Changes to the Environment

Thematic Unit Topic: ______ Butterflies________

Classroom Area: ______Outdoor Area____

List the Items You Plan to Introduce and How Much They Will Cost (a minimum of 6):
Remember:
The items should be safe, child-directed, encourage the use of multiple intelligences and provide
opportunities for sensory learning).
The items should be reasonably priced, able to be made by the teacher or easily obtainable.
Try to use objects that are already in the classroom in creative, new ways.
Think about what items you might obtain through donations from family, local business, etc.

1. Butterfly wings. These will be the same butterfly wings that have been used throughout the thematic
unit only for the outside to allow full mobility. These do not cost anything since they will be premade
already.
2. Caterpillar pins. These will be added to the trees and bushes. They can be created by using multi
colored pom poms and clothespins for about $5 dollars.
3. Milkweed seeds and flowers. These could be donated by the community or by the family, or could be
purchased online for $3.
4. Magnifying glass. This could be donated from families or bought for $1.
5. Paper mache cocoons to add outside. These will be premade by students and will be displayed outside
for the children to observe and compare.
6. Flowers to plant including a variety of different colors: red, yellow and purple. These can be donated
by the community or family. Alternatively they can be purchased for $5 dollars each.
7. Parsley, dill, fennel or lavender to attract a variety of butterflies. These can be donated or purchased
for $3 dollars.
8. Potting soil (2 5lb bags). This will be added to the outdoor area to encourage children to participate in
the project. These can be purchased for a dollar, or donated by the family or the community.
9. Gloves, small gardening shovels, and small water pitchers. This will provide the children with an
opportunity to maintain the garden and to participate in attracting butterflies. These can all be
purchased for a dollar.
10. Butterfly cutouts. These will be hung from strings (when placed in the trees) and will be added to the
play equipment when the children are ready to release their own butterflies. The materials needed in
order to make these cutouts are already available since they will be made using construction paper from
the classroom.
When will you introduce these items? (At the beginning of the thematic unit, throughout the unit
during a small group lesson plan, circle time)

I will introduce the plants during the childrens first few days of the activity. I will encourage the
children to describe some of the different appearances, feelings, and smells associated with the different
plants. I will then ask the children if they know why we are planting these flowers. I will then explain that
these flowers will attract different butterflies and caterpillars so they can visit our classroom. I will then
introduce the caterpillar made from safety pins to the outside bushes and trees to give the children a lived
in feel. I will then introduce the paper mache cocoons after the caterpillars have begun their
metamorphosis, this will be during a circle time activity which will revolve around children creating
cocoons for themselves using paper mache. I will then add the butterfly wings and the butterfly cutouts
during the final week, shortly before the class releases their butterflies back into the wild.













Are there any special rules that the children need to follow when using these items?
The children should not throw the potting soil at others.
The children must wash their hands before and after playing in the butterfly garden.
The children must not roughhouse in the garden, to protect the flowers and plants.









What do you hopethe children to learn?

It is my hope that providing the children with rich sensory experiences for exploration and discovery that
I can encourage the children to love the outdoors. I also hope to provide children with opportunities to
personalize a comfortable outside space that they can call their own. By creating a rotation of different
students working in the garden and tending it, I hope to also encourage the children to develop a sense of
personal responsibility as well as a sense of pride in their work in the garden. I also hope to provide
children with both fine motor and gross motor activities to encourage their development of more refined
control of their bodies. I also hope to teach the children cooperation and improve the childrens
socialization skills by giving them chances to work together with others to accomplish a common goal.














What are some ways that the children can reflect on what they have learned?

Children will have an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned whenever they discuss different solutions
or changes that the environments takes on as time passes. Children will also be able to reflect on what they have
learned whenever they volunteer to take responsibility for the conditions of the garden. Whenever a child claims
teacher look at the garden or I think that this time we should do this, they are refining their critical thinking
skills to develop new techniques to address a goal that interests them. Children will also be able to self correct
and measure their own results as well as their progress based on the condition of the garden. Children will then
be able to scaffold others to tend to the garden which will add to their prosocial skills by teaching letting them
reflect on their contributions to the group and how they can do more to help others succeed as well.