Butterfly & Moth Unit

After going to Butterfly World, my students & I always start our Butterflies & Moth Unit. This cover both our life science standard about lifecycles (SC.2.L.16.1 in Florida) & our compare & contrast standard in reading (LAFS.2.RI.3.9). This is how I use it with my 2nd graders.

First we start with a basic Can Have Are anchor chart about Butterflies. Afterwards ask students to write 1 paragraph for each part of the anchor chart. This is a great way to prepare students for 3rd grade where they will be required to write 5 paragraph essays. 

Then we create a diagram with labels for the parts of butterfly. This was a great hands on review (or preview)  of the text features.

In my reading center, students read non-fiction text about the lifecycle of the butterfly and then summarize what they learned. My students read the Lifecycle of a Butterfly Task Cards included in the Butterflies & Moth Unit. However you can use a nonfiction book about Butterflies or have students research on the web. Another great resource my students use is Discovery Education (our school district has a paid subscription). Students listen to short videos about their topic and then write about it. I find that when students use videos for research they actively listen and are more engaged. They can't just copy. They have to listen.

 The culminating activity is to compare and contrast butterflies and moths. Here again students may use the included task cards or they may use information from their research. You can see my unit here.

Butterfly World

Recently my class went to Butterfly World on a Fieldtrip. It is the world's largest butterfly park. I've taken my second graders there for the past three years. We always follow up with my Butterflies & Moth Unit. You can read more about it here.

Students loved looking at their laboratory of chrysalis' from around the world. Some butterflies were seen emerging from their chrysalis while we were there.

 Walking through the gardens felt like paradise.

While the kids were listening to our tour guide, one of the butterflies landed on one of my student's  hair. You can see it on the right on the blonde. We learned butterflies are more likely to land on people who have light colored hair.

We thought this stream was beautiful! Of course all the girls wanted pictures here.

 My students loved jumping on the swinging bridge.

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If you are local to South Florida (or just visiting). I highly recommend going in February. We saw more butterflies than ever this year. You can see a video of Butterfly World below.

Why I started making my own BOOM cards?

After seeing how much my students loved the math BOOM cards I had downloaded, I searched for some Spanish BOOM cards for my Dual Language Students. Much to my surprise there were lots of French BOOM cards but very little Spanish BOOM cards. Of those I found none of them met the needs of my dual language class. If you are joining me for the first time or want to know more about BOOM, click here to learn more.

After making the first one, my students & I were hooked. I was able to add my voice to them which my students thought was very cool. If you are a DIYer stay tuned for my next post that shows you how easy they are to make. If you are not, no worries there are plenty of them already made, a lot of them free too, for you to choose from.

Here is my daughter, demonstrating Boom Cards from the  " Palabras con C" series. Click here for a free sampler.

In the first part students have to click the picture that matches the word. I included audio to help students hear the correct pronunciation of the word to aid in vocabulary development. When the speaker icon is pressed it saids "¿Dónde está ___?" which means "Where is ______?". As you can see in the video below students get instant feedback letting them know if they are correct or not.  



In the second part of the game students have to spell the words. The top speaker icon when pressed asks "¿Que es esto?" which  means "What is this?" The second speaker icon tells them what the object is. Doing this helps students sound out the word and reinforces Spanish vocabulary for those who need it.

The last part of my BOOM cards solves the problem of students saying I'm done & is perfect for centers. I included two different activities, the option one is geared towards beginning Spanish learners and option two is for more advanced students.

Today my daughter preferred to go on these BOOM cards instead of Roblox, making my mommy teacher heart happy.

What is Boom Learning?

A few weeks ago when my students needed to practice counting money. I decided to give BOOM learning a try. My students loved it! They beg me to go on BOOM. In all honesty, I have caught several on BOOM when they were supposed to be on AR or Reflex (digital learning apps that are paid by the school.)

Boom Learning is an online platform that hosts BOOM Cards. Boom Cards are digital task cards. The decks are gamified making it fun for students. They get instant feedback on their responses and teachers get data on individual students. Teachers sign up for free or paid accounts to assign BOOM cards to their students. Their are a few different membership plans.  There are a lot of BOOM cards to choose from.

Here are some of the BOOM cards I have tried with my students.

Counting Coins by Hooty's Classroom: Free

Money at the Carnival by Trinity Music

Money Word Problems by Garden Pea Design