In this unit, students observe the life cycle of the Painted Lady butterfly. Through their experiences, they are introduced to the following concepts, skills, and attitudes.

• The different stages of a butterfly’s life cycle are egg, larva, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult.
• Caterpillars need food, air, and space to live and grow.
• The caterpillar forms a chrysalis, and a butterfly emerges from the chrysalis.
• A butterfly needs food to live, but it does not grow after emerging from the chrysalis.
• A butterfly lays eggs, which hatch into larvae.

Skills

• Observing, describing, and recording growth and change in the larva.
• Predicting, comparing, and discussing the larva’s appearance and change over time.
• Communicating observations through drawing and writing.
• Relating observations of the butterfly’s life cycle to students’ own growth and change.
• Extending knowledge of butterflies through reading.

Attitudes

• Developing an interest in studying insects.
• Appreciating the needs of living things.
• Valuing scientific information that has been collected over time.