My students need the opportunity to explore the butterfly life cycle. These materials will provide us with caterpillars and the resources to learn hands-on about them!
Is it a worm? Is it a bug? Will it hurt me? These are all questions we have when we encounter a caterpillar. Do we ever think about what it will be in a few weeks? I use the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to help us see how important change can be to the butterfly and to us all!
We are a Title 1 school in Texas.
My class has embraced learning this year and has explored new things wholeheartedly. Some of my students live with grandparents due to parent's sad choices, some are learning English and have family in Mexico. Some live with single parents who are struggling to make ends meet while some live with both parents and have college educations. This last group is definitely the minority and are provided experiences beyond basic survival. They have been allowed extracurricular activities such as vacations, going to museums or simply getting out of our county. Therefore, I need to enhance these students' experiences while providing new ones for the children of the previous categories. Learning about our natural world provides opportunities to protect and appreciate it as well as memorable events they can utilize later.
My Project
With these resources I am requesting, I will have a habitat to observe butterflies, possibly grow food for certain caterpillars and other insects. We will also be able to view other parts of our world where the butterflies migrate to and live. The live larvae will provide a life cycle experience for the painted lady butterfly and the stages of the metamorphosis. The cards and teacher's resource will help me plan lessons and other hands-on activities to make this more meaningful to each student.
The first time I watched a caterpillar go through the life cycle I was fascinated!
As an adult all I wanted to do was sit and watch the caterpillars in our container then waited with anticipation for it to emerge into a butterfly. I have been thrilled with each new butterfly we have released. The kids have rushed into the classroom to check on "the babies" and take ownership of their care. This is why this project and these resources will be so helpful to our class!
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Coleman and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
