Teacher-Led Reading Instruction | Small Group
Monarch Butterflies
Summary & Standard From egg to adult, monarch butterflies live fascinating lives. This book introduces children to engaging facts about the life cycle and migration habits of the monarch butterfly. Children will understand the sequence of events in an informational text.
Author: Karen Alexander Genre: Informational Text Content Area: Science Topic: Insects
Word Count: 250+ Themes/Ideas: learning about insect life cycles; understanding migration
Genre/Text Type Informational Text/Picture Book Remind children that informational text has facts about a topic. This picture book includes photos to inform the reader. Informational Text Features Maps Maps provide geographical information about monarch butterflies’ distribution and migration patterns. Vocabulary Academic Vocabulary amazing (p. 2): surprising or astonishing; filled with wonder milkweed (p. 5): herbs with milky juice and flowers Domain-Specific Vocabulary caterpillar (p. 6): a larva that changes into a moth or butterfly; it looks like a worm and may be hairy migrate (p. 14): to move to another area or climate at a particular time of year Challenging Features Text One sentence begins on page 6, but ends on page 8. Review the function of an ellipsis. Content Children may not be familiar with maps or with using map keys. Prepare them by previewing the maps on pages 12–15. Supporting Features Text The monarch’s story is told chronologically, as each life cycle event unfolds. This will help children grasp the time line of the monarch’s life. Vocabulary The main photo and the inset photo on each spread will support children in reading key words such as caterpillar and hatches .
A First Look Read the title and display the front cover. Have children predict what the book will be about. Ask what they notice about the butterfly in the photo. Explain that monarch butterflies are a type of butterfly that has black and orange stripes. Read and Analyze Informational Text ✪ If you have time constraints and want to concentrate on only a portion of the text, use the asterisked prompts to focus discussion. Understand Sequence of Events Help children recognize how the stages of a butterfly’s life are connected and why the order of events is important. Point out that the book follows the sequence of the butterfly’s growth and activities from egg to adult, its life cycle. ✪ (pp. 4–5) What is the first stage in a butterfly’s life? What clues in the text or photos show you what size the egg is? ✪ (pp. 6–7) What comes out of the egg? Why does it grow? How does the author end the page to show that something is about to happen? (pp. 8–9) What changes do you see happening to the caterpillar? How does the caterpillar resemble the body of the adult? How does it differ? (pp. 14–15) When the monarchs are grown, what do they do? What details in the text and photos tell you when and where the butterflies travel? ✪ (pp. 22–23) How does the author connect the beginning and the end of the life cycle?
98 Scholar Zone Summer: Reading & Writing
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