Each Teacher Guide includes:

• Lesson Plans
• Paperback copy of the storybook Mariana Becomes a Butterfly
• Teacher Background Information
• Assessment Tools
• English Language Learner suggestions

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This unit helps students connect their knowledge of insects to a broader understanding of the natural system of pollination. Science concepts about insects, life cycles, pollination, and natural systems are introduced and reinforced, and different aspects of agricultural engineering are explored.

Through lessons and the unit's storybook--set in and around a young girl's butterfly garden in the Dominican Republic--students learn about the importance of balance within natural and agricultural systems, and consider what can happen when this balance goes awry. Students are introduced to agricultural engineering from a broad perspective, with brief overviews of Integrated Pest Management and pollination. For the design challenge students design and improve hand pollinators to work with different model flowers.

• FOSS Connection: Insects
• STC Connection: The Life Cycle of Butterflies
• GEMS Connections: Homes Under the Ground, Buzzing a Hive, Hide a Butterfly, Ladybugs