Life Cycles

In my class we're learning about life cycles so of course we focus on butterflies.  We always purchase caterpillars from Insect Lore, but this year I realized that I had milkweed growing in my own back yard.  And milkweed = monarchs.  Sweet.

These little guys have now been successfully transferred to my classroom.  That involved a harrowing ride in which I swear one was trying to escape from the open baggie I was using for transport.  

Now they are all chrysalids.  Awesome.  I love monarchs when they become a chrysalis.  Have you ever seen one?  They green with flecks of gold.  So pretty.

And they are just a bonus.  We got our Insect Lore order Friday so we'll have a plethora of butterflies in the York classroom.  :)

Life Cycles

This week we wrapped up our life cycles unit.  This is a really fun unit for the kids because we watch butterflies go through most of their life cycle.  A little bummer this year, though - only one of our caterpillars actually made it to being a butterfly.  Here is that lucky guy:

To review the life cycle of chickens we made foldable pyramids like so (fold on the lines, cut on the dashed lines):

Then, on the inside of the pyramids students drew and labeled the life cycle of chickens.  They turned out really cute and I was surprised by how my kids didn't struggle with constructing the pyramids.  

 

So fun!