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=Welcome to Comics for Education=

PDF version of my activity:

PDF version of my comics:



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= = = = =My Comic Strip=
 * Monday || [[image:Page_1.jpg width="467" height="413" align="left"]] ||
 * //Description// || The first slide shows a little girl wondering where butterflies come from. This would be showed the first day of the lesson being taught to stimulate thought and discussion amongst the students about butterflies. ||
 * Tuesday || [[image:Page_2.jpg width="489" height="468" align="left"]] ||
 * //Description// || The second slide shows the beginning stages of the monarch butterfly. The pictures help show what happens during the first stage. ||
 * Wednesday || [[image:Page_3.jpg width="478" height="474" align="left"]] ||
 * //Description// || The third slide goes into the next stage discussing the caterpillar. ||
 * Thursday || [[image:Page_4.jpg width="467" height="434" align="left"]] ||
 * //Description// || The fourth slide shows how the cocoon is formed and the start of the transformation into the butterfly. ||
 * Friday || [[image:Page_5.jpg width="465" height="470" align="left"]] ||
 * //Description// || The fifth slide shows the complete metamorphosis from the caterpillar into the butterfly. ||
 * Saturday || [[image:Page_6.jpg width="476" height="474" align="left"]] ||
 * //Description// || The sixth slide is a recap of what was discussed in the previous slide, and brings in a little bit of humor. ||

=My Lesso**n**=

**Project 2: Comic Life Project ** Kristin Limbaugh September 20, 2010

**Title: ** Butterfly Life Cycle of the Monarch

**Audience: ** 2nd grade students/Science

**Introduction: ** Experiencing Comic Life and understanding how great of a Web 2.0 tool it is, I have learned of its great potential and influencing use it could offer in the classroom. My Comic Life project is intended for 2nd grade and to be used during the teachings of life cycles. I have chosen to use the monarch butterfly to help explain the life cycle more clearly, in hopes of making it easier for the students to learn. I will be borrowing a webquest created by another teacher that discusses everything there is to know about monarch butterflies in 2nd grade content. I will use my comic strips each time a new stage of the butterfly is introduced, while the students are continuously working on the webquest. I do not have my own classroom, therefore, at the end of the comic life activity, I will be commenting on lessons learned from the experience. I hope that one day; I can use this activity in my future classroom.

**Purpose: ** The purpose of this assignment is for second grade students to learn what life cycles are and how they relate to the world around us. They will also be using technology while creating the webquest about butterflies, which will enable them to feel more comfortable with using technology and having it incorporated into their lessons. Students are going to have opportunities to inquire knowledge and information on their own. Students will be creating various projects on the computer to help work on their technological skills. By the end of the activity, the students should have a clearer vision on what life cycles are, especially retaining to the monarch butterfly, and how they affect or environment every day.

**Learning Objectives/Outcomes: ** 3-5 GPS related to Science Content Standards: **S2L1. Students will investigate the life cycles of different living organisms. ** a. Determine the sequence of the life cycle of common animals in your area: a mammal such as a cat or dog or classroom pet, a bird such as a chicken, an amphibian such as a frog, and an insect such as a butterfly. **S2CS1. Students will be aware of the importance of curiosity, honesty, openness, and skepticism in science and will exhibit these traits in their own efforts to understand how the world works. ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">a. Raise questions about the world around them and be willing to seek answers to some of the questions by making careful observations and measurements and trying to figure things out. **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">S2CS5. Students will communicate scientific ideas and activities clearly. ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">a. Describe and compare things in terms of number, shape, texture, size, weight, color, and motion. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">b. Draw pictures (grade level appropriate) that correctly portray features of the thing being described. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">c. Use simple pictographs and bar graphs to communicate data. **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">S2CS6. Students will be familiar with the character of scientific knowledge and how it is achieved. ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">Students will recognize that: <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">a. When a science investigation is done the way it was done before, we expect to get a similar result. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">b. Science involves collecting data and testing hypotheses. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">c. Scientists often repeat experiments multiple times and subject their ideas to criticism by other scientists who may disagree with them and do further tests. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">d. All different kinds of people can be and are scientists. **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">S2CS7. Students will understand important features of the process of scientific inquiry. ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">d. Much can be learned about plants and animals by observing them closely, but care must be taken to know the needs of living things and how to provide for them. Advantage can be taken of classroom pets.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">2-4 GPS related standards to Reading and Writing: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">ELA2R2 The student demonstrates the ability to read orally with speed, accuracy, and expression. The student ** <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">a. Applies letter-sound knowledge to decode quickly and accurately. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">b. Automatically recognizes additional high frequency and familiar words within texts. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">c. Reads familiar text with expression. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">d. Reads second-grade texts at a target rate of 90 words correct per minute. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">e. Uses self-correction when subsequent reading indicates an earlier misreading within grade-level text. **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">ELA2R3 The student acquires and uses grade-level words to communicate effectively. The student ** <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">a. Reads a variety of texts and uses new words in oral and written language. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">b. Recognizes grade appropriate words with multiple meanings. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">c. Recognizes and applies the appropriate usage of homophones, homographs, antonyms, and synonyms. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">d. Determines the meaning of unknown words on the basis of context. **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">ELA2W1 The student begins to demonstrate competency in the writing process. The student ** <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">a. Writes text of a length appropriate to address a topic and tell the story. <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">b. Uses traditional organizational patterns for conveying information (e.g., chronological order, similarity and difference, answering questions). **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">ELA2W2 The student writes in a variety of genres, including narrative, informational, persuasive, and response to literature. ** <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">d. Includes the appropriate purpose, expectations, and length for the audience and genre. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">e. Develops characters and setting using sensory details (descriptive adjectives and strong verbs). <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">f. Uses organizational structures (beginning, middle, end, and sequence of events) and strategies (transitional words/phrases, time cue words). <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">g. Begins to develop characters through action and dialogue. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">h. Develops a sense of closure. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">i. May include pre-writing.

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">Step-by-Step Procedure: ** The step-by-step procedure for the butterfly life cycle activity: 1. Introduce students to comic life strip one and start a class discussion on where they thing butterflies come from. 2. Assign students a partner. 3. Have them come up with a group name and write it on folder. 4. Give them a folder to keep their information organized in. 5. Take the students to the computer lab and introduce them to the butterfly webquest they will be working from. 6. Walk students through the webquest and explain the projects they will be creating. 7. With the partners have them read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” and write down three important facts from the book in their folder. 8. Have the students complete the recall worksheet and answer questions regarding “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” book. 9. Have the students visit the webquest in small groups in the classroom and write down unique facts about the butterflies’ wings. 10. Have students complete the butterfly’s wing symmetry worksheet from the webquest. 11. Have students use Kidspiration to create their own symmetrical monarch butterfly and print off for their folder. 12. Show the students comic strip two and begin discussing the first stage of the butterfly life cycle, the egg. 13. Have the students complete and activity by putting together 100 objects to represent how many eggs a butterfly lays and then have the students take ways 99 of the objects, leaving 1 egg remaining, representing the egg that actually hatches. 14. Have the students write in their journals what happens during the first stage of the butterfly life cycle. 15. Show the students comic strip three and begin discussing the second stage of the butterfly life cycle, the caterpillar. 16. If season and weather permits, go on a nature walk to find different caterpillars. 17. Have student’s access webquest in small group and complete the activity on finding out what the caterpillar does during its stage. 18. Have the students write in their journals what happens during the second stage of the butterfly life cycle. 19. Show the students comic strip four and begin discussing the third stage of the butterfly life cycle, the cocoon. 20. Have the students make a pretend cocoon with string and a peanut talking about what goes on in the cocoon while the caterpillar is in it. 21. Have the students write in their journals what happens during the third stage of the butterfly life cycle. 22. Show the students comic strip five and begin discussing the fourth stage of the butterfly life cycle, the butterfly. 23. Have the students access the webquest in a small group and complete the activity on making their own life cycle and put it in their file. 24. Have the students watch a video on United Streaming explaining the life cycle of the monarch butterfly to recap the information. 25. Have the students write in their journals what happens during the butterfly stage and why it is called a life cycle. 26. Have the students access the webquest in a small group and find out what happens to the monarch butterflies during the Fall and complete the migration worksheet and put in file. 27. Have the students access the webquest in small groups and play some of the online butterfly games.

**Lessons learned:** I have learned an abundant amount of information while working with Comic Life. When I first started putting together my comic, I was thinking how in the world it this going to be beneficial in the classroom. Now, I can see that it would be an outlet for the students to be able to create something of their own, where they can add their own expression and personality into the project. Also, this is a fun and colorful way for the teacher to get an activity/lesson plan started because I think the students would enjoy reading the comics instead of just listening to the teacher talk the whole time. Comic Life would be beneficial for all student levels, and could be adapted to all student levels. This could also be adapted to fit almost any academic subject. It really allows for personal creativity and individualization, which I think students crave.

**Conclusion:** I am so excited to have been introduced to the fun world of Comic Life. I cannot even begin to describe what I learned while experiencing Comic Life and creating a lesson/activity to go along with it. I learned and discovered how much fun and useful comic life would be in a classroom. This was my first time experiencing Comic Life, and I loved it. Comic Life helps bring in more classroom/student skills than just creating something fun. The students are able to learn/work on technical skills, writing skills, and language skills. If the teacher were able to find some way to incorporate Comic Life into each lesson/activity, or at the beginning of each unit, I think the teacher would find more of a learning connection with the students rather than just learning information from the book. Students want to learn and think “outside of the box” and I think Comic Life helps do just that. = My Assessment Tool: =

**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%;">Assessment Tool: ** Rubrics will be used to evaluate the partners working together, completing the portfolio (or file for their group), completing the Kidspiration project, and completing the life cycle art project. Files: