When I was teaching, my favorite lesson to teach the 2nd graders was the life cycle of a butterfly. At the beginning of each school year, we would dig deep into the life a Monarch butterfly. From tiny little eggs on a Milkweed plant all the way to it's adult butterfly stage, my students, and myself, were enthralled with the whole process. We never missed a beat. Using magnifying glasses to observe the tiniest of caterpillars, we'd watch and anticipate the day it would miraculously turn itself into a beautiful Monarch butterfly. We kept close eye as the caterpillars grew in size each day. When they had had their fill of milkweed and decided to complete their transformation, they would wrap themselves in silk and perform the 'wiggle-jiggle' dance as they spun themselves into their new home, the chrysalis. With a green shell holding them tight and gold dots adorning their new home, inside a miracle was being performed. What went in as a yellow, black and white striped caterpillar came out as something far more beautiful!
I decided this year I was going to take my favorite lesson and teach it to Owen. I wanted to share with him this beautiful process.
We are both giddy each morning as we approach the kitchen table wondering how much the caterpillars have changed just over night. We have 3 caterpillars right now. One of them we have had since it first emerged from it's egg. It takes a very well trained eye to identify the egg on a milkweed plant. Luckily, I had a few years of experience in this and was able to find a milkweed plant with a few eggs on it. The other 2 we found as teeny-tiny caterpillars. And oh my...how they have grown!!!! It's been quite a thrilling ride! We give them fresh milkweed each morning--from which we have pulled from fields in the area. Owen gets his daily dose of bug holding as he gets a chance to really interact with these resilient creatures. They are really such fun to hold and watch. And they are resilient. Caterpillars just like ours were man handled by 25 or so second graders at one time and survived just fine. This is why I love the Monarchs so much. You can hold the caterpillars AND it's a beautiful process the watch. Here are some pictures from last week when the caterpillars were still pretty small.
We are still in the caterpillar/larva stage of the life cycle. I have a feeling though that our largest caterpillar will begin his journey of creating his chrysalis by the end of this week. He's gotten so HUGE! He will soon slow down his eating and begin his journey upward to find a safe place to hang and begin forming his hard, protective shell.
What a difference a week makes!!!!
I can't wait to see the look on Owen's face when he sees the chrysalis for the first time. If we are lucky we may even be able to watch the caterpillar spin his chrysalis right before our eyes.
I'll share more pictures with you as we get through each portion of the life cycle. The chrysalis, it's transparency before the Monarch emerges, and the Monarch drying it's wings after cracking out of the chrysalis are all images I hope to capture.
Stay tuned...
