Leah Sacker and Bridget Baumgarten
Over the course of September and October, students will explore the Monarch butterfly. We will be focusing on; the life cycle of the monarch, animal adaptations, migration patterns and geography, the monarch's cultural significance and how the students can positively affect the declining Monarch population.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.7Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.5Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.7Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.5.9Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.bProvide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.cLink opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.3Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.7Make connections between the text of a story or drama and a visual or oral presentation of the text, identifying where each version reflects specific descriptions and directions in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.1Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.3Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.4.7Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.1.bProvide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.2Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.9Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.1Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table. For example, know that 1 ft is 12 times as long as 1 in. Express the length of a 4 ft snake as 48 in. Generate a conversion table for feet and inches listing the number pairs (1, 12), (2, 24), (3, 36), ...
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.A.2Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.MD.B.4Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in line plots. For example, from a line plot find and interpret the difference in length between the longest and shortest specimens in an insect collection.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.4.OA.A.3Solve multistep word problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers using the four operations, including problems in which remainders must be interpreted. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.A.1Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.Represent and interpret data.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.5.MD.B.2Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Use operations on fractions for this grade to solve problems involving information presented in line plots. For example, given different measurements of liquid in identical beakers, find the amount of liquid each beaker would contain if the total amount in all the beakers were redistributed equally.
We will be beginning our unit on majestic monarchs at the start of the school year and we are planning for it to continue through October and wrap-up on the Dia de los Muertos, which begins on Oct. 31st & ends on Nov. 2nd. Monarch butterflies play a role in the Día de los Muertos, because they are believed to hold the spirits of the departed. This belief stems from the fact that the first monarchs arrive in Mexico for the winter each fall on Nov. 1, which coincides with Día de los Muertos.
Characteristics
Life Cycles
Food Web
1. Read Monarch and Milkweed by Helen Frost and Leonid Gore.
2.Using Give-One-Get-one strategy students will compile a list of questions they have regarding the food web and butterflies
3. Ecosystem and food chain string activity using the Monarch butterfly.
Habitat
1. Create a wall mural of a butterfly habitat.
2. Read The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science by Joyce Sidman
3.Field trip to the butterfly habitat with our field journals and QFT activity & then design of our butterfly habitat garden.
4. Analyze aerial photos to see how land use has changed over time and make claims about possible solutions to address the decline of the monarch.
5. What impact does logging have on the environment and how does logging impact where monarchs overwinter? After watching a 10 min video pertaining to the, La Cruz Habitat Protection Project, students will participate in the give-one-get-one strategy to stimulate students’ thinking as they investigate this essential question.
Migration
1. Read Maria the Monarch by Homero Aridjis
2. Partners - How Far Can a Butterfly Glide (Engineer a paper monarch glider) - Measuring the distance and recording the data in a chart of their group's choice. They will be using the inquiry process to discuss factors such as wing position and shape affect its ability to fly long distances. Once the data has been graphed and students.
3. Watch the film, Flight of the Butterflies and then students will debate in groups using, Monarchs in the Balance Dilemma cards - Students will then use their knowledge of monarch overwintering habitat in Mexico to debate issues of land use from a variety of perspectives represented on the dilemma cards.
Butterflies in Culture
1. Read The Butterfly Dance by Gerald Dawavendewa, The Butterfly by Patricia Polocco, and Uncle Monarch and the Day of the Dead by Judy Goldman
2. Students will explore The American Museum of Natural History's website about butterflies in cultures around the world: https://www.amnh.org/explore/ology/zoology/the-butterfly-kingdom2/butterflies-in-culture
3. Dia De Los Muertos / Halloween - celebration, where we reflect on our learnings and discoveries of monarchs.
Culminating Activities:
(The mayor for more milkweed gardens, the construction crew working across the street where there was an abundance of milkweed, the principal, requesting more butterfly garden areas around our school, etc)
Students will be placed into 4 groups. Each of the 4 groups will be responsible for creating a 4-lined verse to a rap song pertaining to what they have learned about monarchs over the prior 2 months. The songs will be video recorded and we teachers will e-mail them to their parents. Also, if okayed by our principal, sing the song to their fellow school mates.
Students will be collecting data through field activities, mentor texts, and scientific articles.
Students will be formativley assessed through field journal entries, exit tickets, daily writing activities, the planning a Monarch garden and a citizenship project in which they will write to members of the community about how to benefit the Monarch butterfly, FQT questioning strategy, and Give-One-Get-One question activities throughout the unit. The students will be summatively assessed in; social studies using the citizenship project in which they will write to members of the community about how to benefit the Monarch butterfly. Students will also be summatively assessed in science at the end of the ecosystem unit.
Monarch Recovery Gardens: The Monarch Mission unit provided by National Wildlife Federation
Monachs in the Classroom
Flight of the Butterfly - An Inquiry Based Approach to studying monarchs in the classroom
National Science Foundation
American Museum of Natural History