Lovin' Life Cycles

Third grade Science standards in Texas require that we teach the life cycles of frogs and lady bugs.  In the process of creating my lesson plans, I found the perfect videos to authentically show these life cycles.  

Frogs




My class LOVED this video!  The photography is amazing and the music is fun!  They begged me to watch it over and over again.  I got so tired of them asking me, that I put a link to it on my class website.  There was no doubt that they learned the frog life cycle after watching this!  

Ladybugs




Again, beautiful photography!  The video was created by a second grade teacher and it is perfect.  Many of the students had not seen an aphid, so I found this video that shows live aphids and talks about a ladybugs role in a garden ecosystem. 



We then made a Venn diagram in our ISN's to compare the life cycles of the frog and the lady bug.  I have taught my students how to draw one as we use it frequently.  It saves lots of time, rather that cutting and gluing one in the ISN.  Here is a picture of the notes on our Venn diagram:

To transition, we finish by watching this telling of "The Grouchy Ladybug".  I love how the kids join in with the storyteller during the repetitive parts of the story.  This is another video they will want to watch again and again.  



The students were assigned a mission to look for ladybugs around their home.  The only one I've found so far is the one who hitch-hiked on my windshield when I drove home!  What a coincidence!