This week while learning about the life cycle of a butterfly we also dove into the concept of symmetry. We watched a short informational video that explained what symmetry is and where we can find objects that are symmetrical around us. The video gave several examples in which we can find symmetry in nature. The first example was the shape of a butterfly’s wings and the designs on their wings! To demonstrate this I printed an outline of a butterfly and had the students only paint half of the butterfly. When they were finished I had them fold the butterfly in half and press down on the paper. They were delighted to open up their paper and see the design they had painted on half of the butterfly transferred over to the other half of the butterfly. We then looked up pictures of butterflies and looked through the different photos and made observations about how each butterfly was symmetrical.

Today the students colored a small book about the solar eclipse when they arrived to class and then at morning meeting we read a special issue of our monthly Scholastic magazine about the solar eclipse! The students also enjoyed a Dr. Binocs video that taught about the eclipse. We discussed the importance of the students wearing their special protective glasses that we placed in their Friday folders while they observe the eclipse. Some of the students shared with the class about their plans to travel to be in the path of totality for the solar eclipse.