Cycle of a Butterfly

Cycle of a Butterfly

Daily Question: Cc  Do you know what a chrysalis is? Before it becomes a butterfly, a caterpillar goes through a growth stage during which it is called a "chrysalis." On the surface it may not look like much is happening, but the delicate chrysalis process changes the fuzzy caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly with wings of intricate designs and intense colors.

Cc  Do you know what a cocoon is?

Answer comes from the below website "Butterflies hatch from a chrysalis, a life stage made of a hardened protein. A cocoon is spun from silk and surrounds the pupa of many moths.*"

Neat link: The Children's Butterfly Site

We study an old Chrysalis:

 Toys:  Cars and Track, "Cargo" ships (Pirates) and Castle toy, Busy Bugs (Pattern Puzzles) and (new) marble game.

Snack Time: Strawberry slices, club crackers, grapes, and graham crackers

We had fun listening to I Love Bugs while we ate our snack time.  In the end we went on a "Leaf Hunt" for our Caterpillar Activity.

We read some great books about the Cycle of a Butterfly and then heard a story about C the Caterpillar who cuts leave and chews them to gain strength to build a cocoon (chrysalis) and become a butterfly. The children make a cutting action with their fingers and say "cah, cah, cah."

Eva shows our Very Hungry Caterpillar Game (from the Book by Eric Carle)

Circle Time: 

C Show N' Teach

Dade's yellow paper, 
William's Castle Pop-up Book, 
Eleanor's Purple Butterfly--"I named her 'Purple'--She started out a caterpillar wrapped in a chrysalis!"

 Ethan & Kayson's Butterflies and nets.

Brody: Dinosaur 

Recess and Leaf Hunt: We spied a spider, big ants on leaves, and many different types of leaves on our Bug/Leaf Hunt.

Meet brothers Theo and Oscar, new students on Tuesdays.

We're going on a Bug (and leaf) Hunt!

 

Spying a spider.

C the Caterpillar's Leaf Rubbing Activity: 

 

So many leaves to choose from!

Leaf Rubbings--Put leaves under the paper, use flat edge of the crayon, and rub!


Butterfly Books:
Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer by Susan Hood, Claudine Gevry, & Mara Van Fleet
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

I Love Bugs by Philemon Sturges (audio book)

In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming

A Child's First Library of Learning, Insect World (Time Life)

Other Books on Butterflies/Moths:
Butterfly Express; A Book About Life Cycles (Child's Word. Magic Castle Readers)
The Bug Book by Dr. Hugh Danks
Know-It-Alls: Butterflies by Darlene Freeman and Mike Maydak
How to Hide a Butterfly by Ruth Heller
I Wonder Where Butterflies Go In Winter, and Other Neat Facts About Insects (Golden Book)
Butterfly & Moth (Eyewitness Books) by Paul Whalley
Percival the Plain Little Caterpillar by Helen Brawley (Bright pictures and foil cut outs).

Songs:
Janeen Brady's song,"See Me Run."  

C is for Cookie!

 Daily Question:  Do you like cookies? (Surprisingly, this year it was not unanimous)

Toys:  Fisher Price Castles, "Cargo" ships (pirates), and Wooden Cookie Set, Skee-ball, 

(Eva's cousin) Anna, Cole, & Henry Baking Cookies

 

Pirate Faces!  Funny to hear the children speak about being "good pirates" verses "bad pirates" and later, "We are the badder pirates!"  (Ones who kept using, "please." He he)
 
 
        

Snack Time:  Wheat Thins and sliced peaches (with ghost flag skewers), carrots, and carrot cookies.  Polite children say; "More water please!," "Thank you, Anna," "I'll help you!"

 

  Math/Language Arts Time:
*I used my big red hand pointer to identify the letter C and also talk about how C is the copycat letter.   (It sounds like K or S in words).  Examples include C as in celery (s) or  circus (s), or c as in cake (k), caterpillar (k), car (k), cat (k), class (k), carrot (k), etc.

We used our mini cookie manipulatives (Cookie Crisp) to count and talk about arrays (Multiplication) and Division.  It was fun to hear Eleanor say, "I have 18 cookies!"  Another child said, "I counted my cookies all by myself!"  Other students counted their cookies also.  We read The Doorbell Rang and divided our cookies each time the doorbell rings in the story and we share our cookies once again with more friends.  We were glad that in the end Grandma shows up with a large tray of cookies!

We enjoyed listening to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and talking about story predictions.  (Parents, this is a fun way of helping children understand by asking "What do you think happens now?").  This is a "pattern" book--meaning that it is all about actions,  and consequences.



Cookie Counting and sharing (division)
 
 Eleanor Shows us If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.


We also read Cookie's Week about an indoor cat (who looks like our outdoor cat and unofficial class mascot, Boo) who has a week full of misadventures.  It is fun to laugh at a cat who spills dirt and falls in the toilet and has "bad days" too.  (Days of the week recognition).

Finally, we read Dade's ABC Book which has photos and names of family members, friends, and favorite things and places.  Thank you for sharing some of your favorites with us Dade.



Dade helps choose what came next as we "retell" the Mouse Cookie story.

Books Read:
Cookie's Week bvy Cindy Ward and Tomie dePaola
The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins and Suzanne Toren
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Ill. by Felecia Bond
One for Me, One for You by C.C. Cameron and Ill. by Grace Lin
Mouse Cookies & More: A Treasury by Laura Joffe Numeroff and Ill. by Felecia Bond

Music and Movement:

We enjoyed the silly Mouse Cookie Song (CD) and moving freely around the room

Brown Bear's Colors

Daily Question:  Do you know your colors?

Toys:  Color puzzles (red, yellow, and blue), Buckaroo Games, 

Snack: Jelly sandwiches, fruit snacks, granola bars, Oreo cookies, and marshmallow ghosts.

Kayson helped bring snack and told us the marshmallow ghosts say, "bah, bah, BOO!

Language Arts:  We had a lot of fun reading and then retelling the story of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  We then played a memory game with the animals and colors to see if we could remember what animal and what color came next.

 

Recess:

Songs:
The Primary Colors

I Can Sing a Rainbow* by Arthur Hamilton

Red and yellow and pink and green
Purple and orange and blue
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow too.

Listen with your eyes,
Listen with your ears,
and sing everything you see,
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
sing along with me.

Red and yellow and pink and green,
Purple and orange and blue,
I can sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow,
sing a rainbow too!

*Parents, please note that the true colors of a rainbow are ROYGBIV: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. (We also point out the silly line that talks about "listening with your eyes" and explain what that lyrical license means--we are "looking" for colors.)

Brown Bear Color Activity:

 

 

Student's Favorite Colors:

Kayson: black
William: green
Dade: pink, purple, and red.
Eva: pink
Ethan: red
Brody: blue
Seth: green
Eleanor: pink

Circle Time/ Show N' Teach 
Dade: water animals and colorful pipe cleaners
Eleanor: Toy sword
Seth: Bear
Ethan: BYU  Baseball Cap
Brody:  Cookie
Eva: Colorful Butterflies Book

Books:
Annie, Bea, and Chi Chi Delores: A School Day Alphabet by Donna Maurer and Ill. by Denys Cazet
Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
Planting a Rainbow by Lois Ehlert
 Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
Good Night Sweet Butterflies: A Colour Dreamland (Scholastic) Bentley/Cahoon