The Life Cycle

of a Butterfly-
1st Grade gifted
students
Leanne Gross
Assignment 2
• Developing Curriculum Materials. Using your knowledge of effective strategies
and best practices, develop a publication or website that can be used to teach
gifted and talented students. Include a rationale for how this meets their learning
needs. This can take the form of a booklet or packet that could be used within a
gifted program.

These resources will all focus on the 2nd grade science standard SC.2.L.16.1 Observe
and describe major stages in the life cycles of plants and animals, including beans
and butterflies.

All resources will use acceleration by using the 2nd grade standard for the life cycle.
Resource 1: The
Hungry Caterpillar by
Eric Carle
This resource introduces students to quality

fictional literature. It depicts what happens in the

butterfly life cycle in sequential order and is a

great basis for learning about the life cycle. It

relates to the LAFS.2.RL.1.3 standard which is

describe how characters in a story respond to

major events and challenges. This allows

opportunities for gifted students to use higher

order thinking skills and having discussions about

higher order thinking questions such as “What

would happen if the caterpillar did not eat?”

Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
The Life of a Butterfly
By Robin Bernard
This informational text introduces students
to the vocabulary that relates to the different
phases of the butterfly life cycle. It also give
real life representations and measurements
at those stages. This allows the gifted student
to visualize what it looks like in real-life. The
standard MAFS.2.MD.1.1 Measure the length
of an object to the nearest inch, foot,
centimeter, or meter by selecting and using
appropriate tools such as rulers, yardsticks,
meter sticks, and measuring tapes. Teachers
can give gifted students rulers to measure
the sizes of different caterpillars so they can
use hands on and experience to apply what
they know.
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
Magic School Bus
This engaging video not only describes the
stages of the butterfly life cycle (while giving
some interesting facts such as the caterpillar
and butterfly being about the same size!) It
also is a very good video that can help gifted
students with their affective needs such as
determination and perseverance. This video
shows how the team worked together and
never gave up, even when things got difficult.
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
Lukas Nursery and
Butterfly Encounter
This is a live exhibit where students can go to
a garden and encounter many different types
of butterflies. The nice part about the exhibit
is you can visually see the different stages all
at once, because they have so many
butterflies that they are all at different
stages. This could be done in person or
virtually! Students also have the opportunity
to ask an expert any questions they may have
about butterflies of their life cycle. This
meets gifted needs through getting hands on
experience and getting to consult an expert.
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
Butterfly Garden
A butterfly garden kit is something that can
be bought off of amazon. It is a hands on
resources. Students get to visualize each
stage and watch it go through the whole life
cycle process everyday in the classroom! This
could be extended as a math lesson and have
students graph how many days they
observed each stage of the butterfly’s life
cycle. This meets gifted needs by using hands
on learning and it allows for higher order
thinking questions such as why do they think
each stage took the amount of days that it
did?
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
Play
Students preform a play reenacting the
different phases of the butterfly life cycle.
Students can work in groups of 4 to reenact
each stage of the butterflies life cycle. This
meets gifted students needs because it
allows them to be creative where they can
make props or dress up, it allows for
leadership roles if the teacher assigns each
group member a role, and it allows for
collaboration so that they can hear each
other’s ideas and work together to create
something!
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
Create the life cycle
using pasta noodles
and beans
Students use different pasta noodle shapes
to represent the different stages of the
butterflies life cycle. Students go outside and
pick 4 leaves. Each student gets a plate and
divides it into 4 sections. Glue the leaves on
each section. Then glue each stage on. This
meets gifted students need for creativity. This
could also meet gifted students critical
thinking skills if you just gave them the
materials and allowed them to place each
item where they felt it fit best. They then
could give a reason why they placed each
item where they did.
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
Why are butterflies so
colorful?
This is an enrichment video. This would be a
higher order thinking question. I would have
students share with a partner what they
think. Then play the video linked here. I
would pause the video at certain points to
allow for discussion and higher order
thinking questions which would meet gifted
students needs of thinking about things
beyond what they already know.
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs

met?
Are there use of higher
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be

differentiated?
Multiple means to show
mastery?
Creativity: Does the
resource allow for
creativity?
Caterpillars to what
now?
Use the open ended questions of do all
caterpillars turn into butterflies? This video
explains that animals can look different at
different stages of their life. This meets gifted
needs by allowing them to use critical
thinking and discussion to come up with an
answer to this question. At the end students
can compare and contrast the different types
of worms they see to further extend this
lesson.
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
What is happening
inside the Chrysalis?
This enriches what they already know about
the chrysalis by giving gifted students a more
in depth explanation of what is happening
while the caterpillar is inside of the chrysalis.
This meets gifted students needs because it
is enriching a part of the butterfly life cycle
that they have prior knowledge of so that
they now have a more in depth
understanding of it.
Criteria Yes Somewhat No

Cleat goal/objective of x
what they student needs
to master?

Are any affective needs x

met?
Are there use of higher x
order thinking skills,
collaboration?

Can the resource be x

used for acceleration or
enrichment?

Can the resource be x

differentiated?
Multiple means to show x
mastery?
Creativity: Does the x
resource allow for
creativity?
References
• Are butterflies the only animals that start out ... - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hTg_m-G4aY.
• Bernard, R. (2000). The life of a butterfly. Scholastic.
• Butterfly Encounter. Lukas Nursery. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://lukasnursery.com/butterfly-encounter/.
• Butterfly Life Cycle Plate Craft. Scholastic. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/butterfly-life-cycle-plate-craft/.
• Carle, E., & Dutta, K. (1992). The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Mantra Publishing.
• The magic school bus - butterfly and the Bog Beast - YouTube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEZ8mcd1PAo.
• Pixil. (2021, August 11). Https://t.co/5NjMcK08hd. Twitter. Retrieved October 31, 2021, from
https://twitter.com/pixils_pieces/status/1425535142647455751.
• Sullivan, K. D. M. (2017, March 31). Transformation: What happens inside a chrysalis: Videos. Labroots. Retrieved November 1,
2021, from https://www.labroots.com/trending/videos/10546/transformation-what-happens-inside-a-chrysalis.
• Why are butterflies so colorful? - youtube. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=7M17INjyGD4.
• Www.nagc.org. (n.d.). Retrieved November 1, 2021, from https://www.nagc.org/sites/default/files/administrators/NAGC
%20Syllabus%20Intro%20to%20Exceptionalities.docx.