Science Monarch Butterfly Blog Target audience-2nd graders who are learning the life cycle of a butterfly. Context- This is for a school, to complete the life cycle kit in the science curriculum from the Battle Creek Area Math and Science Center Learning objectives- The learners will have concrete knowledge of the life cycle of a butterfly and have the ability to transfer the information to other living organisms as well as understand the monarch butterfly habitat. Description of lesson/Intervention- Online tools, blog, You Tube video, Flickr, microphone, and Google Maps. Students will work in groups of 3-4 (or you could do a class blog if student’s are not familiar with blogging) to create a blog on the life cycle of the butterfly. They will include details learned throughout the unit about the habitat; describe how and where the butterfly travels when winter comes, and life cycles of the butterfly and other living organisms. Students will utilize online tools such as video clips from united streaming, images from the photo gallery I have put together; they may use the class pictures taken of our butterflies and include them onto their blog. Procedure: Towards the end of the science kit unit on Life Cycles, begin by talking about creating blogs, explain how a blog can be like an online journal or in this case a science journal. We will be creating a blog that will put everything you have learned in science about the monarch butterfly on the internet available for others to view. I have created a model blog that I will be showing you for an example. Each week I will be giving you guidelines about what I would like you to be working on within your blog. You and your group mates need to work together to ensure you have accurate information that is helpful to someone who knows nothing about the monarch butterfly. Week 1 – Find pictures of the life cycle of a butterfly and another living organism. Blog write to your audience telling about the two life cycles. Create a venn diagram or write in a two-column chart how they are similar. Week 2 – Insert a United Streaming video clip telling about the habitat for a butterfly. Write in your blog the key points of understanding from the video. What does the butterfly need to survive? Where does the butterfly typically live? Week 3 – Using Google Maps insert a map showing the path the butterfly will travel when heading south for the winter. Explain why the butterfly must travel south and not stay up north for the winter. Week 4 – Finalize the group blog, check for errors and information that is not clear, publish and send out for others to share! Artifact: Sample blog for Monarch Butterfly Justification: I chose to incorporate the online tools to get 2nd graders into the technology world. They journal write and record information into their science journal. It is now time to share their understandings with parents, family, and other school friends by using a blog. This is another way to show students that their work is important and meaningful. Utilizing Google Maps is a wonderful way for others to experience a detailed path the butterflies travel, it becomes more lifelike. It is difficult to share this information from a paper map. Providing real-life photos taken from the classroom and inserting them into the blog gives the students’ a sense of ownership, they will still use images retrieved from online to give deeper understanding to their blog writing. Clips from United Streaming are another teaching tool in aiding to reach all student’s different learning styles.
