Lesson 4: Insect Life Cycles - Accredited Online School · P Observe the different stages in the life cycle of a plant or animal. (S) ... Life Cycles -> 4: Insect Life Cycles

Life Cycles -> 4: Insect Life Cycles

Lesson 4: Insect Life Cycles

Getting Started

? Big Ideas

P How are the life cycles of plants and animals similar and different?

P Where can cycles be found in nature?

P What is the pattern of a cycle?

Facts and Definitions&

P A young insect may look very different from an adult insect.

P A pupa is an insect in the non-feeding, usually immobile, transformation stage between the larva and the adult stages of the life cycle.

P A chrysalis is the hard-shelled covering for a pupa.

8 Skills

P Compare and contrast life cycles of other animals. (S)

P Describe the life cycle of living things. (S)

P Observe the different stages in the life cycle of a plant or animal. (S)

" Materials

"Butterfly Life Cycle"

"Butterfly Craft"

"Mealworms and Ladybugs (Page 1)"

"Mealworms and Ladybugs (Page 2)"

"Life Cycle Puzzles (Page 1)"

"Life Cycle Puzzles (Page 2)"

"Missing Stages (Option 1 - Page 1)"




What Is a Life Cycle? by Bobbie KalmanPblack pipe cleanerPbowtie pastaPButterfly KitPcardstockPconstruction paper* (Activity 2 - optional)Pcraft stickPgluePjournalPmarkersPpenne pastaPricePscissorsPshell pastaPtoilet paper tubeP

Page 1© Copyright 2017 Epiphany Curriculum, LLCDo not copy or distribute without written permission from Epiphany Curriculum, LLC.


Introduction

Tell your child that today she will learn about the life cycles of some insects. Ask your child to give you the names of insects she knows about. Reread the section of the life cycle of a ladybug beetle on pages 12-13 in the book, What Is a Life Cycle.

Activities

Activity 1: Butterfly Life Cycle

Tell your child that the butterfly is another animal where the young animal does not look like its parents. Ask your child what she knows about the life cycle of a butterfly. Butterflies begin life inside an egg. After they hatch from their egg, they are a caterpillar (also called larva). A hard shell called a chrysalis then forms around the caterpillar. Inside this chrysalis the caterpillar is changing into a butterfly. Let your child label the life cycle stages of the butterfly on the sheet, "Butterfly Life Cycle."

Now your child can illustrate the butterfly's life cycle stages using pasta. Give your child the three or four pieces of the following types of pasta: rice, bowtie pasta, penne pasta, and shell pasta. Let her identify which pasta represents the different stages of the butterfly's life cycle. She can glue them on the life cycle wheel where they belong.

Answers: rice (eggs), caterpillar/larva (penne pasta), chrysalis/pupa (shell pasta) and butterfly (bowtie pasta)

Activity 2: Butterfly Craft

Give your child the "Butterfly Craft" page and materials. Encourage her to read the directions and make the craft.

Activity 3: Mealworms and Ladybugs

Let your child look at the life cycle wheels on the page, "Mealworms and Ladybugs." Help her find information online about the life cycle of a mealworm. She can find information about the life cycle of a ladybug on pp. 12-13 of the book. Encourage her to look at colored pictures of each stage and to label the stages on the wheel. Then she can color the stages of each insect's life according to their actual color.

Day 2

Activity 4: Life Cycle Puzzles

On these pages, your child will find four life cycle puzzles. She can color the puzzles, glue them to cardstock paper, and cut them out. Then she can practice putting them together. Each time she completes a puzzle, encourage her to name and describe each stage of the life cycle. She can make the puzzles more challenging by dividing the pictures into more pieces. Laminating the puzzle pieces will help them last longer.

Activity 5: Missing Stages

Tell your child that while many insects go through a complete metamorphosis (change) like butterflies do (egg, larva, pupa, adult) but other insects like dragonflies and grasshoppers go though only 3 stages — egg, nymph, and adult. The nymph is a tiny version of the adult insect.

The mealworm (a type of beetle) has a life cycle similar to a butterfly. The following web site has more information about mealworms' life cycle.

Mealworm Life Cycle

www.movingbeyondthepage.com/link/3437

http://askabiologist.asu.edu/life-cycle

On the "Missing Stages" sheets, your child will find missing stages of some insects' life cycles on the life cycle wheels. Encourage her to illustrate and label the stages that are missing.

Select which option you would like your student to complete. Option 2 is more challenging.



Option 1

This option provides a word box for the missing labels.

Option 2 (Advanced)

This option does not provide the word box to label the missing stages. Your child can read about the life cycle of the insects and label the missing stages.

Activity 6: Live Butterfly Habitat

Give your child the live Butterfly Kit. Read the directions for how to set up the habitat. Your child will observe caterpillars as they turn into dangling chrysalides and then emerge into adult Painted Lady butterflies. Let your child keep a journal and spend five minutes each day drawing the insects in the habitat and writing a sentence to describe their appearance.

Wrapping Up

Review the fact that insects hatch from eggs and progress through their life cycle stages; the females lay eggs, and the adults die at the end of their life cycle. The new eggs begin the life cycle again and the process continues. Ask your child if she can think of anything else in nature that follows a cyclical pattern - seasons, day/night, rotation of the Earth, the water cycle, etc.

Life Application

Go to the park or in your backyard and look for other cyclical patterns and life cycles that can be observed in nature.




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Documents

Lesson 4: Insect Life Cycles - Accredited Online School · P Observe the different stages in the life cycle of a plant or animal. (S) ... Life Cycles -> 4: Insect Life Cycles