79. Are Butterflies Insects? Investigation Activities for 1st and 4th Graders

Now let's get into these activities to explore the question, are butterflies insects? So for first grade, the next generation science standard that I pulled was 1-LS3-1, make observations to construct an evidence-based account that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly like, their parents.

For first grade, I would suggest an activity that helps answer the question, are butterflies insects, by starting with a thinking board that goes a little further back, focusing on the question, what is an insect? Before I explain the activity, though, I just wanted to share a little background on thinking boards.

In Next Generation Science Standards, a thinking board is a student-centered tool that makes student reasoning and thinking visual, dynamic, and collaborative.

This could take the form of a poster, a bulletin board, a graphic organizer, or another visual option.

The key aspects of a thinking board to keep at the forefront of your mind as the educator is that it's student-generated and maintained, the educator doesn't quote-unquote filter the thoughts or learning occurring, and evolution of your students' learning is shown in some sort of visual way.

So going back to my initial thought, I would suggest starting with a thinking board that's asking the question, what is an insect? Tell your learners that they're going to investigate something called an insect, and you want to be careful not to give away too much information.

So try to avoid saying that you're going to investigate an animal called an insect.

Instead, just let them know that they're going to investigate something called an insect.

Tell them to think about what an insect is to them.

Then work together to start your class or homeschool family thinking board.

How do they want to represent their thoughts? Do they want to use sticky notes on a board? Or do they want to use a KWL chart? Or would they rather create a diagram of an insect? Remember, the thinking board is a place for your learners to take ownership, and they should decide how they want to share their learning journey.

After the majority of your learners agree how they'd like to represent their learning, start having them record their initial thoughts.

Remember, you want to let this process happen unfiltered.

They may write down that an insect is an animal, or they may write down that spiders are insects, or they may write that insects have 100 legs.

Let those thoughts find their space on the thinking board.

The goal of this board is to keep their thinking at the forefront of their minds, but also help them document their progress in all learning deserves celebration.

As you continue learning about insects, make sure to check back on your thinking board and double-check their previous thoughts.

The children should be in charge of deciding if their previous thoughts are factually accurate from their learning, if they need some adjustments, or if they still don't have enough information to make any assessments.

After you've studied insects and worked through their thinking board, hopefully they'll have uncovered that insects have six legs, three body parts, compound eyes, an exoskeleton, and sometimes they have wings.

Once your learners have a good handle on what makes an insect an insect, circle back to answer the question, are butterflies insects? They can use the thinking board to evaluate whether or not a butterfly is an insect, and by checking their thinking against butterflies, they'll be double-checking their learning while also applying their newfound knowledge in a critical way.