Changes to the Environment

Thematic Unit Topic: ______Butterflies________

Classroom Area: ____Math and Manipulatives __

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. Toilet paper rolls. These are free and donated by the family as well as by me.
2. Butterfly cut out props for color coded sorting. These can be handmade by me out of painted
styrofoam in the classroom.
3. Flannel props of Eric Carles the Very Hungry Caterpillar for children to manipulate when they are
reading the book during the week. This can be made by Velcro either donated by the community or
family or created by me for about $7.50 total.
4. Caterpillar jars (various sizes) and lids (various sizes) for matching. These are donations by the family
or by the community.
5. Caterpillar counting. This can be made by felt material and Velcro which will be donated or used from
the left over material used for the Eric Carle flannel board.
6. A Feeley box shape activity. This can be created by any extra shoe boxes from the block area and can
be filled with a variety of shapes from the block area to encourage the children to search for shapes and
sizes in the box.
7. Geometric butterflies. This can be made by me as well as by the students in the center. I will provide
the model made from different geometric shapes to form the butterfly which the children can recreate
using the shapes in the picture. This costs nothing since I will make these butterflies out of construction
paper squares, circles, rectangles, and triangles as well as glue, all of which is available in the classroom.
8. Butterfly books and matching cards. The books will be from the public library and the cards will have
a specific butterfly on them which is printed from the internet. This is free using index cards, printer ink
and a library book on butterflies.
9. Butterfly puzzle, this can be donated or already in the center. It can also be purchased for under $5.
10. Butterfly jars. These will be filled with a different variety of butterflies that the children can compare
in order to separate different volumes. The jars can be donated and the butterflies can be made from
cardboard or from a more dense material like clay which is already in the class.
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 these items throughout the thematic unit. Particularly, the Feeley box will be at the very
beginning of the thematic unit, the Flannel props of Eric Carles book will be placed in the reading center
to accompany the book, and the toilet paper rolls and butterfly matching card game will be similar assets
that were used from the math activity. The caterpillar jars and the caterpillar counting game will be
introduced after a circle time to introduce the caterpillars to the children. The butterfly puzzles, butterfly
color coded matching activity, and the butterfly jar sorting game will be introduced near the end of the
thematic unit, after the caterpillars have begun their metamorphosis.













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

The children should treat the items gently and not tear them.
The children also should not put any of the items in their mouths.
The children also should not throw the jars.








What do you hopethe children to learn?
It is my hope that these items will provide children with the ability to learn about patterns (visual). I also
hope that children learn about 2D and 3D shapes through the use of items like the Feeley box and the 3D
butterfly puzzle. I also hope that the children learn about seriation through the use of the butterfly
counting jars. I also hope that through the use of the butterfly matching card game that the children
learn about different means of classifying, grouping, and comparing different species of butterflies. It is
my hope that by providing hands on math manipulatives that the children will learn through
experimentation and critical thinking to gain a better understanding of measurements and seriation
based on observable qualities.














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

These items will be in conjunction with a variety of different activities spread throughout the week. The Eric
Carle flannel board and story cut out with props will provide the children with not only a chance to count (as
they measure the amount of props that the specific section of the book is asking for) but it will also provide one
to one correspondence as the children begin to associate visible values with the names associated with those
numbers. The children will also have a chance to identify and utilize the verbiage used in their comparisons of
butterflies in small group activities like the art activity I am a butterfly not a moth where the children make
note of the differences between the two insects through their art. The children will also use their observation
and classification skills when utilizing the science center to monitor the caterpillars metamorphosis by
identifying the different attributes of each specific stage. The children can also reflect on their growing
knowledge of shapes when having discussions related to the butterfly when describing its own shape, colors,
size in comparison to other species of butterflies.