Our Very Last Blog Post

Be Free Butterflies!

Finally, all of our butterflies hatched. We took the butterfly habitat outside to the field to release the butterflies. Some flew out right away but not all of the butterflies wanted to leave! Some were still drinking from the sugar water. We took a video of the butterfly release. The music is Kristilyn Roberstson's song O Brave Butterfly. Click here if you have trouble viewing the video.

Thank you for reading our blog. We hoped you enjoyed it!

Wings and Wishes,

Room 13

Day 18 - 22

Call a Butterfly Ambulance!

Our first butterfly hatched overnight. While we were away swimming, a helpful adult added some fresh caterpillar food and water to our habitat. When we got back to school the first butterfly crashed into the caterpillar food and its wings got stuck in the food. Mrs Flasha helped the butterfly get out of the food dish by tipping the dish. The butterfly's wings were stuck together with food in between them. Mrs. Flasha took the butterfly food out of the container. Then, she got an eye dropper and used it to give the butterfly a little shower. We named the first butterfly Shannon in honor of one of our fantastic teachers at school. Shannon is doing well and seems to have recovered from her little emergency. Over the next 2 days most of the other chrysalises hatched. We still have 4 more to go in the habitat. Jon Junior is one of them that is still a chrysalis too!

Food for the Butterflies

We needed to figure out something that the butterflies could have as food. First, we added juice, water and sugar water in little to-go cups. We poked holes in the lids with a push pin so the butterfly proboscis could get in and drink. (The butterfly's proboscis is like a tongue and like a straw that sucks nectar out of flowers). The butterflies didn't know where to go for food with the to-go cups. Mrs. Flasha thought the holes were too small so after school she cut bigger holes in the lids of other cups and added them to the habitat. The butterflies noticed the food but they couldn't climb up the sides of the to-go cups to get the food so we took the cups out.

Butterfly Proboscis Drinking Sugar Water

Next we dipped small pieces of sponge in sugar water and juice and put them in the container. We also put in lids with a very small amount of sugar water and juice so they wouldn't drown in the lid! Most of the butterflies went to the sugar water. It didn't matter if it was the cup or sponge, they liked the sugar water the best. A couple of butterflies drank the juice.

Finally, Cow Girl and Princess Cow Lover brought in lilacs for the butterflies. The butterflies liked the flowers a lot. Below is a mini movie of the butterflies drinking from a lilac.

Day 13-17

Cocoon or Chrysalis?

We noticed that lots of people are writing about cocoons in their comments on the blog. We thought we should clear the issue up. So, do caterpillars form a cocoon or a chrysalis? We did some research using butterfly and moth fact books in our classroom library.

 

Cow Crazy Pants found a book called Monarch Butterflies that said "This hard shell is called a chrysalis or a pupa"

Our classmate Butterfly found a book called Butterflies that said " A full-grown caterpillar forms a shell around its body. It is called a chrysalis."

Captain cow found a book called The Moth that said "One day the caterpillar stopped eating. It spun a cocoon. It changed inside the cocoon. "

Now we know that butterflies form a chrysalis and moths spin a cocoon. A lot of kids read Eric Carle books and he says that butterflies spin a cocoon. Some of us thought that the facts in his story The Very Hungry Caterpillar were true! Now that we have read fact books we know that butterflies really make chrysalises.

An Update on Room 13's Painted Ladies

13 Chrysalises on the lid

There are no more caterpillars left in the butterfly habitat! There are 21 chrysalises in the butterfly habitat in total. 13 chrysalises are hanging on the lid, 5 are on the branches and leaves and 3 are hanging on the side of the habitat. We can't wait to see our chrysalises change into butterflies!

Hide and Seek

How many chrysalises can you find in the picture below? Feel free to post your answer. Then stay tuned for when we reveal the actual number!

How many chrysalises do you see?

Day 10 - 12

They Have Evolved!

This morning a whole bunch of kids were crowded around the butterfly habitat. Some of our caterpillars had turned into chrysalises! (We had to go to Dictionary.com to find out what the plural of chrysalis is! Click here if you want to see the definition.) The chrysalises are hanging at the top of the container. Lots of them are hanging in a group!


This caterpillar is almost a chrysalis...


One caterpillar is just starting to turn into a chrysalis. He has attached himself to the lid with his silk and he is starting to curve his head up. Jon Junior is still a larva and he has grown a lot!



We took another video of our caterpillars. Click here if you are having trouble viewing the video below. Also, check out our  new "Teeny Tiny TV" section in the sidebar. All of our caterpillar videos can be found there.



We are excited to see if Jon Junior will change into a chrysalis soon. Stay tuned to follow his progress!

Room 13

Day 8-9

The Butterfly House has Finally Arrived!



 Today our Principal brought us a special delivery that had arrived in the mail. We opened the box and discovered that it was our butterfly house. Thank goodness! Our caterpillars were becoming very squished in their container and we were getting a little worried about their health and happiness.

We brainstormed all the things our caterpillars will need in their home to be safe, healthy and happy. Here is what we came up with:

 

Man Made Caterpillar Habitat



Then General Fuzuki, Moo and Samantha went outside to gather materials for the home. Here is what it looks like now.

We also took our first picture of our tiny caterpillar today. We each got a sticky note to vote on a name for him.  Jon Junior was the winning name from our vote. Here is our graph of our votes.

Here is a picture of Jon Jr. on Day 9. We added some creature comforts to his home too. We are a little worried that he may become lonely now that he is separate from his friends. Should we keep him separate for observation or should we put him back with his friends and just do our best to keep tabs on him? We are not sure what to do...

Also, we are not sure what kind of water dish to use for our caterpillars as we are worried they may drown. Please leave us your ideas!

Cheers,

Room 13

Day 6-7

It's Getting Squishy in Here!

Caterpillar Container Day 7



Our butterfly house is still stuck in the mail! We are starting to worry about the health and happiness of our caterpillars in their tiny little container. We made a new batch of food and cleaned out the old food and excrement. Yuck! We think the caterpillars will like their container much more now. We also noticed that there is one very small caterpillar in the group. We decided that we are going to observe him because is easy to find. We are going to take a photo of him every day to see him grow! His first picture will be posted on Day 8. Below is a video of our caterpillars on Day 7.

- They are bigger

- They are getting hairy

- There is a pattern appearing on their backs

- The larvae are shedding a lot more

- They are moving faster

- They seem to be climbing more

 

Regards and Butterfly Wishes,

Room 13

Day 3-5

Ready, Set, Action!

Our caterpillars changed a lot over the weekend. Here is what we observed:

- We found a whole lot of pieces of exoskeleton in the container
- We realized that they were a lot bigger
- They have silk in their container
- There is lot of excrement in the bottom of the container

We decided that the larva need a bigger home and some new clean food. When the butterflies came in the mail, the company forgot to send their home! We are waiting for it to arrive in the mail, but there is a postal strike in Edmonton for the next two days so it may take a while to arrive.


We also took our first video of our caterpillars! Click here to see the video.

Cheers,
Room 13

Day 2

Mayday! Mayday! Caterpillar Down!!!!!!

Today a very sad incident happened in Room 13. While my class was in the computer lab, someone came into our class and opened our butterfly larva container. When we got back to class a student found that three larva had crawled out of the container. Two of them were on the outside of the lid but one was on the table. Unfortunatly, the larva on the table had been accidently crushed by a book.

Here is what some of my students had to say about this incident:

"I can't believe that someone would do this!"

"Who in the world would do such a thing?!"

"Why would someone do something to poor little creatures?"

"Who would come into a classroom and open a lid to a living creature's home?!"

"It's rude to go into someone's classroom and do somthing without asking permission."

"Who would snoop in someone else's class?"
"Who would open the lid? The caterpillars could get lost!"

My students felt horrible about this incident. One student made a coffin for our poor little caterpillar and another got some flowers.  We are looking into ways to keep our caterpillars safe.

Mrs. Flasha

Day 1

Day 1 with our Butterfly Larva ...

Today was our first day observing our butterfly larva. Here is what we observed:

- They are quite tiny

- They like to climb around the edges and some are upside down

- They are black-brown

- Most of them are eating

- There is webby stuff in the container

- They mostly stay in a group in the container

- Their food is yellowish

Cheers,

Room 13

The Butterflies Finally Arrived!

Room 13's painted lady butterfly larva finally arrived in the mail today! We were a little worried as they were nearly a week late.

When we opened the box we found that the butterfly larva were squished into a small plastic container full of old food and excrement. Yuck! The box also contained powdered food, a spoon, a new plastic container, a small paint brush and an instruction manual. After reading the manual, Mrs. Lastiwka-Durling and I mixed their powdered food with water and placed it in the empty plastic container. Then we used the paint brush to carefully transfer the butterfly larva into the container. Finally, we poked holes in the lid to let air in.





Butterfly Larva in Fresh Container

 What will we need to do next to ensure that our butterfly larva live a happy and healthy life? What else will we need to provide for them? Please leave us comments with your ideas.

We will update our blog regularly with photos and videos of our butterfly larva as they grow and change. We will also post the results of our ongoing butterfly research.

Mrs. Flasha