INTRODUCTION

TASK

PROCESS

EVALUATION

RESOURCES

CONCLUSION

PRAIRIE POP-UP BOOK OUTLINE

BUTTERFLIES TO CHOOSE FROM

INTRODUCTION

The school that you attend wants to build a butterfly garden consisting of native prairie plants.  It will become the show place of the school.   Your principal is going to have a butterfly garden design contest.   Participants are to submit ideas to the principal of how they would like the butterfly garden to look.  A panel of judges will then pick the best design.

Task

In order to participate in the contest and design a butterfly garden complete with native prairie plants, you will have to become a prairie/butterfly expert.  To earn the title of BUTTERFLY/PRAIRIE EXPERT, you will:

**explore and research information about what a prairie is, what are the seasons of the prairie, and what animals, plants, and insects live on the prairie.

**make your garden inviting to butterflies by first researching what type of butterflies you would like to attract.  Second, you will need to find out what type of nectaring plants and host plants are conducive to these butterflies.

**Make your garden inviting to people by choosing your native prairie plants so that they are  pleasing to the eye.  Take into consideration bloom time and color.

**Choose a site on the school grounds that would best suit the needs of your native prairie plants and the students in your school.  When choosing this site, you need to consider the following:  exposure to sun, type of soil, drainage, and student use.

Process

Create a pop-up book using the prairie pop-up book outline.

Draw a map of where you plan to put your butterfly garden.   Include major landmarks.

Create a diorama of your butterfly garden that includes plants and butterflies.

Using the chart, fill in the prairie plants that you plan to use with appropriate information.

Using PowerPoint, create a presentation illustrating the butterflies you hope to attract along with the life cycle of those butterflies.  Also include host and nectaring plants for these butterflies.

Resources

Kinds of Butterflies

Anatomy of Butterflies

Prairie Plant Selection

Prairie Information

Wisconsin Prairies DNR

Plant & Picture Description

The Butterfly Guide

Behaviors to Watch

Children's Butterfly Site

How to Make Butterfly Gardens

Prairie Pop-Up Book Outline

Cover Page
Title
Draw a picture of your Butterfly Garden and Butterflies
All white paper should be colored
Author's name

Introduction Page
Make a pop-up monarch butterfly and milkweed
Color page completely
Write 5-6 sentences describing what a successful butterfly garden needs

Page 1
Draw a spring environment
Include the plants that you plan to plant in your butterfly garden that bloom in spring
Color page completely
Make a pop-up of a butterfly basking
Write 4-5 sentences describing the butterfly behavior basking

Page 2
Draw a summer environment
Include the plants that you plan to plant in your butterfly garden that bloom in the summer
Color page completely
Make a pop-up of a butterfly patroling or perching
Write 4-5 sentences describing the butterfly behavior of patroling or perching

Page 3
Draw a fall environment
Include the plants that you plan to plant in your butterfly garden that bloom in fall
Color page completely
Make a pop-up of a butterfly puddling
Write 4-5 sentences describing the butterfly behavior puddling

Page 4
Draw a host plant and a nectaring plant that can be found in your butterfly garden
Color page completely
Make a pop-up of a butterfly egg laying on your host plant
Write 4-5 sentences describing female behvior in egg laying

Page 5
Create your own page that includes something interesting that you learned as your were researching information on your butterfly garden.  It can be something interesting about butterflies, prairies, or plants.

Suggested Butterflies to Pick From

Monarch
Painted Lady
Black Swallow Tail
Zebra Swallow Tail
Karner Blue
Dreamy Duskwing
Wild Indigo Duskywing
Buckeye Butterfly
American Copper
Coral Hairstreak
Silver Spotted Skipper

Evaluation

Butterfly Expert

1.  Butterfly Book complete with only 0-4 errors.
2.  Power Point presentation illustrating 7-8 butterflies and their host  and nectaring plants.
3.  Map of Butterfly Garden colored, complete with major landmarks  labeled.
4.  Prairie Plant Chart of all butterfly gardent plants completed with    bloom time, color, sun, soil, and moisture.

Butterfly Guru

1.  Butterfly Book complete with only 5-7 errors.
2.  Power Point presentation illustrating 5-6 butterflies and their nectaring and host plants.
3.  Map of Butterfly Garden with major landmarks labeled.
4.  Prairie Plant Chart with 3/4 of all butterfly garden plants complete with bloom time, color, sun, soil, and moisture.

Butterfly Smart

1.  Butterfly Book complete with only 8-10 errors.
2.  Power Point presentation illustrating 3-4 butterflies and their nectaring and host plants.
3.  Map of Butterfly Garden with major landmarks labeled.
4.  Prairie Plant Chart with 1/2 of all butterfly garden plants complete with bloom time, color, sun, soil, and moisture.

Butterfly Friend

1.  Butterfly Book completed.
2.  Map of Butterfly Garden.
3.  Prairie Plant Chart with 1/4 of all butterfly garden plants complete with bloom time, color, sun, soil, and moisture.

Conclusion

In your efforts of creating a butterfly garden for your school, you have invited a rare and dynamic community of plants into your school yard.  You have learned that it is the insects that come to feed on these prairie plants and pollinate their flowers that form the foundations of the prairie food chain.