Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Tune in: Activating prior knowledge about butterflies

25 minutes

Find out: Explicit teaching about the effect of climate change on butterflies

20 minutes

Take action: Writing a poem to communicate scientific knowledge

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune in: Activating prior knowledge about butterflies

Step 1.

Discuss:

What changes to our environment are we seeing due to climate change?
What animals have been affected by changes to their environments due to climate change? Likely answers may include polar bears, koalas, whales. One animal we want to focus on in particular is the butterfly.

Step 2.

Discuss:

Share a fond memory you have of a butterfly. This could be at the zoo, in the backyard, on holiday, holding one, reading a book from the library.
What species of butterfly do you know? Cabbage white, Painted lady, Monarch, Black swallowtail, Long-tailed blue, Yellow migrant, Adonis blue, Brimstone

Find out: Explicit teaching about the effect of climate change on butterflies

Step 1.

Watch:

Monarch butterflies in steep decline as species listed as endangered | ABC News - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkdZZblBVpE)

Step 2.

Discuss:

Consider the numbers of population decline over a ten-year period. 384 million decreased to 60 million in ten years
Think about the impact climate change is having on the Monarchs. Drought impact on their host plant, milkweed and rising temperatures impact hibernation ending sooner.
What other native Australian species are impacted similarly? Monarchs are easy to monitor but can give us a wider gauge of the population of other insects and species—particularly the Bogong moth, native to Australia, which has similar migratory patterns.

Step 3.

Watch:

Immerse Yourself in a Monarch Swarm (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBl9tCjAvqU)

Step 4.

Independently, students write down emotive vocabulary to describe the monarch butterfly. This might include adjectives, verbs, onomatopoeia, metaphors, similes and/or adverbs. You might like to watch the video a couple of times.

Step 5.

Invite students to share their vocabulary and record the language as a class to use for Part C.

Emotive language may include: fragile, delicate, graceful, fluttering, as thin as paper, lively, vibrant, intriguing, symmetrical, swarm, array, flight

If it has not been mentioned by the children, ensure that students know that a group of butterflies is called a Kaleidoscope.

Take action: Writing a poem to communicate scientific knowledge

Step 1.

As a class, read through the poems about butterflies on the Student Worksheet.

Step 2.

Independently, students write a poem about butterflies or specifically monarch butterflies. Students are invited to write a free verse poem that does not have to rhyme or have a set number of syllables per line. Allow the students to let their creativity spark and write what comes to mind.

Students should reflect back on the emotive vocabulary collected earlier.

Students should use the information they have learned including where they are from, their habitat and their decline due to climate change to send a message to the reader about the impact of climate change.

Reflection

Invite some students to share their poems with the class.

Differentiated Learning

Extension Students can research any of the following:

whether there are butterfly houses near them.
what other impacts are affecting the decline of monarch butterflies. Habitat loss due to logging and urban sprawl is a large factor.
other species of butterfly, their geographic distribution, their environment and whether they are being affected by climate change, such as the European grapevine moth.
The Disappearance of Butterflies | Saving Earth | Encyclopedia Britannica
a Kaleidoscope of butterflies: a celebration of Britain’s 59 species by Jonathon Bradley could be obtained and read to supplement learning
use an atlas to mark where Monarchs can be found
use a specific rhyming pattern, such as Iambic Pentameter, to provide extension to poetry composition

Provisions for Learning Support - Use either of the following worksheets to make the poetry writing more accessible for students:

ACROSTIC

ROLL A SYLLABLE

Writing about Climate Change - Poems about Butterflies

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