Hide a Butterfly
Grades PreschoolK
Written by Jean C. Echols
This unit opens with a metaphoric wide-angle lens, creating
and populating a mural meadow in which paper animals will gradually
tell the stories of camouflage, predator/prey, and survival
behavior in the real outdoors.
Making camouflaged butterflies, hungry birds, and a meadow
of flowers to enact The Butterfly Play, students learn several
basic conceptsabout protective coloration, parts of a
flower, and strategies employed by both hunters and the hunted
in a real meadow. There is ample opportunity for students to
talk about small animals they've seen in real grass-and-flower
environments.
The GEMS guide Buzzing a Hive,
with many parallel activities focusing on bees, makes an excellent
extension to this unit. Information is also provided on The
Life Cycle of Butterflies, a teacher's guide and wonderful
corollary unit from the National Sciences Resources Center.
Time: Three 20- to 60-minute sessions. Comment
on this GEMS unit.
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What materials are needed to present this unit? See the full list. |