Butterfly, Butterfly: Teaching Vocabulary

Summary

This activity uses Informational Text to teach Kindergartners vocabulary.

Materials

• Non-Fiction Book of teacher's choice. (The book used in this lesson is Butterfly, by Jenny Feely and published by Sundance.)
• Materials of teacher's choosing to create a book of the life-cycle of butterflies.
• Labels of the vocabulary words.

Student Prior Knowledge

Students should be introduced to life cycles before teaching this lesson. Talk about how they were once babies, and then they were able to eat, walk and talk by themselves. Also discuss how they will continue to change as they grow up. Be sure to relate this to other animals, plants, and insects.

Instructional Procedures

Day 1:

• Choose several words that are essential to the book's understanding.

• For this book the words are: butterfly, chrysalis, egg, and caterpillar.

• Before reading the story, introduce the words with pictures and discuss what each one means.

• Ask for student input. Many of them will have had an experience with a few of them.

• During reading emphasize the vocabulary words as you come to them. The book used in this lesson has actual photos of the different stages.

• Students could be encouraged to look for these at recess, or at home in their own yards.

Day 2:

• Have the children make a book of the life cycle of the butterfly.

• Let the children label the book with the vocabulary words.

• Encourage them to "read" their books to parents etc.

Extensions

This lesson can be adapted to any informational text.

Assessment Plan

The teacher can observe the placement of the labels in the children's books. The teacher can also observe conversation and proper use of the vocabulary words.