Life Cycle of Butterflies

Crosscutting Concepts in the Life Cycle of Butterflies Unit

Crosscutting concepts help students make sense of what they experience in science lessons and activities.
Use this information to:
 Help students organize their thinking.
 Create writing or discussion prompts.
 Press students for explanations during activities
Patterns: Observed patterns in nature guide organization and classification and prompt questions about relationships
and causes underlying them.
 Patterns in the natural and human designed world can be observed, used to describe phenomena, and used as
evidence.
Cause and Effect - Events have causes, sometimes simple, sometimes multifaceted. Deciphering causal relationships,
and the mechanisms by which they are mediated, is a major activity of science and engineering.
 Events have causes that generate observable patterns.
 Simple tests can be designed to gather evidence to support or refute student ideas about causes.
Structure and Function: The way an object is shaped or structured determines many of its properties and functions.
 The shape and stability of structures of natural and designed objects are related to their function(s).
Stability and Change: For both designed and natural systems, conditions that affect stability and factors that control
rates of change are critical elements to consider and understand.
 Some things stay the same while other things change.
 Things may change slowly or rapidly.
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity: In considering phenomena, it is critical to recognize what is relevant at different size,
time, and energy scales, and to recognize proportional relationships between different quantities as scales change.
 Natural objects and/or observable phenomena exist from the very small to the immensely large or from very short to
very long time periods (Grade 3-5)
 Standard units are used to measure and describe physical quantities such as weight, time, temperature, and volume.
(Grade 3-5)

Lesson Crosscutting Concept(s) Connection to the Lesson

1 Ask students to look at the questions generated:

Getting Ready Patterns “What questions are alike?”
for Caterpillars “How can we organize the questions?”

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Ask students to describe what they observe about the
Caring for Structure and Function
caterpillars (shape, size, how they move).
Caterpillars

Patterns Ask students to compare what caterpillars and humans need to

3 survive. (air, water, food)
Learning More
About Stability and Change Ask students for a reason for their prediction about how the
Caterpillars caterpillars will look in the future. (look for reasons that
connect to air, food, and water)

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Edited by Michael Brown, 2017
 Crosscutting Concepts in the Life Cycle of Butterflies Unit
Lesson Crosscutting Concept(s) Connection to the Lesson

Stability and Change Students look for changes and predict changes that might
occur.
Cause and Effect Thinking about the previous lesson:
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Observing “What changes are predictable?”
Caterpillars “What changes might we see and why?”
Structure and Function
Students identify the structures of the caterpillar body and
think about their function.

5 Stability and Change Students observe caterpillars as they molt and change in size.
Observing Patterns Students observe similar changes in the caterpillars as they
Change: grow.
Growth and Students compare how they are like a caterpillar and they are
Molting very different.

Students observe the patterns of silk threads.

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Patterns Students think about other animals that use silk (spiders). They
Silk Spinning
can compare how spiders and caterpillars use silk.

Stability and Change Students will observe as the caterpillar forms a J shape and
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forms a chrysalis.
From
Caterpillar to Patterns Students can compare the various stages of transformation for
Chrysalis all of the caterpillars.

8 Stability and Change Students realize important changes are taking place within the
Observing the chrysalis.
Chrysalis Structure and Function Students identify developing parts on the chrysalis.

Patterns Students will notice that each chrysalis has darkened, wing
patterns are visible through the chrysalis.
9
The Butterfly Stability and Change Students observe distinct butterfly body parts.
Emerges
Structure and Function Students will note different body shapes and body parts for the
butterflies during their life cycle.

10 Structure and Function Students observe how the butterfly uses the proboscis to eat.
Feeding Patterns For an assessment, students are asked to compare how a
Butterflies caterpillar and butterfly eat.

Structure and Function Students observe the parts of the butterfly and learn how these
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parts equip butterflies to survive in the natural world.
The Butterfly’s
Body
Patterns Students compare the butterflies to themselves.

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Edited by Michael Brown, 2017
 Crosscutting Concepts in the Life Cycle of Butterflies Unit
Lesson Crosscutting Concept(s) Connection to the Lesson

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Note: Butterflies are not released for this activity in the State of Washington because they are not a
The Butterflies
native species.
Go Free

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Scale, Proportion, and Quantity Students review changes in the butterfly life cycle over time.
Using Our Data

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Structure and Function
Discovering Students use the number of body parts in a butterfly and a
Butterflies are spider to determine if they are insects.
Patterns
Insects

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Other Life Patterns Students look for similarities in life cycles of other living things.
Cycles

Structure and Function Students revisit their ideas about butterflies from Lesson 1.
16  Caterpillar’s body parts
Stability and Change  How a caterpillar changes through its life.

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Edited by Michael Brown, 2017