Caterpillar Update: Moving Day

In our PM class cup we now have 3 chrysalises and one small caterpillar that hasn't moved in at least a day. We saw some wiggles a couple days ago and were hoping he would make it, but now I'm pretty sure he's gone. Surprisingly, the kids weren't the least bit upset. They made the appropriate sad, pouty faces when I showed them the dead one in the cup, but then they moved right on to wanting to take the lid off and smell the poop. They're so silly! Every single child made outrageous "EEEEWWWW!" sounds when for most of them the cup wasn't possibly close enough to their little noses as I walked by to even smell what was in it!

Now our chrysalises have a new home in their basket above our cubbies where we can't reach them and knock them down!

Caterpillar Update: We Have a Chrysalis!

We came to school this morning to find our very first chrysalis!

Then later that afternoon...

Caterpillar Update: Messy, Messy

Yuck! It's no wonder they're all at the top of the cup--I wouldn't want to be crawling around in that mess, either!

They're about full-size now and almost ready to start transforming! We have one hanging as a J and holding still, the others are just sort of dancing and playing around (which is one of my favorite stages to put up on the doc cam because the kids think the caterpillars are dancing to our Jack Hartmann music! Count to 100 Everyday!).

Caterpillar Update: Look at all that Poop!

They're eating and eating and eating and growing and growing and growing! Or as my kinders wrote in our book: "Se comió y comió y comió hasta que ¡se puso gordo!"

One of my more thoughtful kinders asked today: "But where do they go to the bathroom?" After which we discovered that all those tiny little balls were caterpillar POOP! EEEEEWWWW!

We also learned about molting and joked about wouldn't it be neat if when our clothes got too small we could take the off and grow new ones under them? =)

La oruga muy hambrienta

On Wednesday we read one of my favorite books of all time: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle. Of course, as always, the kids LOVED it! I'm lucky enough to teach next door to a first grade teacher who has the big book version in Spanish, so everyone could see. As we read each page, we turned and talked to our partners, retelling what had just happened, or making predictions about what would happen next. The most surprising thing for me was how many kids guessed that the caterpillar would eat a leaf after the oranges. They were disappointed for a minute, but then they were excited when I turned the next page. They LOVED the part where the cocoon transformed into a butterfly!

Later that day (with my assistant because I was ELPA testing--more on that later), the kids cut out all the different parts of the story, and glued them on the cutest caterpillar retelling books ever! I saw these (or something similar) as an original pin on Pinterest. I cut green construction paper in half long-ways to make a 6x18 rectangle. These my assistant and I accordion-folded into sixths. We cut red die-cut circles (about 4 inch diameter?) for the heads. The kids glued the head on (make sure to model how to put glue on HALF the circle because it's too big) and drew on a caterpillar face. I realized after the fact that I should have told my assistant to give them black markers, because light colored crayons and pencils didn't show up very well. They should also write their name below their face.

Next the kids glued one picture from the story in each section of the folded caterpillar--four on each side--in the correct sequence. We left them open for the glue to dry, and the next day folded them up. Today we re-read the story, using their little caterpillar books! They had so much fun retelling the story in the pattern, and now they get to take them home!

(I found the printable on Pinterest. It's from DLTK-Teach--I can always count on them for sequencing printables!)

Our Caterpillars Are Here!