Butterflies

Our unit on Butterflies is drawing to a close.  We have been busy keeping track of the changes our caterpillars have been making as they change from a caterpillar, to a chrysalis, and finally to a butterfly.  We do this by writing in our observation journals each morning using our own special hand lenses.

We've also been busy with a variety of butterfly-related activities, including learning about how a butterfly's proboscis works to extract nectar from flowers and investigating the ways in which butterflies and caterpillars use camouflage to protect themselves from predators in a variety of habitats.

These are our habitats and butterflies attempting to "hide" using camouflage to blend in.  

This is a pollination game.  Each child had his or her own "proboscis" (a party favor.)  The class was split into two teams; each team had a specific kind of flower they were charged with pollinating.  To do this, each child used their proboscis to drink the "nectar" from each flower.  Below, you'll see Justess pollinating a daisy using her "proboscis"!

The first team to drink the nectar from each of their 10 flowers won the game.

We also recently released our first cup of caterpillars after their magical transformation into butterflies!  We were sad but also happy our butterflies would get to soak up the sun and drink nectar from flowers as they pollinate.  We are hoping our females will lay eggs soon and complete the cycle!

As a culminating project, your child will be writing his or her own butterfly-themed eBook using the Little Bird Tales app.  We've been actively researching butterfly facts using a variety of web-based and text-based resources and recording this information in our Scientific Notebooks!  I can't wait to see the finished products!