Changes to the Environment

Thematic Unit Topic: ______Butterflies________

Classroom Area: ______Language and Literacy___

List the Items You Plan to Introduce and How Much They Will Cost (a minimum of 6):
Remember:
The items should be safe, child-directed, encourage the use of multiple intelligences and provide
opportunities for sensory learning).
The items should be reasonably priced, able to be made by the teacher or easily obtainable.
Try to use objects that are already in the classroom in creative, new ways.
Think about what items you might obtain through donations from family, local business, etc.

1. Sock puppets. These will be made by me. Cost: $3.00
2. Flannel board and story cut outs. These will be made by me. Cost: $2
3. Butterfly book markers. These are made using orange and black construction paper. Materials
available in the classroom.
4. Notebooks with name tags (12). These will cost .81 cents each or $9.72, although price could be cut
down by donations by neighboring classrooms.
5. Pencils. These are available in the classroom.
6. Blank sheets of white paper for drawing. These will be available in the classroom and are free.
7. Crayons and markers. The crayons are available in the classroom as well as the markers.
8. Pillows. Donated by the family or community.
9. Photos of butterflies and caterpillars made by the class. These will also tie together the sequence of
events occurring in class as well as give the children a chance to relate their work to the books in the
center.
10. Butterfly books (6 different books, 3 fiction and 3 nonfiction). These can be obtained by donations
made by the family, the community or obtained from the county library.
When will you introduce these items? (At the beginning of the thematic unit, throughout the unit
during a small group lesson plan, circle time)

I will introduce the storyboard, the journal, and sketch paper at the very beginning of a small group
lesson plan. This will accompany the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. It will give
those children who are linguistically intelligent an opportunity to choreograph their thoughts and write
about the book or about their thoughts in general. The pillows will be there hopefully at the beginning of
the thematic unit, that way the children can have a comfortable space to read books. I will also have the
butterfly book markers available in a nearby area next to the books so that children can take a butterfly,
write their name on it or scribble on it (for those children not ready to write yet) and they can know
where they were in the book should they get bored and want to move to a different area. The flannel
board will also be nearby with tape so they can tape cutouts of characters from the book as well as events
from the books so they can have visual representations of the story to relate their own thoughts to and it
will help them follow the sequence of the storys plots. The photographs of the caterpillars and the
butterflies will occur throughout the thematic unit. As a classroom, we will take photos of the caterpillars
as the insects proceed through their metamorphosis. These will add the personal touch to the literacy
center and give children the preview of events to come that require no self correction.













Are there any special rules that the children need to follow when using these items?

Children should not write on other childrens property or the books.
The children should also not mistreat the books since the books are there for reading.
The children also should not remove another childs butterfly bookmark from a book they are
reading.








What do you hopethe children to learn?

I hope the children learn to respect others property, though this is a lesson that will be taught naturally.
My main goal is to inspire the children to enjoy reading as a thought provoking and creative experience
by giving them tools to express their creativity. The items that I am going to add to the center will
provide the children an opportunity to open their minds to their own imagination and provide
opportunities to relate the morals, facts, terms, colors, and shapes of the different illustrations and stories.
I also hope that the children will learn how to spell different terms related to the caterpillars and
butterflies in a fun, creative way. I also hope that the children also learn the definitions of different terms
related to the book and the caterpillar experiments.













What are some ways that the children can reflect on what they have learned?

The children will have the chance to reflect on their growing literacy skills by learning the proper ways to write
and spell words that are relatable to the thematic unit. The children will also reflect on their knowledge
whenever they pre-write or write different words about the stories, the insects or what their opinions were of the
story. The children will also be able to reflect on the days events as well through the use of their growing
writing skills by casually writing about whatever aspects of the project they found interesting as well as think
critically through the use of self questions that they come up with in their journals. The children will also have a
chance to use their new found writing skills in the discovery center and in the block center whenever they
observe the caterpillars transformations or when the children design their own homes for the caterpillars. The
children will also be able to reflect on their new knowledge by their efforts throughout the curriculum by
applying new found pencil grip techniques and sequence of words to provide meaning as well as context to
aspects of the thematic unit that they found interesting. These skills will also be utilized when the children and
their parents explore all the work they have completed throughout the week by explaining their work with
appropriate vocabulary.