Butterflywebsite.com - Get More than Basic Science Lesson Plans

For many years I have helped out in a local second grade classroom. First as a parent, then as an independent project and then as an educator. From start to finish I have found that not only is hands on experience important to today's child but adding to that knowledge with good websites is vital to a childs total educational growth. Though the class has been lucky enough to observe butterflies transform from their form of caterpillar through chrysalis and finally to "The Painted Lady" butterfly which they then released into the wild they still seemed to crave even more information that books were found lacking. Knowing today's child is an internet child I began visiting other sites to see what else we could learn about butterflies as well. Butterfly Website.com http://www.butterflywebsite.com/ is one of the sites we visited, and I found it to be an interesting, colorful and informative site for the class to share.

On this site we discovered sections such as articles about individual butterflies, habitat facts and basic information, a beautiful photo gallery filled with pictures and illustrations of butterflies, gardening tips on what and how to plant vegetation that will invite butterflies to visit your garden, checklists which list Butterflies of the United States, by State and Moths of the United States, by State as well, clip art that can be used for illustrations, class projects or school worksheets, stories about butterflies, raising them and releasing them into the wild and even a chat room for those interested in the life of the butterfly. There is also a "Breeders Circle" in which breeders can exchange stories, advice and information between themselves to make the experience richer for all involved. Links are also included for those who desire more information or who feel the need to further explore the lifecycle of the butterfly.

It should be noted that we actually found so many uses for the clip art alone for the class that many imaginative individual projects were created not by myself and my fellow educator but by the students themselves. To me, the use of materials offered the students combined with their imagination were the best part of all about this site. It opens doors for these children that might not be opened otherwise!

This site is easily navigated, brightly colored and interesting for all ages. It would be a great summer study unit for kids and adults alike and there is honestly so much information on this site that even adults will most likely find something they did not know before visiting and checking out the information there. Check it out and enjoy....it is not only a fantastic site for educational purposes but a delight to visit for fun!