This morning, Beckett learned the simple version of the Butterfly Life Cycle! I was so impressed with how easy and engaging the activity was, I had to share. I started by just going LIVE in my [not so] super secret Usborne literacy group, but we all know those aren't pinnable. So if you're looking for a simple, yet effective process to introduce your preschool through elementary aged kiddo to butterfly life cycles, you've come to the right place!
Step 1: Choose a book you love. I chose Usborne's Butterflies & Caterpillars. In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm an Usborne rep, addict, and hoarder. I love this series of beginner books because they have a great combo of photography, realistic illustrations, and cartoon-like characters. The text is super simple, yet full of great facts and vocabulary. PERFECTION.
Step 2: Pre-read your book. Because our book is aimed for 5+, it would be a lot of information for Beckett (3) to sit down and take in in one sitting. So instead I pre-read the book, and noted the pages that pertained to the life-cycle. [This is one of those ultra secret teacher strategies we use in school]. The book prepared me with sincerely interesting facts, phrased in a way that my little man could understand!
Step 3: Introduce your Flash Cards. So the AMAZING Karen, over at Little Smarticle Particles volunteered to be a guest blogger here just a few weeks ago! She loaded us with some fabulous ideas for teaching life cycles to littles, AND left a super awesome FREEBIE too! You can grab these beautiful flashcards, along with some other helpful tips, right here! Once you've got your cards, talk about them briefly with the kiddos and lay them out on the table.
Step 4: "Read" your book together. While our book is too high to just read straight through, it provides GREAT opportunities for conversation by providing such dynamic photos and illustrations. Beckett and I went though our book together, reading only a couple of the sentences, but using the illustrations to talk about each step of the cycle. This is also where I add a LOT of "oohs" and "aaahs" and "isn't that neat?" and "what do you think happens next?" He ATE. IT. UP.
Step 5: Assemble your cards in their cycle AS YOU READ. After each page, we looked for the life cycle card that represented our page and assembled it into the circle cycle diagram! And voila!
In addition to learning about life cycles, this activity is great because the simple steps of talking about the text, then finding a card to represent it, engages your child and allows them the opportunity to show comprehension. Try to let them use the cards to re-tell the cycle. This is a great skill to practice!
By the end of the morning, Beckett was assembling the cards on his own & talking to himself about the cycle. I can't get over how much he adores this sort of thing!
What do you think? Can you totally see your littles getting into the Butterfly Life Cycle? Let me know how it goes! We're sharing this and other fabulous ideas over in our [not so] super secret literacy group. We'd love to hear from you! Join our BOOK conversation here!
Don't forget to pin it!
Step 1: Choose a book you love. I chose Usborne's Butterflies & Caterpillars. In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm an Usborne rep, addict, and hoarder. I love this series of beginner books because they have a great combo of photography, realistic illustrations, and cartoon-like characters. The text is super simple, yet full of great facts and vocabulary. PERFECTION.
Step 2: Pre-read your book. Because our book is aimed for 5+, it would be a lot of information for Beckett (3) to sit down and take in in one sitting. So instead I pre-read the book, and noted the pages that pertained to the life-cycle. [This is one of those ultra secret teacher strategies we use in school]. The book prepared me with sincerely interesting facts, phrased in a way that my little man could understand!
Step 3: Introduce your Flash Cards. So the AMAZING Karen, over at Little Smarticle Particles volunteered to be a guest blogger here just a few weeks ago! She loaded us with some fabulous ideas for teaching life cycles to littles, AND left a super awesome FREEBIE too! You can grab these beautiful flashcards, along with some other helpful tips, right here! Once you've got your cards, talk about them briefly with the kiddos and lay them out on the table.
Step 4: "Read" your book together. While our book is too high to just read straight through, it provides GREAT opportunities for conversation by providing such dynamic photos and illustrations. Beckett and I went though our book together, reading only a couple of the sentences, but using the illustrations to talk about each step of the cycle. This is also where I add a LOT of "oohs" and "aaahs" and "isn't that neat?" and "what do you think happens next?" He ATE. IT. UP.
Step 5: Assemble your cards in their cycle AS YOU READ. After each page, we looked for the life cycle card that represented our page and assembled it into the circle cycle diagram! And voila!
In addition to learning about life cycles, this activity is great because the simple steps of talking about the text, then finding a card to represent it, engages your child and allows them the opportunity to show comprehension. Try to let them use the cards to re-tell the cycle. This is a great skill to practice!
By the end of the morning, Beckett was assembling the cards on his own & talking to himself about the cycle. I can't get over how much he adores this sort of thing!
What do you think? Can you totally see your littles getting into the Butterfly Life Cycle? Let me know how it goes! We're sharing this and other fabulous ideas over in our [not so] super secret literacy group. We'd love to hear from you! Join our BOOK conversation here!
Don't forget to pin it!
