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."