The teacher projects pictures and labels of each stage of the butterfly's life on the SMART Board in order to learn the stages of life -- egg, chrysalis, caterpillar and butterfly. Invite volunteers to approach the SMART Board and move the labels to the correct images. After the students correctly label the life cycles, the teacher projects the stages of the life cycle on the SMART Board in the wrong order. The students tap the board to rearrange the stages into the proper order. The teacher projects other slides outlining the events of each stage without the stage identified. A student is asked to use the interactive whiteboard pen to write the correct part of the life cycle that has been defined.
To study and observe butterflies at school, the students create and plant a butterfly garden. The pupils design a butterfly garden on the SMART Board. An image is projected on the SMART Board of the selected spot on campus to plant the garden. They identify plants and flowers to plant on campus that will attract butterflies. For example, monarch caterpillars eat the milkweed leaf. Once the image is projected, the students design their plan directly onto the image. Large swaths of color also attract butterflies. The students can use the color palette on the SMART Board to indicate the colors and use the markers to label the specific plants.
Students learn that some animals have to migrate to other climates in order to survive. Discovering the monarch butterfly's migration pattern with activities on the SMART Board integrates geography and science. The teacher projects an image of North America on the whiteboard, upon which students must identify the monarch's wintering sites in Mexico. They continue the activity into spring, moving the monarchs north as the season progresses. According to Journey North, "The monarchs begin their spring migration in March. An announcement comes from Mexico when the monarchs are on their way." Identifying the sites the monarchs are located in defines the migration patterns and gives students exposure to the regions of North America.
Butterflies have symmetry -- one side is the mirror image of the other side. The students can learn about symmetry on the SMART Board. The teacher projects a drawing of a butterfly with the wings divided into many sections. The students come one at a time to the SMART Board to color in a section of the wings, trying to keep the wings symmetrical. The students can be challenged to find symmetrical butterflies out of a selection of butterflies the teacher has devised for this activity. The teacher can make this activity as difficult or as easy as the level of the class demands.