboscis to drink a little of the nectar in their (juice box) flower. 

 Their tiny little butterfly feet (their hands) picked up pollen 

(by touching their Cheetos). 

Next, our butterflies flew around the room and touched all 

of the other flowers which transferred their pollen 

to each bloom they "landed" on.

Visit this post to see more of our butterfly learning labs.

Last year we made this Butterfly Life Cycle On A String 

writing craft for students to write what they have learned 

about each stage of a butterfly's life cycle.

This year we'll be making the Frog Life Cycle version.

We used beads, chenille sticks and paper to show each stage 

then students wrote about each life cycle stage on leaves.   

We attached these in order onto a piece of yarn and tucked them 

into the leaf pocket where the butterfly

lays its eggs and the life cycle begins again.

Butterfly Life Cycle-On-A-String

We tied in our poetry unit by writing haiku and 

acrostic poems about butterflies.

I added a little challenge to this by telling students that while 

they were writing poetry and creating a mental picture about 

a butterfly they could not actually use the word 'butterfly'.

Students used their journals to work out their poems before 

writing their final drafts.

We used watercolors to illustrate our poems.

We also wrote acrostic poems and used this format to tell a story. 

I reminded students that each sentence did not need to begin 

with the given letter but rather to tell a story 

using the letters to guide them.  

For more butterfly life cycle activities, learning lab ideas, 

and free printables visit this post.

Click here to see how we turned our hallway into a 

life cycle garden for our spring open house! 

Be sure to find the free Butterfly Kids writing craft templates 

while you're there!