Unit: Insects & Tiny Animals

🦋 The Life of a Butterfly

Learn how butterflies grow and how they taste their food!

⏱️ 8 mins

📌 How to use this lesson

👩‍🏫 For the Teacher:

Use this 8-minute reading activity to teach the butterfly life cycle and vocabulary.

Check answers together using the evidence lines provided in the explanations.

🎒 For the Learner:

Read the short story about butterflies carefully first.

Then answer the 8 questions step-by-step and check your score.

📖 Read the story: The Life of a Butterfly

Level A1

A butterfly has four stages in its life: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and adult. A caterpillar eats a lot and sheds its skin 4 to 6 times. Inside the chrysalis, its body changes for 10 to 15 days. Then an adult butterfly comes out! A butterfly tastes with its feet. A mother butterfly lands on a plant to taste it. She wants a good place for her eggs.

A colorful educational illustration for children showing the 4 stages of a butterfly life cycle: egg on a leaf, green ca

💡 Words to know (Vocabulary):

caterpillar: a small long animal that eats leaves.

chrysalis: the hard home where a caterpillar changes.

shed skin: to drop old skin to grow bigger.

taste buds: small body parts used to taste food.

⭐ Look at this pattern:

"A butterfly is lighter than a beetle."

Try making your own sentence with animals in class!

✏️ What to do next: Answer the 8 questions

Easy ➔ Hard

Question 1 A butterfly has four stages in its life.

True / False

____ True ____ False

Question 2 What does a caterpillar do as it grows?

Multiple Choice

____ a. Sleeps all day ____ b. Flies in the sky ____ c. Eats a lot

Question 3 How many times does a caterpillar shed its skin?

Multiple Choice

____ a. 1 to 2 times ____ b. 4 to 6 times ____ c. 10 to 15 times

Question 4 The caterpillar changes its body inside the ____ .

Gap-fill

Hint: Write the missing word from the text.

Question 5 How long does the body change inside the chrysalis?

Multiple Choice

____ a. 10 to 15 days ____ b. 4 to 6 days ____ c. 4 weeks

Question 6 A butterfly tastes its food with its mouth.

True / False

____ True ____ False

Question 7 A butterfly lands on a plant to ____ it before laying eggs.

Gap-fill

Hint: What does the mother butterfly do on the plant?

Question 8 Why does a mother butterfly taste a plant with her feet?

Advanced

____ a. To eat all the leaves ____ b. To find out if it is a good place for her eggs ____ c. To take a long sleep

Reading: Life of a Butterfly

🦋 The Life of a Butterfly

📌 How to use this lesson

📖 Read the story: The Life of a Butterfly

💡 Words to know (Vocabulary):

⭐ Look at this pattern:

✏️ What to do next: Answer the 8 questions

Question 1 A butterfly has four stages in its life.

Question 2 What does a caterpillar do as it grows?

Question 3 How many times does a caterpillar shed its skin?

Question 4 The caterpillar changes its body inside the ____ .

Question 5 How long does the body change inside the chrysalis?

Question 6 A butterfly tastes its food with its mouth.

Question 7 A butterfly lands on a plant to ____ it before laying eggs.

Question 8 Why does a mother butterfly taste a plant with her feet?

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