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aising butterflies in the classroom provides your students with many unique learning opportunities. The Earth's Birthday Activity Kit is designed to give you everything you need to make the most of this wonderful experience.
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Minds-on Activities for a Hands-on Experience
This 48-page booklet contains seven activity units with over 40 activities and reproducible pages. Approached as a whole, they will take your students on an exciting journey from wonder to discovery to knowledge.
In addition, this Kit provides lots of opportunities for your students to develop practical math and science skills, while having fun at the same time.
Raising Butterflies as a School
We recognize that many of you raise
and release butterflies as a school-wide project. That's great! If a lot of teachers
are participating, you may want to get together and talk about which activities each grade level is doing. That way,
students can do this project from year
to year, and always encounter new
materials. There are also a lot of ideas inside for collaboration between younger and older students. Have fun! |
Three Simple Steps for Learning
1. Begin by asking
questions, and
getting curious!
2. Fill your classroom with butterfly
discoveries through observation, games, journals, and
outdoor activities.
3. Celebrate the completion of
your project by releasing your butterflies as a special gift to the Earth!
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The Earth's Birthday Activity Kit is Easy to Use!
- Age specific adaptations.
Whether you teach pre-school or sixth grade, we hope you enjoy the activities as they are written, or modify them just for your class and grade level. There's something inside for everyone! Age specific adaptations are explained at the end of each activity.
- Click Here for Answer Keys for teachers.
- Ideas for evaluating learning.
- Icon helpers included.
The icons below are used throughout the Activity Kit to
indicate which areas of learning each activity is addressing. Watch for them in the side margins of each page. Learning categories are also listed at the beginning of each activity.
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Raising and Releasing Painted Ladies Works for
Schools and the Environment - Here's Why:
- A Native Species - Painted Lady Butterflies are indigenous to all 50 states, meaning that they are at home wherever they are released! Creating butterfly habitat at your school will help them feel even more at home.
- Respect for the Natural Cycle - The Painted Lady Butterfly Project is available to schools only in the springtime, when butterflies are naturally part of the environment.
- Environmental Education - The significant learning that takes place around this activity broadens children's understanding of and care for natural systems. This understanding will benefit our Earth for years to come.
- Limited Releases - Most classrooms release
only a few butterflies, not enough to significantly impact the population of a given region.
- Painted Ladies are Friends, not Pests - Painted Lady caterpillars eat plants like thistle, nettle, and malva, which are considered weeds. The butterflies pollinate flowers, provide food for birds, and add life to your schoolyard.
- A Great Supplier - Carolina Biological Supply Company, which provides the Painted Lady Butterflies for this project, has been providing schools with living educational projects since 1927. Carolina's high quality standards assure schools of healthy caterpillars which pose no threat to
native species.
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Whether you are interested in a 3-week study unit corresponding
to the butterfly life cycle, or are just looking for a few quick activities,
this Activity Kit is a great resource for your classroom!
