The Butterfly LEVELED BOOK • K

Life Cycle The Butterfly

Life
A Reading A–Z Level K Leveled Book
Word Count: 425

Connections
Cycle
Writing and Art
Draw a diagram of the butterfly life
cycle. Write about each stage and what
happens in between the stages.
Science
Pick two stages of the butterfly life
cycle. Compare and contrast them with
a partner.

K •N
H •

Written by Torran Anderson

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The Butterfly Words to Know

Life Cycle
butterfly pupa
life cycle scales
mate stages
Photo Credits:
Front cover, back cover: © Kevin Knight/Alamy; title page: © iStock/Cathy Keifer;
page 3 (main): © Roberta Olenick/All Canada Photos/Corbis; pages 3 (inset),
6 (bottom): © Jordan McCullough/123RF; page 4 (top): © iStock/Steve Snyder;
page 4 (center left, center right): © iStock/Susan Wood; page 4 (bottom):
© iStock/Lisa Thornberg; page 5 (top main): © Michael Ready/Visuals Unlimited,
Inc.; page 5 (top inset): © Papilio/Alamy; pages 5 (bottom), 11 (bottom): © iStock/
AmbientIdeas; page 6 (top): © Dick Poe/Visuals Unlimited, Inc.; page 7 (top):
© Cathy Keifer/Dreamstime.com; page 7 (bottom): © Le Do/123RF; page 8:
© Blend Images/Alamy; page 9 (top left): © iStock/Joe Pogliano; page 9 (top
right, center left, center right): © Scott Camazine/Alamy; page 9 (bottom):
© iStock/triggermouse; page 10: © Patty Jenks/Dreamstime.com; pages 11 (top
left, top right, center left, center right), 12 (both), 13 (both): © Michael Durham/
Visuals Unlimited, Inc.; page 14 (main): © iStock/Debra Wiseberg; page 14 (inset):
© Ingo Arndt/Minden Pictures; page 15: © Jaap de Roode

Written by Torran Anderson

www.readinga-z.com

Focus Question The Butterfly Life Cycle

Level K Leveled Book Correlation
© Learning A–Z LEVEL K
What is the life cycle Written by Torran Anderson
Fountas & Pinnell J
of a monarch butterfly? All rights reserved. Reading Recovery
DRA
17
18
www.readinga-z.com
 Life Cycle of a Butterfly

caterpillar

egg
pupa

adult
butterfly

Table of Contents
The Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Egg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Life Cycle
Pupa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
A monarch butterfly has four
Adult Butterfly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
stages in its life cycle . They are
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 egg, caterpillar, pupa, and adult .
The Butterfly Life Cycle • Level K 3 4
A young caterpillar hatches from its egg. A female monarch butterfly
usually lays only one egg on a leaf.

Egg
The young caterpillar eats its own shell. If there are two eggs on a leaf,
A female monarch butterfly lays the caterpillar will eat the other egg first!

an egg on the bottom of a leaf . She The hungry caterpillar eats all the
might lay several hundred eggs time . It needs a lot of food to
in her lifetime . The eggs are oval grow . First, the caterpillar
shaped . A caterpillar grows inside eats its own eggshell .
the tiny egg . The egg hatches Then, the caterpillar
in three to twelve days . eats the leaf it is on .

The Butterfly Life Cycle • Level K 5 6

 Do You Know?
Monarch caterpillars
only eat the leaves of the
milkweed plant.

The caterpillar’s bright black and yellow colors warn animals that they will
get sick if they eat it.
The caterpillar puts down sticky silk. The silk keeps the old skin in place
while the caterpillar wiggles out of it. New skin is under the old skin .
The caterpillar grows quickly, but its It is soft at first but soon hardens .
skin does not grow . The caterpillar’s The caterpillar sheds its skin four
old skin splits and peels away . The to six times and eats the old skin
caterpillar will shed the old skin each time . The caterpillar grows
many times in this stage . for two to four weeks .
The Butterfly Life Cycle • Level K 7 8
 The green color helps the caterpillar hide from other animals.
The caterpillar’s skin splits down its back like a zipper!
This green skin hardens around
Pupa
the caterpillar . It will protect it from
When the caterpillar is grown, it other animals as it changes inside .
hangs from a branch to prepare for The caterpillar becomes a pupa . It
the next stage . It sheds its skin one will stay inside its shell for one to
last time . The new skin is bright two weeks . During this time, big
green and looks like a leaf . changes happen to its body .
The Butterfly Life Cycle • Level K 9 10
The butterfly breathes in air to make its body bigger. Then, the shell splits While the butterfly hangs, it pushes blood into its wings.
so the butterfly can climb out.
The new butterfly rests . The
Adult Butterfly
butterfly must hang upside down,
An adult butterfly comes out of the or it will not be able to fly . Blood
shell . Its wet wings are folded pumping into the wings causes
against its body . them to unfold and spread out .
The Butterfly Life Cycle • Level K 11 12
Most monarch butterfly wings are about 4 inches (10 cm) from tip to tip.

The butterfly hangs for several hours .

The sun and air dry its delicate Monarch butterflies drink nectar, a sweet liquid made by plants,
wings . A butterfly has two pairs of with a long tongue shaped like a tube.

wings . They are covered in scales . Once the butterfly is able to fly, it
The wings in the front often have a flies off to eat . Unlike a caterpillar,
different pattern from the pair in the a butterfly does not eat leaves .
back . The colors on the wings are Instead, it sips sweet liquid from
usually similar to each other . flowers . It also searches for a mate .
The Butterfly Life Cycle • Level K 13 14
 Glossary
butterfly an insect with four wings
(n.) that are bright in color (p . 4)

life cycle the stages of change that

(n.) a living thing goes through
during its life (p . 4)

mate (n.) the partner of an animal

with which it produces
young (p . 14)
A female monarch butterfly may lay 400 to 500 eggs in her lifetime!
pupa (n.) a young insect in the stage
Adult butterflies do not grow . They between a larva and an
save their energy for flying and adult (p . 4)
laying eggs . Females are bigger
scales (n.) thin, flat plates that cover
than males .
the outside of some animals
A monarch butterfly may only live (p . 13)
for two to six weeks . After she finds
stages (n.) periods of time in the
a mate, the female monarch lays her
growth of something,
eggs . The butterfly life cycle starts
such as insects (p . 4)
all over again .
The Butterfly Life Cycle • Level K 15 16