NTeQ LESSON, PART 1

NTEQ LESSON PLAN

LESSON TITLE: THE LIFE CYCLE OF A BUTTERFLY
SUBJECT AREA:SCIENCE
GRADE LEVEL: KINDERGARTEN
LESSON SUMMARY: The students discover the ordered stages in the life cycle of a butterfly and demonstrate their understanding by creating a graphic organizer in Kidspiration.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE:
Louisiana Comprehensive Curriculum- Science- Unit 4- Science as Inquiry, GLE 7-
Students will express data by constructing concept maps and oral explanations as appropriate.

BEHAVIORAL OBJECTIVE:
Students will participate cooperatively in learning activities.

STANDARDS:
National: NETS-S Standard #6- Students demonstrate that they can (b) use applications and effectively and productively, and (d) transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.
Local: Louisiana Educational Technology Standard #1: Creativity and Innovation- Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.

MATERIALS:
Kidspiration software loaded on computers in lab (http://www.kidspiration.com).

COMPUTER FUNCTIONS:
Students use the ‘Simple Cycle’ on ‘Kidspiration’ software to produce a
graphic organizer illustrating the sequential stages in the life cycle of a butterfly.

SPECIFY PROBLEM
The principal will visit our class and tell the students that she is planning to plant a butterfly garden outside her office window, so she needs our help in learning about butterflies and teaching the other kids in the school about them, too, so she can have lots of pretty butterflies. Do you think we could find out about butterflies so we could help the principal with her butterfly garden? How could we do that?
Answers will vary, but may include:
1) We could show them our Science journals.
2) We could draw big pictures.
3) We could make pictures on the computer.
4) We could write a letter from our class to all of them.
In my ‘real-world’ classroom, I would encourage students to choose the computer option (and most would eagerly want to choose that option anyway!). However, I would allow students to choose another method of addressing the problem, since allowing student ‘CHOICE’ is a key component in our district’s instructional model. For the purposes of illustrating the NTeQ Model for this class, I will develop the unit using option #3:”Let’s use the computer to make a poster of the life cycle of a butterfly.”

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS
The ‘Kidspiration’ program will be used on the computers in the computer lab so that each student will be able to search and select clip art images to create a poster on his/her own computer. The teacher will guide the process from the projected teacher-computer screen. (See ACTIVITIES TO BE COMPLETED AT THE COMPUTER, 2) IN THE COMPUTER LAB IN POST TITLED: NTeQ MODEL, PART 2.)

RESULTS PRESENTATION
The final product is be a graphic organizer created and printed out by each student using the ‘Kidspiration’ Simple Cycle template with chosen graphics added. Students will print out a poster (All types and levels of thinking skills; Visual/Tactile Modalities).

LESSON
In preparation for completing this unit leading up to the final assessment, the following advance preparations must be made:
*In the Computer Lab, the students have used the ‘Kidspiration’ software numerous times during the year, and can work the program with minimal teacher assistance.
*One month before beginning the unit, I ordered a butterfly net, butterfly eggs and milkweed from http://www.freebutterflyeggs.com. When the materials arrive (but
before showing them to the students), we would do a whole-class brainstorming
activity listing what they KNOW about butterflies and what they WANT to learn about
them (the ‘K’ and ‘L’ steps in a KWL Chart). Then the butterfly garden components
would be introduced and set up in the Science Center, with appropriate viewing
procedures taught.
*During the unit, the whole Kindergarten took a field trip to the Insectarium in New Orleans, which has its own butterfly garden:
http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/insectarium/