From Caterpillar to Butterfly

by Gerald Legg

Large illustrations and simple text describe how caterpillars become butterflies

Genres: Science, Nonfiction

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Jessica Pinnick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lifecycle of a butterfly would be good at the beginning of the year

[BiblioBeruthiel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great information here!

[Jenna Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear and accessible

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book and I have used it to integrate butterflies into our science life cycle unit.
A second grade leveled book, From Caterpillar to Butterfly, was chosen for it’s large and detailed illustrations and age appropriate text as it explains the life cycle of a butterfly. This book is being used as a starting point for exploring a butterfly and learning about it’s attributes. The students really enjoy the life like illustrations/photographs and they continue to explore the book no matter what reading level they are on.

[Hannah Morrison]

From Caterpillar to Butterfly is another great book to teach the life cycle although it is purely scientific. When we read this in my 2nd grade placement the students enjoyed getting their heads out of text books for a while. I saw how engaged students were when listening to the story, as well as how easily they connected the scientific concepts.

[Stephanie Croaning · Rating 4 out of 5]

An older book, but very good for a 2nd-grade butterfly research project.

[Ali Robinson]

Gerald Legg uses this book as a way to teach students about the parts of a butterfly as well as its lifecycle. From Caterpillar to Butterfly includes labeled and detailed illustrations of butterflies and it also gives insight to the different stages of life, how caterpillars and butterflies find food, take shelter, and how a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly.
This book is a short and easy read, and I think students would like using this book as a way to learn more about insects like the butterfly. The illustrations are also well done, and I like how the book labels the parts of the caterpillar and butterfly for us to look at.
After reading this book, I think students could play a matching game where they have to put the butterfly or caterpillar together. Then, they could map out the life cycle of a caterpillar. Then, if the school resources allow, we could either take a field trip to a butterfly sanctuary or we could take the class outside to look for caterpillars and butterflies in nature. This would allow students to get outside and to see caterpillars and butterflies first hand, and I think elementary students would really enjoy that.