How to Teach Life Cycles2023-10-02T14:22:47-05:00

Posted by: Alesia Netuk

Updated: October 2nd, 2023

How to Teach Life Cycles

How to Teach Life Cycles

Teaching life cycles to students is a way to engage young minds in the abstract concepts that we associate with birth, aging, and death while using a particular process model to deliver a fundamental cornerstone of science education. By learning about the life cycle of a fly or a frog, a butterfly or a chicken, children can be introduced to the marvelous intricacies of the natural world around us. Expanding the learning process to include vocabulary development, comprehension, guided writing, Venn Diagrams, activities, and crafts enriches its education in both engaging and comprehensive formats.

PREPARING ENGAGING LESSONS
JUST GOT EASIER …

Save hours on your lesson preparation time every week with an organized collection of high-quality, low-prep, hands-on printables right at your fingertips!

Try Premium Membership

PREPARING ENGAGING LESSONS
JUST GOT EASIER …

Save hours on your lesson preparation time every week with an organized collection of high-quality, low-prep, hands-on printables right at your fingertips!

Try Premium Membership

Vocabulary Development

Think and Discuss Strategy

Providing students with the structure and time to think about the life cycles encourages understanding the topic and then sharing their ideas with another classmate. The students themselves generate classroom participation rather than simply reciting answers to the teacher’s questions.

Picture Glossary

A picture glossary is an effective way to teach the concept of life cycles while expanding the student’s vocabulary.   For instance, if the subject is the butterfly’s life cycle, children may see images of caterpillars, larva, milkweed, wings, etc., and associate these illustrations with the words that match them.  Teachers can use this format to teach the lesson, and parents can also use the material to reinforce what is being taught.

Life cycle anchor charts:

Visual Learning

A classroom is also a teaching tool, as anchor charts, word walls, and posters present the life cycles in a vivid and colorful medium.

Lifecycle word wall cards:

Slides

What about a PowerPoint presentation to show the different development stages, with keywords spotlighted on the individual slides?  The slides may also be printed in booklet form to read to one another in small groups to facilitate guided readings. By listing several keywords on an index card, the students have cues that they can use to summarize the main concepts of the life cycles.

Flashcards

To develop a complete understanding of life cycles, the teacher may choose to use flashcards for the students.   This tried-and-true teaching tool allows the student to absorb facts in a method that’s easily absorbed and can also be fun, as a student tests his or her own knowledge against the flashcard.

Printable life cycles flash cards:

Developing Comprehension and Understanding of Life Cycle Sequencing

Teaching life cycle sequencing helps the student learn that events happen in a particular order:  a butterfly does not emerge from the cocoon until it first becomes a caterpillar. There are specific events in the process, and lessons can be developed that strengthen the understanding of the sequence of events in the life cycle.

Life cycle printbales:

Cutting and Pasting Pictures

This format is useful when combining a vocabulary log with the actual stages of the life cycle. Cutting out pictures of the life cycle and arranging them in sequence teaches the student what happens during each phase.  Labeling each stage supports the learning process and reinforces an understanding of the sequencing.

Cut and paste life cycle activities:

Vocabulary Log

The student will delve into the words used in the life cycle lesson by creating a vocabulary log.  Categories for the log include:

  • The target word;
  • The definition of the word that fits the context in the life cycle lesson;
  • An associated meaning of the word;
  • Relating the meaning of the word.

Guided Writing

Guided writing allows the teacher to work with a group of students to encourage learning the life cycles through writing. Using a writing journal, the student will describe the individual stages of the animal’s life cycle, using the vocabulary that is relevant to the animal. Some students may have difficulty with guided writing assignments, but this is where the vocabulary log, the picture glossary, and other supports can help the student develop a deeper understanding through the life cycles’ writing.

Students explore each stage of life cycle and look at the pictures as a reference:

Venn Diagram

The evolution of an animal through the stages of its life, comparing and contrasting the life cycles, can be effectively demonstrated using Venn Diagrams. A student can compare two different species—for instance, a bear and a human—by creating one Venn Diagram showing the life cycle of a bear on the left side of the paper and another Venn Diagram that describes the life cycle of a human on the paper’s right side.  Using words that compare and contrast, the student will determine what characteristics belong in the overlapping section of the Venn Diagram.

Life cyle Venn Diagras:

Supplementing the Learning Process

Drawing and Labeling the Life Cycle

This essential exercise details the specific facts of the animal’s life cycle so that the student can understand, in a systematic and orderly fashion, what the animal undergoes throughout its life.

Life cycle labeling activities:

Memory Game

Games are a fun way to instill concepts in a student.  Students can engage in a memory game, matching the picture or word with the appropriate life cycle stage. The “I Have, Who Has” game can be played with the entire class or in small groups.

Small-Group Play

  • The student deals the cards to all the players.
  • Players arrange the cards, face-up, in front of them. Students may be encouraged to develop a system for arranging their cards, for instance, in order from the least to the greatest so that they can find their cards quickly.
  • Someone asks the question.
  • The student with the card that answers the question reads the answer.
  • The student then reads the question on the card.
  • The student turns over the card after reading it.
  • The first person to turn over all his/her cards is the winner of the game.

Classroom Play

  • The teacher distributes a card to each student.
  • Extra cards are distributed to the stronger students when the game is first played; later, as the students are more familiar with the cards, they may be handed out randomly.
  • Choose the student with the starter card to begin the game.
  • Play continues until returning to the original card.

After the students have become adept at the game, the teacher may add a new element: a stopwatch. The students will try to compete with their previous time.

Life cycle memory games:

Life Cycle Craft

There is an abundance of crafts that supplement the teaching life cycles. Depending upon the ages of the students, crafts may be simple or elaborate. In many cases, paper plates, construction paper, glue, uncooked pasta, yarn, and food coloring are needed to inspire a child’s artistic creativity while providing a visual resource for the life cycle lesson.

Life cycle units:

LEARNING MATERIALS TO MEET EVERY CHILD’S NEEDS

Here, at PrimaryLearning.Org, we tend to deliver the best-differentiated learning materials to K-2 students. Our resources can be easily incorporated into multisensory lessons to meet every child’s needs, whether s/he is a visual, kinesthetic, or auditory learner.

Try Premium Membership

Title

Primary school educational resources for teachers and parents including worksheets, printable workbooks, lesson plans, hands-on activities and most up-to-date educational articles.

Copyright © 2016 - 2024 PrimaryLearning.org. All right reserved.
FacebookInstagramPinterest
 50% OFF Annual Membership
JOIN TODAY
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Ok
Go to Top