Submitted by Jaime Miller

Objectives:

Content:
Students will...

• identify key characteristics that differentiate a butterfly from a moth.
• demonstrate understanding of the traits and practices of butterflies and moths.

Cultural:

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will...

• use adjectives in correct number and gender agreement with the noun to describe traits of butterflies and moths with words such as colorées, chatoyantes, ternes, fines, plumeuses.
• use nouns to describe physical characteristics of butterflies and moths with words such as ailes, antennes, couleurs, corps.
• use the verb avoir in correct agreement with the subject to explain the characteristics that butterflies and moths have.
• use the negative forms of verbs to indicate what characteristics butterflies or moths do not have with phrases such as "doesn’t have…, don’t have…, is not…, are not…"
• use conjunctions to compare and contrast butterflies and moths with words such as "but, while."
• use the pronoun "both" to explain what characteristics are shared by butterflies and moths.
• use comparative and superlative forms of adjectives to describe characteristics of butterflies and moths with phrases such as plus importantes, "bigger body, smaller body, brighter colors."
• use the following phrase both orally and in writing to introduce an explanation of the key butterfly/moth characteristics. Je te présente les caratéristiques les plus importantes du papillon de jour/de nuit."
• use the following vocabulary orally to describe the key characteristics of a butterfly/moth to a classmate.

Nouns des ailes un corps des antennes

Verbs (3rd person singular present tense) voler avoir ressembler à se terminer

Adjectives colorée couleurs (bleu, rouge....) gros mince

Language: Content Compatible
Students will...

• use the verb ressembler à to propose examples of insects that are similar to butterflies.
• use adjectives to assess other classmates work in matching words with images with words such as "correct, incorrect, right, wrong."
• use verbs in simple present to express their ideas about correct matches between words and pictures with phrases such as "I think…, I believe…"
• use the following sentence to present key butterfly/moth characteristics to a classmate: Je te présente les caratéristiques les plus importantes du papillon de jour/de nuit.
• use clarification questions to inquire for the correct way to name insects, body parts and characteristics in French.

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...

• use pictures to identify and understand characteristics of butterflies and moths.
• use pictures to understand the meaning of new vocabulary.
• synthesize key characteristics that differentiate butterflies from moths by analyzing several pictures.
• cooperate in pairs and groups to complete a task.
• use Venn diagrams to organize ideas in a visual way to aid comprehension.
• use their previous knowledge about insects to prepare themselves for the tasks.
• take notes about important ideas when listening to a presentation and when reading information from the internet.  
• draw pictures to demonstrate understanding of a text (imagery).
• write down important words about a text (note-taking).

Time Frame:

Total time estimated at 2 hours

Materials Needed:

• Cut-outs or illustrations of butterflies and moths (see references for webpages)
• Cards with words and pictures (see attachments)
• Power point about differences moth-butterfly (see attachments)
• Insect workbook (pages 17-20)

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Preview:

1. Pre-teach vocabulary (au repos, des antennes, relève, and others necessary)
2. Put students in groups of four. The instructor provides each group with a set of cards (see Attachments below). Half of them have words or phrases with key vocabulary to be used during the lesson and the other half have illustrations that correspond to those words or phrases. Students are told that they can use their notebooks, their dictionaries and what they know about butterflies to match each word or phrase card to the correct picture card.
3. The teacher asks volunteers from different groups to show a pair that they formed and the class approves or disapproves the match. This is repeated until all matches have been checked.
4. The teacher tells students that they will study a type of insect that is similar to butterflies and at the same time different, and asks students to think of insects that they have seen that are similar to butterflies. The teacher can orient them by saying "maybe they are not butterflies but have wings, or antennae." Dragonflies, mosquitoes, flies, and moths could be examples. If students do not know the name in French for those insects the teacher could provide them with the name or ask students to look it up in the dictionary and read the name for the class.
5. If students do not mention moths, the teacher can do it, and explain that moths are insects that share some characteristics with butterflies but that are also different from them. The teacher tells the students that they will be researchers for a day to find those differences and similarities

Focused Learning:

1. In pairs, the students will examine illustrations of butterflies and moths and identify their similarities and differences. They will look for characteristics that only moths have, characteristics that only butterflies have, and characteristics that both share, and they will write the characteristics on a Venn diagram on a handout (in workbook, p. 17) The illustrations page (see Attachments) can be given to each pair students as a color copy or it can be displayed on the wall as a transparency.
2. Volunteers share with the class the characteristics that they found.
3. The teacher shows a power point presentation (see attachments) with five key differences between butterflies and moths and at the end emphasizes that there are always exceptions. Students take notes on page 18 of their workbook.

Expansion:

1. Students color a butterfly and a moth in their workbooks (p. 19) according to what they have learned.
2. Students use the internet and visit the web pages suggested in the references and resources section. They are told to read the descriptions of butterflies and moths and to look at the pictures. On page 20 in their workbooks, students should take notes on characteristics of moths and characteristics of butterflies.

3. Students sit in pairs and take turns to present their colorings and explain the characteristics that they found to their partner.

Extension Ideas:

Visit the insect website for additional activities on this lesson's content. http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/normandale/curriculum/insectes/papnuit.htm

Assessment:

The teacher will circulate to assess students work in finding differences between moths and butterflies and the Venn diagrams will be evidence of this work.

Descriptions of differences from the student workbook can be used for assessment.

The teacher will circulate during the expansion session to check students' understanding of information on the webpages and their comprehension of the material by listening to their presentations in pairs.

References and Resources:

Websites with photos of butterflies and moths:

Texts in French:
Both compared -
http://fr.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578331/papillons_(insectes).html

http://www.dinosoria.com/papillon/index.htm
http://www.insectes.org/question/reponse.md?cle_faq=376&type=text.html
http://membres.lycos.fr/ninichoquet/pages/papillon.htm

papillon de jour
http://lemondedesinsectes.over-blog.com/article-210445.html

papillon de nuit
http://lemondedesinsectes.over-blog.com/article-344541.html

More photographs, but text in English:
http://butterflywebsite.com/gallery/index.cfm

http://iannibutterfly.net/butterflies.htm

http://iannibutterfly.net/moths.htm

http://www.butterflyutopia.com/gallery.html

http://butterflies.aa6g.org/Butterflies/tropical.html

http://www.pbase.com/mplonsky/butterflies

http://www.pbase.com/mplonsky/moths

http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/distr/lepid/moths/mothsusa.htm
a lot of information on this site about moths of North America, and has siting maps, etc.

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

PowerPoint about differences of Moth/Butterfly

Illustrations to compare the moth and the butterfly. You might also want to print out examples from the webpages listed in Resources.

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota