This week Ladybird class received their Insect Lore. This was a pot with five live caterpillars in and the children have to watch and wait for them to grow big enough to work their way to the top of the pot and become chrysalides. Once they have done this we need to wait for a few days before gently transferring them into their airy new home. For 7 to 14 days the chrysalides may look like they are resting but there is an amazing transformation taking place inside. Yes, the chrysalides are going to turn into beautiful butterflies. Once the butterflies have broken out of the chrysalides their wings have to dry. Once dried out their wings will expand showing the different colours and patterns. We will have to feed our butterflies for a few days with fruit or make some nectar. After a few days we will set the butterflies free near some flowers, this may encourage them to remain in our garden.
The children have also been on a bug hunt this week. The had a clip board, pen and a tick sheet. They walked around the garden looking for different bugs and when they found them they ticked which one it was off the sheet. When the children had finished doing this they went with an adult to count how many different bugs they had ticked off. The children then wrote their name and the number of bugs they had found on the paper and it was placed on our tally chart in class. By doing this it has given the children the opportunity to explore their environment and mark their findings. Then they have had to use their fine motor skills to make marks to represent their name and the number they counted. The children have really enjoyed doing this so we decided to make collages of butterflies using different media, we also drew our favourite bug. The children have produced some amazing work this week.
