Caterpillars in Pre-K!
Prekinder students were interested in caterpillars they found during recess! We took this as an opportunity to start a new project and learn more about them.
Students went outside to observe these insects using magnifiers and sketch them on their clipboards.
|
|
One day Mauro noticed some of the caterpillars seemed to form letters...
What do we know?
Back in the classroom, we made a web to write down what children knew about caterpillars and butterflies:
A new friend.......similar but different!
Students found a similar caterpillar which seemed to be from the same family/type as the black caterpillar, but this one had a lighter body with a white line across it and a white-pink head.
Why do you think they look different?
- Mauro: "Porque uno es niño y otro es niña"
- Cris: "Because they eat different leaves"
- Carmen: "Porque la rosita es la mamá y la caterpillar negra es el papá"
- Luisa: "La café es de África y la de color negro es de Guadalajara"
- Parker: "One really likes to be in the sun and the other one stays in the shade"
|
|
Children brought the caterpillars back to the classroom to observe them closely and notice the details in their bodies, while sharing their findings with peers.
We had a group conversation about what caterpillars eat and children brought different leaves from the playground to try them. The next day, students observed the caterpillars had only ate 1 type of leaf:
|
"Solo les gustó comer de estas hojas de donde ellas vivían" |
- Cristóbal |
|
A family!
Children found 3 more caterpillars for the classroom, which now made a total of 5 in the classroom. Students said: "Now they are a big family". Children voted for different names they wanted for the caterpillars:
|
|
|
Sky |
Franky |
Panchito |
|
|
|
Tiburón |
Panchón |
|
Children also explored using a document camera as an observation tool.
Then as a group, we used a Venn diagram to compare the 2 types of caterpillars and list their characteristics, similarities, and differences.
Students made sketches focusing on the details.
Our little friends have made cocoons!
|
- "Es un bebé porque es un cocoon chiquito"
- "Va a salir una mariposa bebé"
- "Parece una hoja seca"
- "Se parece como a una esponja"
- "It looks like a snail"
- "Tiene forma de una trompeta"
- "Parece un palo de hoja del árbol café"
|
How many days do you think the butterfly will take to come out? |
|
|
|
Sky and Tiburón died!
Unfortunately, we found 2 dead caterpillars one morning. These are some of the children's theories about what happened:
- Francesca: "Alguien pisó sus patitas"
- Parker: "Maybe it wasn't eating well"
- Luca L.: "Chocó con algo y se lastimó"
- Andrés: "O le jalaron sus antenas muy fuerte"
- Cristóbal: "Alguien le aplastó su pancita o la apachurró"
- Paula: "Yo creo que tenía calentura, se enfermó y contagió a la otra"
- Carmen: "A lo mejor no le gustó la casita que le hicimos"
|
|
|
We made a chart to record different stages each caterpillar goes through to find out how many days it takes for each one to mature, make a cocoon and transform into a butterfly. |
Houses for our caterpillars
Some students decided to create houses with different blocks for the caterpillars:
A third kind of caterpillar !Children
Children found another type of caterpillar outside, which they named "Chase". This one looks a little different but also similar to the other 2 we had in the classroom
We worked on the Venn diagram adding a third circle to compare and contrast the similarities and differences of the 3 types of caterpillars. |
|
Our first butterfly was born!
After 16 days, Franky was finally ready to hatch as a butterfly. Sadly, it got stuck to its own cocoon. Franky wasn't strong enough to go fly and feed independently.
|
|
Students sent the butterfly good wishes, some even made drawings for it to feel better and we left it outside on the plants.
- "Miss, ya nació la mariposa!"
- "Un ala está rota y no va a poder aletear"
- "No va a poder ir a comer"
- "A lo mejor ya estaba enferma de antes"
- "Tal vez no comió bien"
- "Tal vez le echaron agua y no le gustó"
- "Si se cae puede pegarse y lastimarse"
- "Maybe it forgot how to get out of the cocoon"
- "We can't put it in our hands because it can get hurt more"
- "No comió plantas saludables por eso salió chiquita su ala"
- "O le dió mucho frío y no pudo salir bien"
- "Maybe someone sprayed something bad on the plants and the caterpillar ate the plant and got sick"
- "Tal vez pensó que ahí adentro del cocoon ya era el cielo y intentó volar y se lastimó porque no podía estirarse adentro"
|
|
Making more complex questions!
- Parker: "How do the butterflies hold onto the leaves to be able to eat?"
- Jorge: "Yo quiero saber si las caterpillars pueden correr, porque vi que la butterfly sí corrió casi antes cuando quería volar"
- Santi A.: "Quiero saber como hacen las mariposas para salir de su cocoon"
- Parker: "How do butterflies lay their eggs?"
- Maia: "I want to know how caterpillars and butterflies eat"
- Andrés: "Quiero saber porque a veces las butterflies salen bien de su cocoon y a veces no"
- Luisa: "Yo quiero preguntar si las caterpillars pueden saltar y cómo saber si una mariposa es niña o niño"
- Parker: "How do butterflies see, and how do they look down from above?"
- Paula: "¿y para que son sus antennas?"
- Diego: "Yo quiero saber si tienen orejas para escuchar"
- Luisa: "y también quiero ver como mueven sus alas de atrás para volar"
Clay sculptures
Students used clay to create representations of the different stages of the butterfly life cycle!
Letting our butterflies go!
To celebrate the end of our project, children sent the butterflies good wishes as they let them go and then made journal pages to write and draw about something they learned or was significant to them during this project.
What did we learn?
Students have continued extending their learning by sharing their knowledge with other children and parents and teaching them to care for the environment.
Back to Top