Content Area: Science with Art component
Grade: Pre-K
TEA Pre-Kindergarten Guidelines:
VI.B.2. Child describes life cycles of organisms. The child: observes, records, and discusses the stage of the life cycle of an organism (baby, dog, cat, and chicken)
VI.B.3. Child recognizes, observes, and discusses the relationship of organisms to their environments. The child: discusses how animals and humans depend on plants (birds eat seeds, cows eat grass, and humans eat vegetables.), observes, discusses, and records living organisms (spiders, insects, worms, snails, birds) in their natural environments to learn about their habits.
VIII.A.1 Child uses a variety of art materials and activities for sensory experience and exploration. The child: investigates with a variety of materials (crayons, paint, clay, markers.) selects a variety of materials in the art center for exploration (painting with cotton swabs on paper,) comments on colors, shapes, space, textures, and objects in the environment.
VIII.A.2. Child uses art as a form of creative self-expression and representation. The child: uses a variety of materials to create art forms.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Summary:
A children’s picture book that tells the story of a caterpillar’s life. The caterpillar is seen hatching from and egg, consuming enormous quantities of food, spinning a cocoon staying in it for two weeks and later emerging as a beautiful butterfly.
I chose to create a lesson on a butterfly’s life cycle. I believe it is important to understand the changes that any living goes through. Due to a Pre-K student’s nature, I chose to incorporate art aspects as well in order to keep them interested and tap into their kinesthetic and visual learning styles. As an activity I would have the students create their own caterpillars using egg cartons, paint, and pipe cleaners. Afterwards I would have the students use construction paper to create a small number of food items for the caterpillar to eat. Afterwards, I would have the students use tissue paper and glue to create the wings of the new butterfly. A great addition to this lesson would be to have a butterfly terrarium in the classroom. This way the students could witness a caterpillar’s journey to become a butterfly first hand.
Sources: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/very-hungry-caterpillar-activity-plan
Hayley Boardman
I was glad to see this lesson for Pre-K because I’ve never looked at the Pre-K guidelines or written a lesson for such young children. Therefore, I wasn’t really aware of what all they go over in their classes. However, I do know that most children love the story of the very hungry caterpillar! Your activity was super cute, but how long do you think that it will take? Do you think that you would try to do this lesson over one day? Or would it work better if you did it over a few days? I remember when I was in elementary school, we visited a butterfly garden and that was SUPER FUN. I know a classroom butterfly terrarium would be more realistic though, but it is something to think about. You had a great lesson!
Learning about butterflies and metamorphosis is a must in Pre-K. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is pretty much a classic so it’s great to see that you would use it in the classroom. Since many parents might have already read this book to their child at home, I think it would make it much easier for them to understand a butterfly’s life cycle even if they haven’t had much previous instruction. I love incorporate art in the lesson because I most young children enjoy creating things and learn kinesthetically. The activity you chose to use is really cute and it would be nice to see everyone’s different caterpillars. I also love the butterfly terrarium that you would have in the classroom because most of us had that when we were in Pre-K and it seems to be something that really has an impact and we remember for the rest of our lives. Aside from having students observe the caterpillar’s journey, what other activities would use have involving the terrarium? How else would you use it to help students learn about life cycles?