Butterfly books
We can’t have a unit on butterflies without reading butterfly books! There are so many too choose from, but here are a few favorites:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- The Very Impatient Caterpillar by Ross Burach. Kids love this noisy, desperately impatient caterpillar and his over-excited voices as they learn about the life cycle of butterflies.
- Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert. A rhyming story that provides clear answers to all the questions your students may have about the butterfly life cycle.
- Senorita Mariposa by Ben Gundershelmer. A wonderful story about the amazing journey that Monarch butterflies make from Canada to Mexico. (Rhyming flow in English and Spanish)
- Adios Oscar! by Peter Elwell. A butterfly fable that follows a caterpillar’s frustrations when he emerges from his chrysalis, not as a beautiful butterfly, but as a moth with a taste for sweaters! (A story of acceptance along side science.)
When searching Bookshare for “butterfly”, 10 pages (25 books per page) popped up. Note: This included butterfly-themed books and book titles with “butterfly” that were not directly related to butterfly (insects). A search for “butterfly life cycle” brought up 10 books.
Tech Hint: Students can access Bookshare butterfly books on their favorite device. Listen to the story using their preferred screen reader or read the braille text using a refreshable braille display. If embossing the book, be sure to add a graphic book cover!
Resource
Butterfly writing prompts
Once your student has a strong understanding about butterflies, he/she is now ready to apply this knowledge to write a butterfly-themed story. There are three different types of writing prompts below – assign one (or more!) that is appropriate for your student or let your student choose!
Tech Hint: Writing stories is a great time to increase tech skills. Students can practice keyboarding, words per minute speed, editing, listening to their finished document (including screen reader speed), reviewing a teacher’s comment on the document, etc. Braille readers can use their braille display or notetaker to practice reading and writing braille and braille display tech skills. Did your student draw a tactile butterfly or illustration to accompany their story?
Don’t forget to have the student read their story to the class, friend or family member!
Butterfly word bank
For emerging writers, it is helpful to come up with some butterfly related words to help jump start the budding author. Let’s start by creating a word bank of words that describe a butterfly. Ask your student to create the butterfly word bank; prompting only if needed. Here are some ideas for the butterfly word bank:
fragile, colorful, winged, fluttering, brilliant, migratory, hovering, metamorphosis, graceful, transforming, delicate, flitting, dancing, rebirth
Note that some words might appear to be too advanced for a young student. While you can choose easier words for the word bank, try to expand your student’s vocabulary by using challenging words. Having the word bank available while writing may encourage the student to use these higher level words; and, the student can copy the words instead of struggling to spell the harder words.
Next, challenge the student to use 5 words from the word bank in his/her writing.
Butterfly quotes
Read through a couple of the butterfly quotes. Pick a quote and discuss what it means and how it relates to the butterfly.
Challenge your student to create his/her own quote.
Ask the student to choose one quote and write a short story or fable that uses the quote as a moral of the story.
Quotes:
- “Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases, and it pleases wherever it goes.”
- “How will you know if you can fly if you never spread your wings?”
- “Don’t wait for your wings, fight for them!”
- “If you want to fly, give up everything that weighs you down.”
- “Butterflies are like confetti from heaven.”
- “Life is better with butterfly kisses.”
- “Butterflies in your stomach.”
Butterfly story prompts
The four butterfly story prompts below span a wide age range, appropriate for for early writers to more advanced writers. Choose a prompt that is appropriate for your student.
Butterfly writing prompts:
- If I could fly like a butterfly . . .
- Write an exciting story about a butterfly who is on a journey to find a specific flower.
- Write about the metamorphosis from the viewpoint of an anxious caterpillar. Will he/she become a moth or a butterfly?
- Compare who you were at the start of the year to who you are now, akin to a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly. (This is my favorite prompt and is a terrific end-of-year writing activity!)
Butterfly Resources
- Butterflies part 1: Caterpillars
- Butterflies part 2: Butterfly life cycle
- Butterflies part 3: Note taking from videos
By Diane Brauner
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