Monarchs, Milkweed, and Metamorphosis
Subject Matter
Metamorphosis, symbiotic relationships
Essential Question
1. How do monarchs and milkweed rely on each
other for survival?
2. What are the stages of metamorphosis?
3. How does metamorphosis take place?
4. Why do butterflies have scales on their wings?
5. How does the weather affect flight patterns of
butterflies?
Key Vocabulary
1. Metamorphosis
2. Pollination
3. Symbiotic Relationship
Learning Objectives
1. Students will be able to identify the process of
metamorphosis.
2. Students will be able to give evidence of a
symbiotic relationship between a monarch
butterfly and a milkweed plant.
3. Students will be able to scientifically classify
butterflies.
Curriculum Connections
Michigan K-12/Next Generation Science Standards
Kindergarten
● K-LS1-1​
U
​se observations to describe patterns of
what plants and animals (including humans)
need to survive.
● K-ESS3-1​
​
Use a model to represent the
relationship between​
t​
he needs of different
plants and animals (including humans)​
and the
​
places they live.
Second Grade
● 2-LS2-2​
​
Develop a simple model that mimics the
function of an animal in dispersing seeds or
pollinating plants.
Third Grade
● 3-LS1-1 ​
Develop models to describe that
organisms have unique and diverse life cycles
but all have in common birth, growth,
reproduction, and death.
Fourth Grade
● 4-LS1-1​
​
Construct an argument that plants and
animals have internal and external structures
that function to support survival, growth,
behavior, and reproduction.
Plant Transpiration
Subject Matter
Plant Transpiration
Essential Question
1. How does a plant obtain energy and nutrients
from the environment?
2. Why is transpiration important?
3. How does a plant transpire?
4. Where does the mass of a plant come from?
Key Vocabulary
1. Transpiration
2. Respiration
3. Water Cycle
Learning Objectives
1. Students will be able to describe the process of
transpiration.
2. Students will be able to conduct experiments in
order to measure transpiration.
3. Students will be able to identify the process in
which plants gain mass.
Curriculum Connections
Michigan K-12/Next Generation Science Standards
Elementary
3rd Grade
● 3-LS4-3. ​
Construct an argument with evidence
that​
in a particular habitat some organisms​
​
can
​
survive well,​
some survive less well, and some
​
cannot survive at all​
. 4th Grade
● 4-LS1-1. ​
Construct an argument​
that plants and
​
animals have​
internal and external structures
​
that​
function to support survival, growth,
​
behavior, and reproduction.
5th Grade
● 5-LS1-1. ​
Support an argument that​
​
plants get​
the
​
materials they need​
for growth chiefly from air
​
and water.
Middle School
● MS-ESS2-4.​
Develop a model to describe the
cycling of water through Earth's systems​
driven
​
by energy​
from the sun and the force of gravity​
​
.
● MS­LS1­6. ​
Construct a scientific explanation
based on evidence for​
the role of
​
photosynthesis in​
​
the cycling of matter and flow
of energy​
into and out of organisms.
​
● MS-LS2-1​
Analyze and interpret data to provide
evidence for the effects of resource availability
on organisms and populations of organisms in
an ecosystem.
High School
​
● HS-LS1-5​
. Use a model to illustrate how
photosynthesis transforms light energy into
stored chemical energy.
● HS-LS1-2​
. Develop and use a model to illustrate
the hierarchical organization of interacting
systems that provide specific functions within
multicellular organisms.
● HS-LS1-7​
. Use a model to illustrate that cellular
respiration is a chemical process whereby the
bonds of food molecules and oxygen molecules
are broken and the bonds in new compounds
are formed resulting in a net transfer of energy.