Good-bye Butterflies...

Today we carried our butterfly cage outside...

We knew that it was time to let our butterflies go so that they could live and fly and look for nectar on our playground. Maybe they will even lay eggs there...

We studied the empty chrysalises afterwards...

We were sad to see them go, but it was also exciting. Next Tuesday we will begin a new science unit about Ocean Life! Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend! 

Our Butterflies Came Out!

We were very excited Tuesday morning to find that we had a butterfly in our cage! One of the chrysalis that actually wasn't attached to the lid, opened up. Out came a beautiful butterfly. We added an orange slice to provide some "nectar" and waited to see if we could observe the butterfly sip with her proboscis (curled, straw-like tongue). We noticed that our butterfly blended in when she had her wings folded, but she was a beautiful orange color when her wings were open. We added flowers to their habitat as more butterflies came out. 

We completed some neat tie-dye snails this week - and we recognized that snails are NOT insects because they don't have 3 body parts, 6 legs or antennae.

We played an insect hunt game to help us tell the difference between animals that are insects and animals that are not insects. 

We also learned about bees and created some hives and bees and tasted some wonderful Michigan honey. 

On Thursday we had a blast with our red noses and toys for Red Nose Day/Day of Play. 

***Field Day is next Friday - your child will be in and outside during the day and should dress for the weather. Please put sunscreen on at home if your child will need it.***

Our Wonderful Field Trip!!!

We had such a wonderful trip to the WL Outdoor Center!!! I think these pictures tell the story...we learned, explored and had lunch together. It was a great day for all, compliments of the WL Foundation for Excellence mini-grant that we received this spring. I think it was our best field trip ever! 

 Wearing antenna and trying on bee keeper suits...

Assembling insect puzzles...

 Wearing bug compound eye sunglasses...

 Learning about spiders and webs and looking for spider eggs outside...

 And going on a hike to a stream...

 And we couldn't resist taking this picture to help promote RED NOSE DAY at Loon Lake next Thursday! 

***We have Red Noses for each student - we will pass them out on Thursday, May 26 for RED NOSE DAY at Loon Lake. This way, each child will have their nose at school all ready for them. Everyone is encouraged to wear red that day. Red Nose Day will also be another Day of Play at Loon Lake - your child may bring a toy from home to play with at Center Time. 

Metamorphosis!

Our caterpillars ate and ate, and grew and grew. Each day they were bigger when we measured them. We observed that they ate the food in the bottom of the cup, and we saw evidence of molting - they shed their skins when they grow and we found these on the bottom of the cup. 

 We learned some important words this week, including Metamorphosis, Egg, Chrysalis and Butterfly. We understand that Pupa is another word for the Chrysalis stage. We also know that an insect has 6 legs and 3 body parts. 

We read about caterpillars and metamorphosis and painted some caterpillars using a balloon!

We used ping pong balls to paint the wings on our beautiful Painted Lady butterflies! 

By the end of the week, our caterpillars had grown over one inch!!!

On Friday one of our caterpillars climbed to the top and hung in a J shape - this is the last step before forming a chrysalis. Maybe by Monday we will have 5 chrysalis' and we can move them into the large butterfly cage. 

We ended our week with some ladybug books and artwork! 

REMINDER: Next Thursday is our Field Trip to the WL Outdoor Center. Your child needs to bring a lunch and drink for the trip. They should wear close toed shoes and be dressed for indoor and outdoor activities. It would be helpful for your child to eat a good breakfast at home - we will not have a mid morning snack break that day. 

Our Mother's Day Tea

We had so much fun planning our Mother's Day Tea, practicing our poem and creating our gifts. It was a lovely event enjoyed by all of us! Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful Room 113 moms! 

Look what came today!!!

We are very excited...a special box came today!

Inside we discovered 5 tiny little caterpillars. We measured them and today they are 1/2 inch long. They have food on the bottom of their container.