Digital Storytelling proposal

For my digital storytelling proposal, I've decided to create a video that explains the lifecycle of a butterfly, but in a story format, so students can identify with the butterfly as a character and its different stages in life. This story aligns with the 3rd grade Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), specifically the standard:

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.

This digital story could be used as an introduction or hook to a unit about plant and animal life cycles, and could even be used in conjunction with students raising their own butterflies in the classroom,  from egg to release into the wild.

There are many opportunities to integrate literacy into the science curriculum. Students can create their own stories about a butterfly lifecycle, they could read blogs from other schools where classes have raised their own butterflies and comment, they can read online articles about butterflies that are endangered and write responses, or propose measures to protect the butterflies. Another option is to have students create butterfly journals that they write in throughout the duration of the project, writing down observations, hypotheses, questions, or thoughts. Teachers can work the butterfly theme into literacy lessons and that would help create a curriculum unit that spans multiple subject standards. I know with Common Core, educators are increasingly trying to tie the different subject areas together to create cohesive units, so this could be a great example.

To create my digital story, I think I will use iMovie, as it's fairly easy to use but has some more advanced tools than purely online platforms. I will plan to use photography from the internet and music, with text overlay or narration. I think one of the challenges I may have will be giving the characters life using photography rather than illustration,  so I think the music and text will be key to making it feel like a real story.