Science + Poetry = Butterfly life cycle

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

Here is another installment in my series of science poetry tied to science-themed picture books. My graduate student, Desiree Peden (in my "Poetry for Children" class) selected the focus on “the butterfly life cycle” from the series of professional resource books, "Picture Perfect Science Lessons" by Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan (and published by the National Science Teachers Association). Here are her three infographics centered around the butterfly life cycle. The focus picture book trio is:

• Houdini the Amazing Caterpillar by Janet Pedersen
• From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

The poem that works perfectly with this book trio is “Inside the Chrysalis” by Tish Rabe from the book, My, Oh My—a Butterfly. Below is a graphic featuring all these books, followed by the featured poem, and then the Take 5 activities to accompany the poem along with a "bonus" poem, “Becoming Butterflies” by Jeannine Atkins from The Poetry of Science. Enjoy!

Now head on over to Jama's Alphabet Soup where she has a gorgeous spread for Poetry Friday. See you there!

Next week, I'll be sharing nuggets from the 12th Annual Poetry Round Up at the annual conference of the Texas Library Association where my fabulous panel included Irene Latham, David L. Harrison, Janet Wong, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Stephen Swinburne, K. A. Holt, and Kwame Alexander. It was amazing!

Science of poetry graphics created by Desiree Peden

Image credit: dialoguealumninews.wordpress.com