Butterfly Life Cycle

Today we spent some time talking about the butterfly life cycle.  We read a story called The Caterpillar and the Polliwog.  Another word for polliwog is tadpole.  In the story, the caterpillar is very excited that she will get to turn into something else instead of just growing bigger like most animals.  She tells every animal she runs into until she meets the tadpole.  The tadpole excitedly tells her that he will also turn into something else, but mistakenly thinks he will turn into a butterfly too.  The tadpole agrees to let the caterpillar go first.  He watches her as she makes a chrysalis and waits for a long time before she comes out as a butterfly.  By the time she comes out, the tadpole has turned into a frog.  He was so busy watching the chrysalis that he didn't realize all the changes he was going through (although the children noticed the changes in the pictures as we read).

We compared the life cycle of a butterfly to that of a tadpole.

Then we visited centers - making caterpillars to put in a chrysalis, last name pattern caterpillars, playing Cootie to review the parts of an insect, and coloring coffee filters to spray with water for an activity tomorrow.

Then we played in the classroom.

After a delicious snack of honey-comb cereal, we made "mystery number" ladybugs.  Each child was given a secret number (one that they are struggling with identifying).  Then they had to draw the corresponding number of spots on the ladybug's wings.  They were very excited about their secret numbers! :)

In the morning session, we heard about Brownie's adventures and did the counting jar.  The afternoon session listened to the ladybug story from yesterday since we ran out of time yesterday.

There will be a substitute teacher in the classroom tomorrow so there will not be a blog post.  The children will listen to The Very Hungry Caterpillar and make a butterfly life cycle booklet with the substitute teacher.  Weather-permitting, they will also take a walk outside.  If it is not nice enough to go out, they will do some butterfly streamer dancing or play a "Swat the Fly" game while reviewing letters, numbers, and shapes to encourage being active.

Have a great weekend!