Title of Project: Building a Butterfly Garden

Grade Level: K-2, 3-5

Number of Students Participating:

Contributed by:

Teacher: Evelyn Lee, Martha Glass, and Kristi Wilkerson **Information for this lesson plan was compiled by Jennifer Cofer

School: Peaks Mill Elementary (early primary) and Donna Wildt; Collins Lane Elementary (intermediate)

District or County: Franklin County Schools, KY

Overview/Description of Project: While learning about butterflies and insect life cycles, students designed and planted a butterfly garden which beautified their school campus.

Goals:

• To make children aware of nature around them.

• To beautify school grounds and to provide habitat for the butterflies.

• To provide first-hand experience of insect life cycles.

• To learn basic butterfly identification.

• To involve the community in the school.

Core Content Areas:

• Reading/Writing: 1.2, 1.11

Early Primary: Students read a variety of stories about caterpillars. (See attached reading list). Students wrote about the project.

• Math: 2.8

Early Primary: Students collected money for the butterfly garden by doing chores at home. Students learned how to identify coins and count change. They also discussed costs of plants and budgeted money to purchase for their garden.

Intermediate: Students measured and designed  their garden to accommodate the needs of the plants purchased for the project. They learned budgeting skills as they decided which plants to purchase for their garden.

• Science: 2.2, 2.3, 2.6

Early Primary: Students learned about soil, insect life cycles, and basic butterfly facts. They planted seeds, recorded growth and transplanted the plants in the garden.

Intermediate: Students spent considerable time learning about butterfly and plant life cycles.

• Social Studies: 2.19

Early Primary: Students studied monarch migration routes

Intermediate: Students studied human impact on the environment and how the creation of towns and cities affect butterfly populations

• Arts and Humanities: 2.22

Early Primary: Students made butterfly magnets for Mother’s day, butterfly bookmarks and butterfly mosaics. They drew, colored, and painted various types of butterflies.

• Practical Living: 2.30, 2.31, 2.33

Early Primary: Students learned the value of saving money they had earned to purchase materials for the butterfly garden. They made nutritional snacks in the shape of a butterfly. They learned about resources in the community, such as the garden clubs, that could assist with their project.

• Vocational Studies: 2.36

Early Primary: Students learned about horticulture through a garden club speaker.

Intermediate: Students learned about careers in landscaping.

PARC MODEL STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

PREPARATION:

• The teachers decided to do a unit on butterflies which would help them teach insect life cycles.

• Students were asked to do chores at home to collect money to purchase supplies for the butterfly garden.

• Students read many books about butterflies (see attached)

• Students spent time researching different butterflies, their habitats and migration routes, and were responsible for writing a report in which they had to answer the following questions (see attached rubric):

• How and why do butterflies affect our environment, our lives, our future?

• Are we destroying butterfly habitats? How?

• What can we do to protect them?

• What things must be available to have a large and healthy butterfly population?

• What butterflies are native to our region, and which ones only pass through during migration?

• Do any of these butterflies have one food source? Which ones and what is the food source?

• Guest speakers from the garden clubs were invited to speak to the students about developing butterfly gardens and careers in this field.

• Students decided on plants and seeds which they grew in their classroom. They also purchased grown plants for the garden. Recommended plants are marigold, zinnia, bee balm, coreopsis, cosmos, salvia, yarrow, asters, lantana, live-forever, tall phlox, and butterfly bush.

• Students measured the area, removed debris and dead plants, and prepared the area for planting.

BUTTERFLY BOOKS

• Discovering Butterflies by Douglas Forian

• Butterflies and Moths by Joanne Mattern

• Butterfly Express by American Education Publishing

• The Big Butterfly Book by Susanne Whayne

• The Very Hungry Caterpiller by Eric Carle

• If At First You Do Not See by Ruth Brown

• Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons

• I Wish I Were Like a Butterfly by James Howe

• The Butterfly Book by Donald and Lillian Stokes

• Life Story—Butterfly by Michael Chinery

ACTION: Students planted the garden and maintained it during the summer. It is important to remember that once these gardens are established in the spring, they must be maintained in the summer by weeding and watering. If the butterfly gardens are not maintained in the summer, the perennial plants will not return the next year.

REFLECTION: Students shared their reports with the other students.

Students had open discussions about the progress of the butterfly garden, how it could be improved, ideas for the future, etc.

Prompt (recommended): You are a landscape designer and your employer has asked you to research butterfly gardens. In your written report list the characteristics of a butterfly and describe its life cycle. List appropriate plants for a butterfly garden and explain why they are important to the garden.

CELEBRATION: