Noa and Eliana's Observations

Eliana: Mrs. Friedrich took the cloth with the chrysalises out of the butterfly house. She put them in a magnifying box. I saw some red and yellow stuff on them. I also saw the chrysalises open.

Noa: The chrysalises have a lot of spikes on them. They are pretty clear and see-through. The butterflies have started to drink the nectar. The butterflies are flapping their wings and starting to fly.

Ryan and Jake's Observations

Ryan: There are 11 butterflies! One butterfly died while he was trying to get out of his cocoon. They are all very pretty. I think they are going to drink the nectar.

Jake: I saw one of the butterflies flying! Five of the butterflies were flapping their wings. They are all the same kind. They look orange and black.

Sasha and Lucas' Observations

Sasha: When I came in this morning, most of the butterflies were out of their chrysalises. They were walking on the walls of the butterfly house.

Lucas: The butterflies are black, orange and gray. I see a little white, too. Some of the butterflies are closing their wings.

Sasha: One of the butterflies is trying to come out of the chrysalis. It is hanging onto the other chrysalis, but I don't think it is going to make it. Mrs. Friedrich said we can give it more time, but she doesn't think it will make it either.

Lifecycle K'nex

Today we had a chance to demonstrate our knowledge of different life cycles using very cool K'nex! Everyone had a blast creating them and it was a great exercise in teamwork! Check out what we made!

In progress...

All finished!

Juniper and Joel's Observations

Juniper: A butterfly was born this morning! I saw it moving a second ago. It looked like one of it's legs was moving up a little bit.

Joel: The empty cocoon is a light beige color. You can see through it. When the butterfly moved it was super duper cool. The butterfly is really pretty.

Juniper: I see black, a little bit of red and some beige.

Joel: Earlier this morning, I saw the butterfly rolling out it's tongue and wrapping it back up.

Henry and Dylan's Observations

Henry: The cocoons look like they are ready, but I'm not sure when the butterflies will be here.

Dylan: I think the butterflies will be here next week. Nothing is really happening. They are sometimes a little shaky, but they aren't really doing anything.

Eliana's Observations

No much happened over the weekend. I didn't think we would see any butterflies today. I think they might come this week. The cocoons look brown with yellow dots. 

Butterfly Predictions

Today we made predictions of what we think the butterflies are going to look like when they emerge. We used oil pastels to show our predictions. They will be hung up outside the classroom. We'll find out soon if we're correct!

Noa's Observations

This morning, Mrs. Friedrich put the cocoons into the butterfly house! The butterfly house has holes so the new butterflies can breathe. 

They are stuck on from a cloth that is pinned onto the house. There is also a fake flower on top of water and sugar. They think it is nectar so they drink from it. I think some of the butterflies will be here in 3 days and some in 5 days. The cocoons are wiggling a lot more!

Jacob's Observations

I notice that the cocoons look a little lighter than dark chocolate. The cocoons have orange dots on them. I think they might be soft. I see skin on the bottom of the cup. All of the caterpillars are in their cocoons now. I think the butterflies might come out in a week or three days (or so).

Ryan's Observations

I observed that one whole cup of the caterpillars turned into their chrysalises. In cup two, four of the six caterpillars are now in their cocoons. Two of them are not ready but they are working hard. The cocoons are brown with a black stripe down the middle. They also have brownish-yellowish spikes. They are almost ready to split their skin and become a pupa. I think they will split their skin by Monday.

What were the caterpillars up to over the weekend?

Using a time lapse camera, we were able to get some images of the caterpillars over the weekend. We took one still image every five minutes, an then turned it into the video. Focus on the left cup and you will see the first caterpillar making it's cocoon!

Shoshie's Observations

The caterpillars are humongous! There is lots of chewed up food everywhere! Some of the caterpillars are still making their way to the top. In one cup, they are all at the top. Most of the caterpillars in that cup are in their "J position." One of them has started to form its cocoon. It looks different than the others. You can't see it's fur anymore and it's getting harder. In one of the cups, I can see webs everywhere. The caterpillars are moving a little when they go into their "J positions."

Sasha's Observations

The food is really piling up in the cup. The caterpillars are getting much longer and taller. They are most black and I see a white stripe on their backs. Their bellies are gray. It looks like they are really hairy. Their heads are black. I think they will make their cocoons next week. 

Juniper's Observations

I notice that their color is looking more gray. They have grown so much. I measured them with a ruler and they are over an inch long! It's funny that one of them is hanging and eating at the same time. They have eaten a lot of food, especially Twinkie. Their food looks different closeup than I thought it would. I thought it would look more like sand but it really looks like teeny white cocoa puffs. I think they will form their cocoons in four days!

Joel's Observations

The caterpillars are getting huge! I think they are about 1 inch each. A few of them are smaller than the others. There are webs all over the place. They are practicing to make their cocoons. The food is getting really crumbly and some of it is sticking to the webs and hanging off of the webs. The caterpillars are also shedding. There is also some poop in the cup. One caterpillar is climbing in a web and another is sleeping. Everything is good in the cups. 

Dylan's Observations

The caterpillars are getting fatter! They are making webs around the cup and their food is getting stuck in it. They are eating a lot of food. It looks like tiny dots and it is very crumbly. They are all different sizes but they are about a quarter of my finger. They are black and we can see their feet. It looks like they are shedding because I can see little black balls in the cup. 

Lucas' Observations

The caterpillars are spikey and cute. They like to climb. They have gotten a little bigger since we got them. They are moving and very slowly. I think that they are cool.

Henry's Observations

The caterpillars are very squirmy. Cookie Dough is busy eating. I think he is getting full. Another caterpillar (I think it is Candy), is fighting with another caterpillar. The caterpillars are as big as my fingernails. If you look very closely, you might see a little brown on them. I can see three of five legs. They also have spikey things on their backs. 

What an Awesome Surprise!

Since we still had many questions that were not answered from our story, we had to find a way to figure out the answers. We learned that two ways we can find out more information is to ask good questions and look up information in a nonfiction book or on the Internet. We also talked about observation and that we can look at and watch things to learn more information. We thought maybe we could convince Mrs. Friedrich to take us outside to look for some caterpillars, but she actually had a huge surprise for us! She got us 12 tiny caterpillars! Mrs. Friedrich said the caterpillars were delivered this morning. She thinks they are about 3 days old. They are really tiny. They are smaller than our fingernails! We names them Cookie, Coconut, Candy, Cookie Dough, Twinkie, Brownie, Lovey, Cutie, Tiny, Reese's Pieces, Smiley and Rufus! We are going to observe the caterpillars change into butterflies right in our classroom!

We talked about how this wasn't the natural habitat for the caterpillars, but it was ok because we were using the caterpillars to learn. We found out it would take almost a month for them to have a complete life cycle and become Painted Lady Butterflies. It is going to be really hard to be so patient… but Mrs. Friedrich knows we can do it! The caterpillars are in 2 containers. At the bottom of each container is food. The food is yellow. They are crawling all of over the containers. We are keeping them on the counter and 2 kids can observe them at a time, so we don’t scare them. We know to observe with our eyes, not our hands. We notice that they are black and have a lot of feet. They are also very fuzzy. Be sure to read everyday so you can observe the caterpillars along with us!

I'm a Caterpillar

During today's Community Read, we read I'm a Caterpillar, by Jean Marzollo. In this story, we learned about the transformations of a caterpillar to a butterfly. Caterpillars eat a lot of food and get bigger and bigger. When they are full, they hang from a stem and wait until they shed their skin. The soft skin that is left is called a pupa. The caterpillar then grows a hard shell to protect the pupa. The shell is called a chrysalis, or a cocoon. Inside the chrysalis, the caterpillar is changing into a beautiful butterfly! Once the wings dry off and unfold, the butterfly can fly. The butterfly visits lots of flowers and uses its long tongue to drink nectar. Butterflies aren't afraid of birds and birds aren't afraid of butterflies because they both think other one tastes awful! Soon, the butterflies will lay their eggs. The butterfly eggs have very thin shells. Caterpillars crawl out of them. Then, it starts all over again!

This story helped to answer some of the questions on our "What We Want to Learn" chart. We know more about how the caterpillars makes its own chrysalis and also about how much caterpillars eat.

We really enjoyed the rhyming sequence in this story. The illustrations by Judith Moffatt were also very beautiful. They were made out of different cut up pieces of paper. Mrs. Friedrich said we will be doing a project during Bonus Week where we will have to write our own poems and make the illustrations just like in this story. 

Becoming Good Scientists

Since we are learning to be good scientists, we made a KWL chart. This will help us sort out what we already know (K) about caterpillars and butterflies, what we want (W) to learn about caterpillars and butterflies and what we did learn (L) about caterpillars and butterflies.

This is what we already know about caterpillars and butterflies:

• Caterpillars make a chrysalis.
• Caterpillars turn into butterflies.
• There are many different types of butterflies.
• Some caterpillars eat their egg shells after they hatch.
• Butterfly wings can be very colorful.
• Butterfly wings are symmetrical.
• When a butterfly comes out of it's chrysalis, it's wings are wet.
• Butterflies live all over the world.
• Caterpillars find their own food.
• Some butterflies are poisonous.
• Some caterpillars are green.
• Caterpillars move by sliding and slithering.
• Caterpillars move very slowly.
• Some butterfly wings can be very surprising.
• Some butterflies are very pretty.
• Butterflies have 2 antennae.
• Caterpillars have legs.
• Caterpillars eat a lot.

We wrote our questions on post-it notes. This is what we want to learn about caterpillars and butterflies:

• Are caterpillars poisonous?
• How many years do caterpillars and butterflies live?
• How far do butterflies fly?
• How high do butterflies fly?
• Do caterpillars die in the Winter?
• Can butterflies fly for more than a month or a year?
• Are caterpillars and butterflies the same animal?
• Do butterflies have families?
• How many legs does a caterpillar have?
• Do caterpillars wonder off on their own right when they are born?
• What do butterflies eat?
• What color are cocoons?
• When do caterpillars become butterflies?
• Can a butterfly fly through the wind?
• Are Monarch butterflies poisonous?
• Do caterpillars and butterflies stay the same age?
• How do butterflies find their mate?
• How much water does a caterpillar drink?
• What do caterpillars eat?
• Do butterflies die in the rain?
• How old are butterflies when they come out of their cocoons?
• Do butterflies drink nectar?
• Are caterpillars and butterflies friends?
• How long can butterflies fly without taking a rest?
• What body temperature is a caterpillar and a butterfly?
• How fast do butterflies fly?
• How long does it take a caterpillar to change into a butterfly in a cocoon?
• How do butterflies have a baby?
• Can caterpillars eat insects?
• How do butterflies die?
• Do people or other animals hunt caterpillars and butterflies?
• Do caterpillars go underground?
• Can a caterpillar be a pet?
• How do caterpillars die?
• Why do caterpillars turn into butterflies?
• Where do caterpillars and butterflies sleep?
• How long do caterpillars eat for?
• Is a butterfly calm?
• What do butterfly antennae do?
• Why are butterfly wings wet when they hatch?
• Do dogs eat caterpillars?
• Do caterpillars drink?
• Are butterflies nocturnal?
• How many eyes do butterflies have?
• How many types of butterflies are there?
• How many body parts are on a butterfly?
• How do butterflies find food?
• Where do butterflies lay their eggs?
• Do caterpillars make their own cocoons?
• Do butterflies have enemies?
• What do caterpillars hang onto when they make their cocoons?
• Do caterpillars have toes?

Stay tuned to find out of the answers to our questions! We will discover the answers by looking in books, on the internet, watching video clips and doing observations. We will post our answers on the blog! Let us know if you have any questions of your own by commenting to this post. 

Changes in Nature

To start our unit on life cycles, we discussed the changes that we can observe in nature. Since we have been observing different things in the science center, and recently the flower experiment, we are used to making good predictions and observations. We also have been learning to keep science journals where we write down our observations and any questions we have.

We came up with a list of the changes that we can observe in nature:

• Leaves change colors.
• Leaves fall off trees.
• The weather changes. (rainy, sunny, cloudy, windy, snowy)
• Flowers and trees grow and die.
• The seasons change. (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall)
• Animals and humans grow up.

In our long discussion about changes in nature, we talked a lot about animals that change, like tadpoles and caterpillars. We learned that these are called life cycles. It happens again and again, just like a circle goes around and around.