Wednesday 25 February 2015

Caterpillars and Butterflies galore

Our interest in Caterpillars and butterflies continues as we have caterpillars turning into chrysalis - yesterday a group of us were able to catch this in motion.....
Eva and Zac are captivated

Ethan too.

Tobias connects the dots  -  he links the process with the photographs we have displayed
 
.....truly amazing!!
 

                                                 Cooper is mesmerised


                                                          So is Levi
 
Finally, the process was finished and the caterpillar skin dropped to the ground.
 
 
Earlier that morning we had been examining it's progress so it was very fortuitous that some of us witnessed it, sad for those who had a strong interest in the morning who missed it though, maybe next time.
 
Erin focused.

Tiana too...and Lila, Zac, Toby

plus Matilda and Lucia.

We also had another 'girl' butterfly emerge....

                                                  Jaiden is enthralled
and Tiana points out an important fact - the butterfly is out!
 
and Chloe watches closely.



 
Adele was fascinated, she waited until the crowds had gone then spent a quiet few minutes examining it.
 
While we waited for the butterfly wings to dry and the caterpillar to prepare for it's change into chrysalis, Kindergarten activities carried on and it was interesting to see the links children made.
 

                             Chloe made a butterfly and took it over to relate it 

 Ellie came in with some paspalum, "Look, it's like a caterpillar"
So it is!
 
 I wonder if it will be a boy or a girl?  How do we know?  Chloe knows!! She runs off to find the book to establish the butterfly sex. 

A boy has black spots on it's wings.
 
                                     Jaiden, Bardia and Lucia look in earnest
Here it is, wonder what it is.....
 
A ha, it has black spots on it's wing, so it is a BOY!
 
Lila, Ellie and Jaiden share information


Resources are available to examine and discuss.

Children working on creating butterflies.
 
Today, another butterfly hatched just before we arrived at kindergarten so this caused a great interest.
 
As we waited for it's wings to dry children engaged in learning.....
 
 
 
 

Tiana created a fabulous butterfly, caterpillar and chrysalis screen print
 and the dough table demonstrated a different angle on literacy ....
 
 ...Ethan made a letter 'C'  I asked what started with that letter, Toby announced "cat".  "Yes, and what over there (pointing to Monarch display) also starts with a 'c'"  and off went the discussion ending with us spelling out the word caterpillar.  Literacy is intermingled throughout our day - this is one example.
Naomi and Lucia joined in too.
 
Now, it's time to set our butterfly free - it didn't go far.....
 
                                 Ellie's butterfly dress seemed like a good place to land

 
 Soon we had our own butterflies fluttering around....
                                      Erin and Lila made beautiful butterflies
                                 "Karen, our towels are our wings, we are butterflies!"

 
So much to learn through such a simple everyday happening.
 
Documented by Karen.
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Wow. The butterfly and caterpillar interest looks like it has really captivated the children. It is so lovely to see the learning going on here. (The kindergarten is looking great too!) Thanks for sharing this Karen :-)

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