Theme Packs for Lower Primary: Butterflies and Caterpillars

Butterflies and Caterpillars Theme Pack for Lower Primary

Written by Helen Hall

R.I.C. Publications RIC-0463 2.7/500

http://www.ricgroup.com.au

Theme Packs for Lower Primary - Set 3 Foreword Written by Helen Hall Illustrated by Roseanne Humphreys This series of books has been published for use in lower primary Years and is based on a series of themes that students of this age level have shown empathy with. The books present a range of activities that can be integrated into the teaching program as a complete theme or as individual activities. Activities cover the language, mathematics, creative and problem-solving aspects of the school program.

To supplement the activities a further selection of ideas is provided to develop the theme and to allow for integration into the class program.

The author has written the activities to be used mainly in the first and second years of a student's schooling; however, they can also be applied as high-interest remedial activities for other Year levels.

Titles available in this series: Set 1 - Giants - Pirates - Witches - Dragons - Frogs

Set 2 - Shopping - Bears - Space - Bikes - Clowns

Set 3 - The Zoo - Dinosaurs - Snails - Spiders - Butterflies & Caterpillars

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Ideas to develop the theme of Butterflies and Caterpillars

Language/Science Brainstorm: Words and facts the children know about caterpillars and butterflies.

Write them on shaped cards. Organise these facts under headings suitable for writing a report.

Set up a mini-caterpillar home.

The caterpillar stage of the cabbage butterfly is easy to find from October to May. The larvae feed on leaves of cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower. The butterfly’s life cycle is about three weeks. Set up the mini-home in a box or aquarium with a cover to contain the caterpillars. Collect eggs or caterpillars from plants and put them into the aquarium. Make sure you have plenty of fresh food that the caterpillars will eat. Keep the aquarium out of direct sunlight. Handle the caterpillars carefully.

Observation:

Let the children handle the caterpillars carefully. Observe the caterpillar parts using magnifying glasses. Use these observations to write a report about caterpillars.

Experiment:

With different types of fresh food to see which caterpillars like best. Try lettuce, cabbage, bread, paper, apple, grass, flowers etc.

Try a caterpillar race: On sheets of paper, draw two circles. Give a sheet of paper to groups of about four children. Place the caterpillars in the middle circle and see which caterpillar creeps to the outer circle first.

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C.Publ i cat i ons •f orr evi eonw pu r po se ssand on l y• Observation: Caterpillars different surfaces.

Try glass, material, wet glass, ice blocks. Discuss which surfaces caterpillars prefer and why.

Art/Crafts:

Blob painting: Fold a large sheet of art paper in half. Spoon blobs of different coloured paint along the centre fold. Fold the paper again and spread the paint by smoothing out from the fold. This activity can be used to introduce the mathematical idea of symmetry. After the paint is dry, cut out the butterflies and use them for poetry writing.

Egg carton caterpillars - using half of a long egg carton, fill with cotton wool and sprout seeds. Water and watch the hairy caterpillar grow!

3-D models - of butterflies and caterpillars using plasticine or egg cartons.

Reading:

Pages 1 and 11

Comprehension:

Pages 3, 4, 10, 13, 14, 15 and 17

Word study:

Pages 4, 8, 9, 12, 13 and 14

Writing:

Pages 7, 16 and 18

Mathematics:

Pages 19 - 24

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 1

caterpillar Caterpillar, caterpillar creeping on the ground, You crawled out from that little egg and looked me up and down.

You are so very funny with hair upon your back, Sometimes it’s green and spiky , sometimes it’s spotted black.

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C.Publ i cat i ons •body f or r e vi e w pu r p ose son l ylong.

• Your soft and squashy and often twelve parts You have so many legs, I think one hundred strong,

I see you looking at the world ,you do give me a fright, Six pairs of eyes and feelers too, what a funny sight.

On plants and leaves you eat and eat, munching all day long, Growing fatter with each bite of jaws so very strong.

Where are you now? Where did you go?

I looked and looked high and low.

A brown cocoon is all I see, hanging from that old gum tree.

But as I looked up in the sky, a bright new creature met my eye.

Wings so soft, colours bright, it was a truly lovely sight.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 2

Answer these questions.

1. Describe a caterpillar.

2. What does a caterpillar eat?

3. Why does a caterpillar eat so much?

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4. What happened to the caterpillar?

5. What was the ‘truly lovely sight’?

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 3

Yes or No? 1. A caterpillar hatches from an egg.

2. A caterpillar has two pairs of legs.

3. Caterpillars like to eat meat.

4. Some caterpillars are hairy.

5. Caterpillars change into butterflies.

Opposites down soft long bright

strong plants high back

Find a little word. caterpillar little I .

C.Pub l i cat i ons sometimes © R. strong hundred squashy •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• creature wings Practise your spelling.

Study the words in the first list.

Now cover them and finish the words in the next two lists. caterpillar

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 4

Caterpillar homes

Number of caterpillars found

Take a walk around the school to find some caterpillars. List the places and the numbers of caterpillars you find. Record your findings on the graph below. If you can't find many caterpillars at school, look in your garden and note the places where you find them.

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ROCKS

PATH TAP PLANT WALL Places where caterpillars are found

Where did you find the most caterpillars?

Why?

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 5

Make a caterpillar home.

You will need: a large container (aquarium), soil, leaf litter, rocks, caterpillars and lots of plant matter for caterpillars to eat.

Observe: your caterpillars over a number of days.

Experiment: with different types of plant food to see which food caterpillars like the best.

Draw your caterpillar home here.

Cut out the labels below to complete the picture.

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caterpillar

rocks

soil

leaf litter

food

plants

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 6

Write a report about a caterpillar.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 7

Crosspatch caterpillar Across 2.

Something a caterpillar spins

3.

A colourful insect

4.

What caterpillars eat

5. Caterpillars munch with strong 7. Animals with three body parts and six legs 8. A caterpillar has six pairs of 1 2

3

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Down 1. An animal with a shell on its back 2. Butterflies are brightly 6. A creature that spins a web 8. Caterpillars hatch from R.I.C. Publications

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 8

Caterpillar wheel

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Cut out the wheels and join them with a split pin.

Spin the wheel to make new words.

Write the words in your pad and put them into a sentence.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 9

Make a colourful caterpillar.

You will need: coloured paper, pencils a hexagon, glue, scissors Method

1. Use the hexagon to trace and then cut out lots of hexagon shapes.

2. Glue the shapes to make a caterpillar.

3. Use your pencils to make a face 4. Draw lots of legs.

5. Give it some green leaves to eat.

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This is my colourful caterpillar. .

Its name is R.I.C. Publications

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 10

butterfly Butterfly, butterfly, shimmering colours in the sky, wings so soft, so feather light, you are a truly lovely sight.

Fluttering here, fluttering there, ©R .

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C.Publ i cat i ons sipping nectar with such care.

•f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• From flower to flower, flying low, brushing petals where you go.

From a hairy caterpillar you came and now you are a bright new flame.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 11

Butterfly sleuth Colour each word as you find it. caterpillar colours feet feelers butterfly

egg wings nectar cocoon creature

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 12

Missing Words butterfly plants egg creep many

black green leaves

1. A caterpillar hatches from an

.

2. It likes to eat

.

and

3. Caterpillars can be coloured 4. They

and

.

along the ground.

5. A caterpillar has

eyes.

6. It can change into a

.

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C.Publ i cat i ons •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• Match-up A caterpillar hatches It has twelve Caterpillars can be They eat and eat Caterpillars spin a

body parts. cocoon. from an egg. hairy. all day long.

Circle the correct word.

1. A caterpillar are/is soft and squashy.

2. Butterflies are/is colourful.

3. A caterpillar have/has many legs.

4. I can see/saw a beautiful butterfly.

5. Where is/are you now?

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 13

Rhyming words ground long know sky feet

back fright tree sight green

Circle the correct word.

1. A caterpillar hatches from an egg/eye.

2. They creep along the grow/ground.

3. Caterpillars are honey/hairy.

4. They have very song/strong jaws.

5. Caterpillars eat all day/stay.

6. A caterpillar creeps/changes into a butterfly.

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C.Publ i cat i ons Punctuate © R. 1. a caterpillar has twelve parts •f orr ev i ewbody pur posesonl y• 2. caterpillars can be green brown orange or black 3. where are you now 4. my caterpillar’s name is 5. have you seen a colourful butterfly Read and draw I saw a green and orange caterpillar eating the flowers.

It had twelve body parts and lots of legs.

A colourful butterfly was flying around the flowers.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 14

What am I?

Draw me

I am small and hairy.

I hatch from a little egg.

I have many legs.

My name starts with ‘c’. .

I am a

I have soft wings.

My colours are bright.

I don’t have feathers.

My name starts with ‘b’. .

I am a

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I am small.

I creep very slowly.

I have a shell on my back.

My name starts with‘ s’. .

I am a

I have eight legs.

I am small and scary.

I can spin a web.

My name starts with ‘s’. .

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 15

Write a poem about a beautiful butterfly.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 16

Life cycle of a butterfly Draw pictures to illustrate the life cycle of a butterfly.

1. A butterfly begins its life as a tiny egg.

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C.Publ i cat i ons orr ev i ew pur posesonl y• 5.• Af colourful butterfly comes out of the cocoon.

2. A caterpillar hatches from the little egg.

4. At last the caterpillar makes a cocoon.

3. The caterpillar eats all day long.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 17

Practise your handwriting.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 18

Butterfly tangram Cut out the tangram below and make this beautiful butterfly.

Glue it onto coloured card and then decorate the beautiful butterfly.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 19

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pegs.

pencils.

He is as long as

counters.

He is as long as

He is as long as

Measure the caterpillar.

He is as long as

He is as long as

He is as long as

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 20

cm.

paper clips.

cubes.

Solve these problems.

1. I saw 2 orange caterpillars, 4 green caterpillars and 6 black caterpillars on my tree. How many caterpillars did I see altogether?

2. I had 12 caterpillar pets. Six of them changed into butterflies. How many are still caterpillars?

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C.Publ i cat i ons •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• 6+2+4=

+7 = 9

5+3+7=

+ 5 = 10

10 + 0 + 1 =

6+

= 11

12 + 2 + 4 =

4+

= 10

7+1+0=

10 +

= 13

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 21

Help the caterpillar get back home.

1

2

4

5 8

14 13

10

15 19

21 22

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C.Publ i c25 at i o ns 24 •f orr evi ew pur posesonl y• Count by 2s. Circle the numbers What number comes after 15?

What number comes after 19?

What number comes before 11?

What number comes before 23?

What number comes between 17 and 19?

What number comes between 27 and 29?

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 22

Area Copy this letter C How many squares does it cover?

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 23

Help the caterpillar change into a butterfly.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 24

Butterfly mobile

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1.

2.

3.

4.

Make a pattern on the wings, then colour.

Cut and fold on the dotted line.

Attach pipe cleaners for feelers.

Attach cotton, and use as a mobile in your classroom.

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Butterflies and Caterpillars - 25