Winged Wonders

March 4 2010 A Final Good-bye

2010-03-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

Our kindergartners said goodbye to our last 3 Monarchs In Space butterflies this morning. Their bodies were found lifeless, in nectaring position, on damp Gatorade-soaked pompoms.

These last 3 butterflies were gently placed in the frame with our STS-129 mission patch and the bodies of the other 9 butterflies.

In time, we will talk about the possibility of burying all 12 butterflies in our certified Monarch Waystation. For now, though, we are choosing to honor and remember them under glass, framed with the STS-129 Mission crew patch and the story of our Monarchs In Space project.

February 21, 2010 Day 98 Happy Day 100!

2010-02-21T14:44:00.000-08:00

Today Endeavor and the crew of the STS-130 mission return to earth; in the cargo hold of the space shuttle, there is a small rearing chamber with the bodies of the 3 monarchs who lived out their lives aboard the International Space Station.

In our classroom, 4 out of our 12 butterflies are still living, feeding on Gatorade-soaked pompoms, stirring curiosity among our kindergartners. Though their scales have lost their colors and the edges of their wings are tattered, they are loved by us all.

Today we mark the 100th day of life of our monarchs across 4 stages of a complete metamorphosis!

February 16 Day 94 Catching up!

2010-02-15T20:09:00.000-08:00

Last week, space shuttle Endeavor lifted off in a brilliant display of light against the dark, night sky.

While Endeavor has returned to the the space station, carrying Mission STS-130 specialists who will retrieve the bodies of the Monarchs in Space and bring them home to planet earth, 5 remaining butterflies are still enjoying the company of our kindergartners and nectaring on Gatorade-soaked pompoms.

These remaining 5 butterflies are remarkably old but are still feeding and crawling around in the terrarium. The butterflies have been feeding only on the trays at the bottom of the terrarium so we've removed the one hanging from the ceiling. They have been showing this preference for more than two months and have learned how to find the feeding trays independently.

Their wings are quite tattered and faded now. Though still recognizable as Monarchs, their wingspan is remarkably changed due to the tattered, broken wings. One butterfly in particular still feeds normally but has a diminished wingspan rivaling that of the cabbage white butterfly.

From the day the butterflies emerged from the chrysalis (12/12/09), the butterflies have lived 65 days as winged creatures. If you count the total amount of time these delicate insects have been alive and include the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly stages, they have been living for 95+ days.

I am incredulous over their longevity!

February 2, 2010 Day 80 Sweet dreams...

2010-02-02T19:24:00.000-08:00

While their companions fed on Gatorade soaked pompoms today, two butterflies fluttered their last and died.

As butterflies, they lived 51 days.

As living creatures, egg to butterfly, their lives spanned nearly 3 months, approximately 90 days.

Incredible.

January 24, 2009 Day 71 Reverent curiosity

2010-01-24T14:25:00.000-08:00

Our Monarchs in Space butterflies continue living in our screened terrarium where they feed on Gatorade-soaked pompoms. The terrarium is misted daily with water.

Three butterflies have died and are pressed under glass. Nine are living. The brightly-colored orange wings of our living butterflies are faded now and a few wing tips have been chipped.

Every day the children stop by the terrarium to visit the butterflies.

The most recent death of one butterfly drew hushed voices and gentle acknowledgments from the children. Living in the present moment as children do, they were curious about the butterfly's lifeless body, how its wings were folded and the legs drawn close to its body. All children wanted to view the dead butterfly before it was placed under glass.

A child's reverent curiosity is truly something special.

January 10, 2010 Day 57 Happy Day of Wings, butterflies!

2010-01-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

Today marks the 31st day of our butterflies in their butterfly life stage...Happy Day of Wings, butterflies!

January 6, 2010 Day 53 Gatorade Pompoms, Take two!

2010-01-06T12:37:00.000-08:00

Kindergartners helped prepare fresh, brightly-colored pompoms with Gatorade for the butterflies this morning and placed the pompoms on a tray at the bottom of the terrarium as well as on the one suspended at the top. Monarchs were hand-placed on the pompoms to feed.

Several kindergartners asked to hold the butterflies after the butterflies had been offered their breakfast. One friend made a sign cautioning visitors to our classroom :" Watch where you're stepping! Our butterflies may be out!" With the doors to our classroom safely closed, a few butterflies exercised their wings in the classroom. The butterflies perched in interesting places! Letter A...the cardboard satellite hanging over our pretend play space station...a photo of a sunflower....

Two butterflies played hide and seek with us for a few minutes before we found them and returned them to the safety of their terrarium. "I wish I could spend all day long holding the butterflies," whispered a kindergartner. "Yeah, me too!" another echoed.

January 5, 2010 Day 52 11 butterflies return!

2010-01-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

Eleven living butterflies have returned from winter break at my home and have re-adjusted to life in the kindergarten classroom. The body of our 12th butterfly is pressed under glass next to the STS-129 Atlantis mission patch. Today, our Monarchs are 25 days old as adult butterflies (most eclosed on December 10).

I am am very surprised at their longevity in captivity; it is a wonder to me (never having raised butterflies over the winter on artificial diet) that they are still living.

Classroom temperatures during the day are warmer than the temperatures at my home but during the night, possibly cooler. Butterflies will be encouraged to feed during the warmer, daylight hours. Natural light and artificial light is about the same.

When the butterflies' Gatorade is freshened (every other day) the butterflies chosen at random and placed by hand on the sponges, do not stay very long to feed when they are on the hanging platform. Butterflies chosen at random and hand-placed on the feeding tray at the bottom of the terrarium seem to stay longer to feed.

Overall, I believe I've seen greater interest (on the part of the butterflies) in the Gatorade-soaked pompoms set-up in which each pompom was placed in a plastic water bottle lid and then lined up in a take-out sushi tray. We hand-placed the butterflies on the pompoms in the same manner as we are doing in the current set-up with the sponges and feeding platforms and observed butterflies active and feeding for longer periods of time.

The students really enjoyed soaking each pompom with an eye dropper and setting up the feeding trays independently. We all learned how to hand-place the butterflies onto the pompoms, a task 5 year-olds can fulfill with utmost care. We think the pompoms are very colorful and that the butterflies may be attracted to them like they are to flowers.

While differences in observations between feeding observed on the sponges and the pompoms could be due to other factors (such as biology, temperature, time of day, etc.), I plan to buy more pompoms so we can set-up Gatorade-soaked pompoms on both the tray on the floor of the terrarium as well as on the hanging platform.

January 1, 2010 Day 47 Ode to Gravity

2010-01-01T19:32:00.000-08:00

A journey of 584 million miles around the sun has begun anew. No wings or booster rockets needed for this journey. Consider gravity, in its infinite wisdom, and planet earth, hanging on to us for dear life.

When you realize how perfect everything is you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky. (Buddha)

For more on gravity and the Monarchs In Space project, please read the scientists' concluding essay about the caterpillars who journeyed into space (experimental) and their earth-bound counterparts (control) posted at: http://www.monarchwatch.org/space/what-was-learned.html

January 1, 2010 Day 47 Happy New Year

2010-01-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2010! Mmmm...fresh Gatorade sponges today!

December 30, 2009 Day 45 News from the Terrarium

2009-12-30T17:42:00.000-08:00

I visited the Monarchs In Space website today and was inspired to make some changes in the terrarium. Though we have not encountered any problems with the current set-up, I was curious about the recommendations posted to the website.

Instead of boiling water on the stove to humidify the air in the kitchen, I purchased a spray bottle so I can mist the top of the terrarium every day.

I knew the pompoms in the feeding trays needed to be replaced very soon due to the fact that they were slowly disintegrating. Instead of pmpoms, we will use 4 sponges. The sponges will soak up the Gatorade as the pompoms did in the original feeding trays.

To make the new feeding platforms, I followed the directions on the website and suspended a feeding tray from the top of the terrarium, putting the Gatorade-soaked sponges in the feeding trays.

With the trays suspended at a height the butterflies can find it on their own, I will not need to place them one by one on to the sponges every day as I had been doing with the pompoms at the bottom of the terrarium.

I will make some observations of this new feeding arrangement and post the news tomorrow!

December 29, 2009 Day 44 Winter Break Post Card #3

2009-12-30T12:30:00.000-08:00

To: Kindergarten
From: Teacher Ann

Dear Kindergartners,

Will you help me figure out how many days have passed since our butterflies came out of their chrysalides? We could count the days and know how "old" they are in their butterfly stage.

First, find a calendar and turn the pages through eleven months, beginning in January. When you come to the twelfth month, stop. What month is it?

December is the twelfth month in our calendar year. Today is December 29. Find the 29th on the calendar and circle it with a pencil or marker.

Now, let's look on the calendar for December 10, the day our first butterflies eclosed (came out) of their chrysalides. When you find December 10, circle it with a pencil or marker.

Here is the question: If the butterflies came out on December 10 and today is December 29, how many days "old" are they in their butterfly stage?

Use the calendar to help you! Count the days between December 10 and December 29. What number did you get? That's how old the butterflies are today in their butterfly stage!

Love,
Teacher Ann

December 27, 2009 Day 42 Lost and Found!

2009-12-30T12:14:00.001-08:00

Today when the sun was streaming in the windows I went on a search for the missing butterfly that escaped the terrarium at feeding time on December 23rd. Although I searched high and low for it at the time, I could not locate it. Each day I looked for it in the den, being careful where I stepped and how I moved things on the shelves. Finally, on the 27th, I couldn't bear it anymore and got out a flashlight, intending to search in every nook and cranny of every shelf and piece of furniture.

Eventually, I found the butterfly between my desk and the wall where I keep large artist sketch books propped at an angle. The butterfly was resting, wings folded over it's body between two books. As I gently pulled one of the sketchbooks forward, I saw the butterfly move! As I moved it into the sunlight, it opened its wings and extended its tongue. Gently, I returned the butterfly to the terrarium where it could feed on the Gatorade.

It had been "lost" for 4 days!

December 23, 2009 Winter Break Post Card #2

2009-12-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

To: Kindergarten
From: Teacher Ann

Dear Kindergartners,

This morning I ran out of Gatorade so I refilled the feeding trays with pompoms soaked in grape juice. I gently placed each butterfly on a pompom and let go of their wings. The butterflies all flew away. I repeated my attempt to feed them. Again, they flew away.

I went to the store for more Gatorade, cleaned the pompoms, and re-soaked them in the fresh Gatorade. The butterflies stayed a long time on the pompoms, feeding on the Gatorade. I added a branch from our Frasier fir Christmas tree for them to climb on.

When I feed the butterflies, I move them from the window near my desk (where it is 65-68 degrees) to the dining room or kitchen where it is warmer (70-72+ degrees). I keep the butterflies in the warmer part of the house until they are finished feeding.

By the window where they have natural light and sunshine, they are most often resting with wings folded upwards. In the dining room and kitchen where it is warmer, they are actively fanning their wings and moving around.

One butterfly stopped moving today; it is lying on the floor of the terrarium. I will save its beautiful body under glass as we have agreed to do.

Love,
Teacher Ann

December 20, 2009 Day 25 Dog and Buttterfly

2009-12-19T12:19:00.001-08:00

Mushu is our gentle, lovable 4 year-old Maltese. Every now and then, Mushu encounters things he's never seen or experienced. At first curious, moments later, Mushu was startled by the flutter of wings!

December 19, 2009 Day 34 Monarch wants to make snow angels

2009-12-19T12:12:00.001-08:00

Today while feeding the butterflies, one escaped. It flew to the natural light at the window and stayed for a while. I wondered how the snowy world looks to a butterfly. Watching it, I sensed both longing and playfulness, though it was probably my own. The contrast of a butterfly on a snowy day was new for me.

(Update: We had a total of 14 inches and blizzard conditions later that day!)

December 18, 2009 Day 33 Winter Break Post Card #1

2009-12-18T13:29:00.001-08:00

To:Kindergarten
From: your butterflies

Dear Kindergarten friends:

We are very excited for our winter break! Today is Day 1 of our winter vacation. It's great that we can left today because we heard there is snow on the way tonight. Teacher Ann came in early this morning and fed us our favorite winter snack (Gatorade Pompoms!) before she packed us up to go.

Teacher Ann said we are "home" now but we are a little confused.

Mexico is over 2,000 miles away so we thought it would take about 2 months to get there. We thought we would fly for days and days. We thought that when we arrived in Mexico, we would see millions more butterflies, just like us, and that the warmth of the oyamel trees would shelter us for the winter.

As it turns out, we're the only butterflies here at our winter "home." It only took us 30 minutes to get here and we didn't have to fly. We are not really sure how we got here. We are happily warm and safe but there are no oyamel trees in sight. We think we can see a Frasier fir in the distance but we are still in our terrarium and cannot fly to it.

There were blossoms of Phlox waiting for us when we arrived. Mmmmm! Phlox nectar has a natural, flowery fragrance and the flavor of summer gardens and blue skies.

We don't think we're in Mexico but we like it here!

Love,
your friends the Monarchs.

December 18, 2009 Day 33 Suggestions

2009-12-18T13:15:00.001-08:00

Today we begin our winter break. Our school closes today and re-opens on January 4. We spent time today talking about how to take care of our monarchs over break. The kindergartners agreed that:

The butterflies shouldn't stay at school; it will be too cold and there won't be anyone to feed them. They should go home to Teacher Ann's house (like they did over Thanksgiving break).

and described what needs to be done:

The butterflies need to have sunshine and be warm.
They need to be fed. You can give them more Gatorade on the pompoms.
Maybe you can get them a flower, too.
They need a safe place to live, drink, and fly around.

The kindergartners remember we released butterflies in September but think it is too cold to release them now. Though we are unsure how long the butterflies will live, we agreed it is important to take care of them as long as we are able to do so.

We agreed that after the living part of the butterfly is gone, we will care for their dry bodies under glass instead of burying them. If they die over winter break, Teacher Ann will save the bodies on a bed of cotton under the glass frame and bring them back to school on January 4th.

December 17, 2009 Day 32 Butterflies flock to the feeding trays...

2009-12-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

After spending the morning in the larger screened terrarium hanging from the ceiling, the butterflies were transferred back to the feeding trays where they drank heartily, dipping their proboscis deep into the pompoms.

December 16, 2009 Day 31 Butterflies move to a sunny spot!

2009-12-18T07:28:00.000-08:00

After feeding the butterflies in the smaller terrarium, kindergartners transferred the butterflies to a larger screened terrarium today for their morning exercise. The butterflies flew to the side of the larger terrarium and rested in the sunlight, fanning their wings. It was exciting to watch them fly across the terrarium.

Several kindergartners said that the green screened terrarium reminds them of a really large chrysalis. All that hard work becoming butterflies, only to find themselves back inside another chrysalis! It's better this way, the kindergartners reasoned; they can be inside with their butterfly friends rather than all alone.

One kindergartner commented on how beautiful the butterflies are with the sun shining through their opened wings; "It makes their colors so bright and beautiful," she said.

While waiting turns to help transfer the butterflies between terrariums, kindergartners kept busy with the "bug eye" scopes, taking a "look" at the world the way a butterfly views it.

December 16, 2009 Day 31 Butterfly Tickles

2009-12-18T06:23:00.000-08:00

December 15, 2009 Day 30 Part 2: Exercise

2009-12-15T11:26:00.000-08:00

One butterfly surprised us by coming out of the terrarium while we were feeding the butterflies the Gatorade flowers. This gave us an opportunity to learn how to hold a butterfly.
We learned how to offer a "perch" with two fingers and give it space to walk, reaching hand over hand. We noticed the tickle of butterfly feet and were surprised, as we all took turns holding the butterflies, how beautiful and delicate they truly are in our hands. The calm and gentle manner with which the kindergartners handled the butterflies was astounding. It was as though the world stood still for each of them when gifted with wings in their hands.

December 15, 2009 Day 30 Part 1: Gatorade for breakfast...9:00 am

2009-12-15T10:18:00.000-08:00

Our butterflies were hungry this morning! The pompoms and lids were rinsed clean and set up for use. Two kindergartners refilled the feeding stations for the butterflies, saturating the colorful pompoms with Gatorade using eye-droppers. All twelve butterflies were gently placed on the pompoms and all but one begin drinking. The one who didn't want to drink, fluttered to the top of the terrarium. We think the butterflies would like some exercise after breakfast.

December 14, 2009 Day 29 Twelve Monarchs!

2009-12-14T10:49:00.000-08:00

Kindergartners discovered this morning that more butterflies emerged over the weekend. We found them exercising their wings in the rearing boxes. Peering through the plastic windows, several kindergartners counted the empty chrysalides and determined that we have 11 monarchs. Our last, the 12th, emerged successfully this morning and we discovered it drying its wings, hanging on the empty chrysalis.

Only one butterfly was observed sitting on the rotten banana we fed the butterflies on Friday in the screened terrarium. The banana looked dry. The other butterflies were resting at the top of the terrarium.

Since there are no flowers in our gardens anymore we know we can't release the butterflies to find their own food. We also think it is too cold at night for the butterflies and some days, too cold during the days. If we let them free outdoors, we don't think they could make it to Mexico. We agreed that the rotten banana was a good idea but we thought we could start feeding the butterflies red Gatorade just like the butterflies on the ISS are drinking.

All children agreed that the butterflies "need more space" so they can move their wings and fly. We agreed that we would move all the butterflies to the screened terrarium and feed them there.

In two trays, we put empty water bottle lids, each with a Gatorade-saturated pompom. It is quite colorful and may remind the butterflies of the colors of real flowers. I gently put each monarch on the pompoms and the kindergartners watched to see what happened next.

They loved it! The butterflies used their straw-like tongues (proboscis) to feed, sticking their tongues deep into the pompoms. They stayed there a long time before leaving the feeding trays. They were very hungry!

December 11. 2009 Day 26 Right before our eyes...

2009-12-12T07:22:00.000-08:00

December 10, 2009 Day 25 Mission control: We have lift-off...

2009-12-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

Kindergarten's pretend play space shuttle and ISS opened for the first time today and everything seems to be happening at once. Some astronauts, already onboard the ISS are attempting communication with the astronauts in the shuttle: "ISS to shuttle, are you there? This is mission control. We are about to lift off. 10, 9, 8..." Tethering carefully, other astronauts (apparently already in space!) are moving toward the entrance to the ISS, interested in retrieving phones and remote controls from the crew. One crew member is declaring an emergency by urgently penning a note: "We have technical problems on board the space station!" An astronaut in the shuttle is typing furiously on a keyboard and receiving calls on a cellular device. Another astronaut is moving in slow motion from the ISS to the shuttle with a tether, thoughtfully pressing a sequence of keys on a remote control. Several astronauts search for the handloops in another tether, trying to problem-solve the situation with a friend who is dangerously "loose and floating away." An astronaut, still in count-down mode, hangs up the phone ad sketches a diagram of the plan for the "rocket booster" to "fall to earth." Two friends sitting at the desk are making check marks on a piece of paper as they review the supplies on board the space station and determine what is needed.

Note to NASA: Hang in there there a few more years! This crew is 100% inspired and absolutely convincing in their role-playing and pretend play scenarios. They will be college graduates in 2026 :)

December 10, 2009 Day 25 Wings!

2009-12-10T13:33:00.000-08:00

8:00 a.m. Two chrysalides are very dark this morning, a striking contrast to the lime green chrysalides in the other rearing boxes. Upon closer inspection, we realize that we're actually looking at a butterfly through the cuticle of the chrysalis! Overnight the lime green cuticle (outer layer) of the chrysalis has become transparent . We can see the familiar black-veined orange monarch wings through the outer layer of the chrysalis. Is that a butterfly in there? We are very excited!

12:00 noon: There is movement spotted in the rearing box. A butterfly is coming out! The butterfly comes out of its chrysalis upside down and hangs onto the chrysalis as it turns towards the top of the rearing box. It's wings are wet and crumpled. The butterfly touches the paper towel piece but moves quickly toward the other chrysalis hanging nearby. It stops when its feet reach the piece of paper towel where the other butterfly is resting. Now it is facing the top of the rearing box. Its wings are very crumpled but "folded" away from its body.

A few minutes later the butterfly begins to struggle to hold on; it seems as though it wants to move higher but it can't get a grip on the plastic container. There is only plastic above and below it. A kindergartner remembers the screened terrarium we used in September and brings it over to me. I transfer the butterfly without touching the wings by offering my finger as a perch. We think the butterfly is much happier hanging on to the black screen.

I remind the kindergartners that these two caterpillars were the ones that I removed from their original rearing boxes because I thought they were sick. These two caterpillars had been fed milkweed leaves three days before they went into J-form because we did not have additional food for a 5th container.

2:15 p.m. A kindergartner is playing in the space shuttle and is pretending to make a spacewalk, tethered and outfitted with cell phone and his emergency tool kit. "Teacher Ann! An emergency!" he suddenly shouts across the room. Quickly I go over. He is standing beside the experiment table where he has found our second butterfly, newly-emerged, lying on the bottom of the rearing box. It is lying on its back with its soggy-looking wings stuck to the bottom of the box; its legs are flailing in the air.

He knows, having been independently studying the photos in the caterpillar and butterfly field guides and reference materials for two weeks, that this is not the position a butterfly takes after it comes out. Immediately I remove the plastic wrap and rubber band from the rearing box and offer the butterfly my finger as a perch. The butterfly easily takes hold and I gently lift it and move it into the screened terrarium. The butterfly steps off my fingers and securely takes hold of the screen; in this position, the butterfly is able to pump liquid from its abdomen into its wings, straightening them in the process.

2:45 p.m. Before the day wraps up, a few kindergartners take one more look at the butterflies, the empty chrysalides, and the lime-green chrysalides slowly darkening in the rearing boxes.

December 8, 2009 Day 23 Building Our Space Shuttle/ISS Part 2

2009-12-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

Fuel tanks, wings, telescopes, heat shields, engines, windows, props, and a sliding door are in place, held together with a little bit of ingenuity and some really awesome metallic-looking duct tape. Glittery stars hang from the ceiling. Our colorful, handmade flags are hanging in the space station.

December 5, 2009 Day 20 The third butterfly emerges!

2009-12-06T19:37:00.000-08:00

More news from the ISS: The third monarch on the ISS successfully emerged (eclosed)! More photos and video can be viewed on the Monarchs in Space website.

Kindergarten's chyrsalides are still mostly lime-green. With cooler temperatures in the classroom over the weekend, we may not see additional changes in our rearing boxes until Monday or Tuesday.

December 4, 2009 Day 19 Monarchs in Space!

2009-12-04T12:45:00.000-08:00

News from the ISS: a female and male monarch have emerged (eclosed)! The butterflies were able to work their way out of the chrysalides and even though the chrysalides were floating, the butterflies were able to expand their wings. The third chrysalis can be seen floating in the foreground. It is no longer attached to its silk button; one of the other butterflies pulled it loose and it is now floating free in the rearing chamber.

December 2, 2009 Day 17 Building Our Space Shuttle/ISS Part 1

2009-12-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

Last night I cut large pieces of cardboard to the specifications of our budding engineers for the space shuttle. I figured out a way of attaching a few reusable plastic food containers and cardboard tubes that I had hoped would support the children's understanding of how we would create a three dimensional pretend play area based on the drawings they made previously.

We launched this engineering aspect of our Monarchs In Space project by opening painting stations in which children were invited to express their ideas on three panels of our space shuttle with gray, white, and black paint. Part two of this aspect of our engineering project will resume tomorrow when we get out the paint again and work on the panels for our functional "sliding door" that will connect the shuttle to the space station.

December 2, 2009 Day 17 We're waiting for wings!

2009-12-02T12:29:00.000-08:00

We're waiting for wings in kindergarten! As time passes we continue making daily observations of the chrysalides, hanging silently from their silk buttons, in the rearing boxes on our project table.

Kindergartners are taking turns working in small groups to complete drawings of the chrysalides, drawing in pencil and layering color with marker. Children have an opportunity to look very closely through the plastic wrap window of the rearing boxes at the chrysalides dangling from the top.

Today we also used the computer projection screen to view the series of photos of the changes the caterpillars went through over Thanksgiving break. These were changes that the children missed seeing though we had observed them in September when we were working with caterpillars from our schoolyard.

Many details were visible in the photos that we projected larger than life on the screen. WE saw the beds of silk and silk button attachments to the cremasters of caterpillars hanging in J form, we saw caterpillars eating, resting, and searching for a place to put down beds of silk, we saw caterpillars making pink frass, caterpillars in J form turning green, piles of striped caterpillar skin that fall after a chrysalis is formed, chrysalides in various stages of formation, yellow to lime green color changes in the chyrsalides, gold edging and spots on "older" chrysalides, the segmented insect body in a "young" chrysalis, and most intriguing to the children, the appearance of thin white lines of butterfly wing under the green cuticle of the chrysalides.

December 1, 2009 Day 16 Oops!

2009-12-01T12:23:00.000-08:00

One of our caterpillars formed a chrysalis that fell to the bottom of the rearing box when the box was moved over Thanksgiving break. In the above photo you can see the chrysalis on the bottom under the feeding boxes. In space on board the ISS, two chrysalides became loose too.

We opened our box and used thread and a drop of hot glue to re-attach the chrysalis to the top of the rearing box. We were worried that maybe the butterfly couldn't come out if it was not hanging up like the others. Some kindergartners were thinking that if we could put it back up, we should; I showed them how we could try and replicate the caterpillar's attachment with materials that we had in our classroom. The following photo shows the repair.

November 28 and 29 2009 Days 13 and 14 Weekend News

2009-11-29T16:18:00.001-08:00

Photos above taken November 28.

Photos above taken November 29.

November 27, 2009 Day 12 All About J Form

2009-11-28T08:17:00.001-08:00

We see our caterpillars are in various stages of beginning the process of pupating. From the Monarchs in Space Teachers Guide we understand that a caterpillar will empty its gut when it has finished developing and at that time produces frass with a pinkish hue. Pinkish frass is visible in the rearing boxes today. After emptying its gut, a monarch caterpillar will search for a sheltered, horizontal surface; as we see the caterpillars are orienting to the underside of the top of the rearing boxes.

To attach securely for the duration of the pupal (chrysalis) stage, the caterpillar spins a bed of silk and then a silk button in the center. It is from this button, with its anal prolegs (these are the pair of suction cup legs at the end of the caterpillar) anchored by crochets (tiny hooks on the legs) that the caterpillar releases it's hold and hangs like a letter J, upside down. It may, depending on the temperature, hang in this position for 12-16 hours.

Toward the end of the J stage, the caterpillar's color changes due to the chrysalis developing inside and the caterpillar usually straightens in its hanging position. What happens next, happens quickly. Simply stated, the caterpillar succumbs to contractions that cause the caterpillar's skin to split and move upward toward the silk button attachment, revealing the chrysalis that has been forming. When the skin reaches the silk button, the caterpillar's cremaster is released and pushed into the silk button and the chrysalis twists to secure the cremaster to the silk.

Over the next few hours as this process repeats itself in our rearing boxes, we expect to see these beautiful, lime green jewels of metamorphosis hanging where our letter J stage caterpillars are hanging now.

November 27, 2009 Day 12 The Landing

2009-11-28T08:07:00.000-08:00

Welcome home Atlantis and the crew of the STS-129 Mission. The landing was beautifully executed at 9:45 am at the Kennedy Space Center. Meanwhile, more than 200 miles above planet earth, the Expedition 21 Crew on board the ISS is traveling at 17,000 miles per hour. Keeping them company, as you know, are three silent, lime green monarch chrysalides.

Tonight, as you gaze up into the night sky and consider the perspective you have on the heavens and our dear space travelers, you may want to consider as well, the perspective they have of the earth...and of us.

November 26, 2009 Day 11 First Chrysalides Formed!

2009-11-28T07:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Caterpillars are home with me over break so that they can maintain their optimum growth at temperatures between 70 and 72 degrees and have 12 hours of daylight. These are the photos I collected at noontime and again just before midnight.

Our first J-stage caterpillars appeared in the morning; all other caterpillars were resting or eating. The two J-stage caterpillars were the ones who were the previously discolored, splotchy caterpillars we put in isolation and fed milkweed leaves for the past few days.

The next time I checked them was around midnight. Some caterpillars were still resting, some were eating, some seemed to be making silk beds, a few more were in J-stage, and finally, we had our first two chrysalides visible!

Note of interest: Visible in one photo is the pink-hued frass that is common for a caterpillar when it "empties its gut" prior to J-stage, and visible in another is a dark pile of caterpillar skin that was shed as the chrysalis was revealed.

For more photos, please click on the slide show at the side bar of this blog!

November 25, 2009 Day 10 Classroom observations with Grandfriends

2009-11-25T14:28:00.001-08:00

Today was Grandfriends Day. Kindergartners continued working on their observations of the caterpillars in our classroom and viewed the photographs posted from the ISS last evening. Our caterpillars are growing and are fairly still today even though the classroom is warm and their food is still available in the food boxes in the rearing chambers.

In space, the caterpillars have begun to pupate. In photos, the pupas look greenish. Each caterpillar positioned itself at a different place, curling up like a letter "C" before shedding it's skin for the very last time. On earth, caterpillars hang toward the ground in a letter "J." One pupa is detatched and floating in the box. On earth if this happens, the pupa falls to the ground. In space, the pupa floats. Still floating in the box is a lot of frass!

November 24 Day 9 Awakening Inner Mindfulness: Hands-on with the Cats

2009-11-25T14:27:00.000-08:00

To gain an appreciation for how a caterpillar moves when it crawls, we took turn holding two caterpillars today. Kindergartners reported the caterpillars felt soft and ticklish. Very gently and with utmost patience (truly, it is remarkable the level of mindfulness a child gives a special task such as this!) the kindergartners offered the caterpillars the texture of their open palms and wooden popsicle stick. On the popsicle stick, the caterpillars walked along the edge, demonstrating excellent balance and interest in crawling. At times they leaned off the popsicle stick, holding on with only their suction cup legs (prolegs). We thought the caterpillars loved being out of their boxes for a morning stretch. They performed their caterpillars moves brilliantly!

November 23, 2009 Day 8 Continued....

2009-11-23T19:00:00.000-08:00

Plans are forming for the construction of a space shuttle and space station. Preliminary work was completed last week as teachers packed up the "Playhouse" props and created an island of space construction materials in the back of the room.

Kindergartners playfully experimented with the playhouse structure, child-sized shelving with bins, two small tables and stools, old computer keyboards and phones, a few large pieces of foam board and other materials that will be used to build the space shuttle and space station. Before we begin putting it together we needed to gather ideas from everyone. We've posted all of our drawings in the construction zone and will refer to them as we build.

November 23 Day 8 Back to School...

2009-11-23T18:07:00.000-08:00

The kindergartners visited the space table with the caterpillar rearing boxes as soon as they arrived to school. Kindergarten was warm and cozy today at 8:00 am with temperatures two degrees higher than average temperatures last week. During our morning meeting, I shared with the kindergartners my observations of the splotchy, discoloration on the caterpillars on Saturday and the ideas I had for caring for caterpillars that seem to be growing more slowly than earthling caterpillars should be growing.

We added a bright light to the table where the rearing boxes are kept. It is much brighter than our overhead lights and will help the caterpillars know for sure that it is day time, even when we turn off the overhead lights when we leave the classroom to go to the library.

We observed the splotchy, discolored caterpillars in their own box, eating leaves intsead of the milkweed "pesto." "Sometimes," I explained, "caterpillars can get sick from germs that are too small for our eyes to see. If they are sick, putting them in a box of their own, away from the other caterpillars, may keep the others healthier."

Children noticed the leaves in the box and together figured out that they were milkweed leaves from the schoolyard gardens. Since we don't have enough milkweed "pesto" (space food) for these two caterpillars, we agreed to continue feeding them milkweed leaves as long as they wanted to eat. Even if they were sick, we agreed, we need to continue taking care of them and keep them warm and well-fed.

In the other boxes, still in Monarchs In Space Plan B set-up, children think that the caterpillars are in fact getting bigger. "A caterpillar frasses when it is eating and growing," Lucy explained. Many children observed the larger pieces of frass as well as a difference in the color of the frass; some was darker green, some was lighter green. It is a little bit easier to understand what is happening when leaves are actually disappearing from the rearing box. Kindergartners are in agreement that the "sick"caterpillars eating the milkweed leaves are growing. "There is only one small part of a leaf left in the box, " observed Noah, "the other ones have been eaten."

November 22, 2009 Day 7

2009-11-22T11:33:00.000-08:00

Sunday: I've decided to remove the two discolored caterpillars from the rearing boxes and to give them a box of their own with milkweed leaves. At 3:00 pm. I fed them four milkweed leaves that I cleaned with 10% bleach solution. They are in a rearing box set-up that I have used successfully for many years. I placed the leaves gently on top of the caterpillars. Immediately they became active. One began eating within the first minute, the second began eating within the first 5 minutes. At the present time they are resting.

I am now thinking that before we introduce milkweed to the other containers, perhaps we should adjust the temperature. During the day, we've been able to keep the temperature at 70 degrees in the classroom. At night, it has most likely been 68 degrees. If we brought the temperature up to the mid-seventies, perhaps we will observe some change in the caterpillars' level of activity and interest in the food. Changing the temperature is something we can do without altering the Plan B set-up.

November 20-21 2009 Day 5 and Day 6

2009-11-22T11:14:00.000-08:00

Friday: Kindergarten continued to observe the caterpillars today and worked through a project-related math game in which each child marked a path for the space shuttle to fly to the ISS. The game was played on a graph and pathways were created by marking boxes corresponding to consecutive rolls of a die. New information was posted on the project information board about the STS-129 mission. Temperatures remain steady throughout the day at 70 degrees F and 20 degrees C in the classroom.

Saturday afternoon: In two rearing boxes, I observed two caterpillars unusually dark and splotchy; others in the same boxes are still brightly colored and stripes are visible. In the same two boxes, caterpillars are slightly smaller and thinner and there is little frass on the bottom. In two other rearing boxes, caterpillars are brightly colored and their stripes are visible. They are slightly larger and a bit more active than the others. There is more frass in the bottom of these two containers but truthfully, not what I've been expecting.

I am concerned by the observations made today. Something doesn't seem right. I have seen caterpillars become discolored like this a few times during the summer when I've hand-raised caterpillars collected from the wild. I've seen the same thing happen a few times with caterpillars I've ordered from Monarch Watch. Caterpillars that I've seen with this same kind of splotchy discoloration have died prior to the chrysalis stage.

Indeed, I am concerned by the discoloration of two of the caterpillars. I am even more concerned about the slow growth of the caterpillars as evidenced by skinny caterpillar bodies and frass that doesn't seem much bigger than it was on Day 2.

I am wondering if there is a problem with food, light, temperature, or humidity and wonder if in some way we've gone astray in meeting the needs of these gentle, fragile creatures even though we are doing our best to follow the Monarchs In Space Plan B guide.

I wonder what information I can find on the Monarchs In Space forum that would help me sort out my concerns at this time and help me figure out what to do next. I feel a bit helpless.

If the problem is somehow food related, one ray of hope remains: we've had an unusually warm fall here in southeastern Pennsylvania and several stalks of milkweed still sport fairly fresh green leaves. If needed we could introduce fresh milkweed to the caterpillars.

I'll think it over tonight.

November 19, 2009 Day 4

2009-11-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Today we completed another caterpillar observation on the Day 4 page of our journals. We made our observations as young scientists, trying our best to draw what we saw inside the rearing boxes. Teacher: What do you see today? What do you observe the caterpillars doing? What can you draw that will help you remember what it looks like right now? As they worked, kindergartners talked about their observations with their peers and teachers.

We talked about the astronaut's first space walk today. We thought about how astronauts would be suited and tethered for their first spacewalk today. The caterpillars, however, would not be suited for a spacewalk out of the ISS as they are safely confined to their boxes. How does a caterpillar move around? On earth? In space? This is one of the questions the astronauts could try and answer in space while we understand it better on earth. We found out that caterpillars on earth "tether" themselves to whatever they are crawling across with a thread of silk produced near their "chins." Then, they crawl across it and attach to it with little hooks in their "feet." When the caterpillars walk across the plastic wrap window, we can easily see the "suction cup" feet and the 6 legs near the head of our caterpillars. In two of our containers we can see some silk the caterpillars are making on the sides.

We looked at photos from space posted on the website to see what the caterpillars are doing in space. We noticed that the caterpillars are "hanging on" and moving up and down across and through the food containers, just like they are doing in our classroom! We were surprised they weren't floating. We think they are tethered like the astronauts are during a spacewalk. As we clicked through the photos, the children shared their observations: "Look! One is the color of a rainbow! How did that happen? Why aren't ours like that?" "Two are sleeping." "One is moving around a lot."

November 18, 2009 Day 3

2009-11-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

It was a very busy day on earth-and in space! We watched NASA TV for a short time to understand how the shuttle was going to dock with the space station. We tuned in briefly later in the afternoon to see the astronauts on board the International Space Station. We were able to see Nicole at work at her computer and two other astronauts "floating" by!

During storytime today, we used childrens' reference books with eye-catching illustrations and interesting text to understand a little bit more about the ISS. In doing so, we read a little bit about suiting for a spacewalk, working in space, and came across information about using tethers, handholds, and footholds in space so things and people don't float away, including astronauts when they are spacewalking. A few photos led us to consider the differences in how astronauts sleep and eat while in space.

After learning that astronaut food is often prepared with dry ingredients, mixed with water, and slurped with a straw, we endeavored to make a snack that we could slurp through a straw. Thus, the Strawberry-Banana smoothie cooking project unfolded. Kindergartners prepared their own smoothies at the KinderCooks table, slicing chunks of banana and strawberries that were mixed with 6 oz of milk and blended into a flavored froth with a blender and a very patient parent helper! We had a lot of fun slurping our smoothies, astronaut-style.

November 17, 2009 Day 2

2009-11-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

We will be learning more about the space shuttle and its crew of astronauts with daily updates from the Monarchs In Space website. Today we found out that the space shuttle is named Atlantis. The STS-129 Mission has an official logo; the astronauts of the STS-129 Mission wear the patch on their suits. We have a patch in the classroom to look at. The space shuttle is an orbiter. It is traveling around the earth, out in space. It is flying to the International Space Station called the ISS. and carrying equipment, tools, and parts for the space station in addition to experiments. One of their experiments is the caterpillar experiment that we know as Monarchs In Space.

The crew has a commander, a pilot, and mission specialists. They are all astronauts. They will fly the shuttle to the ISS to meet another astronaut who has been living on the ISS for two months. They will bring her home when they return to earth. On Wednesday, the space shuttle will meet the ISS and "dock" so the astronauts can board the space station. We have reference books, photos, and kindergartners' drawings in our classroom hanging above our "All About Space" table.

In addition, we have posted a calendar to count the days the caterpillars are in space, we have a posted a thermometer to measure the room temperature near the rearing boxes, we have pictures of the astronauts (the space-bound crew) and a class photo of kindergarten (the earth-bound crew) hanging by the table. Every morning a brief update about the upcoming day is posted.

Today in our journals, we explored how to put shapes together to represent our ideas of spaceships, real and imaginary.

November 16, 2009 Day 1 The Launch

2009-11-20T08:52:00.000-08:00

9:30 am Kindergartners unpacked the rearing boxes this morning and positioned them on their sides on the observation table in our classroom. We made observations and the first entry in our journals. (Note: Though project protocol requires us to keep the caterpillars in complete darkness until the day the astronauts transfer the rearing chambers the ISS, we chose to keep our rearing chambers on the observation table during the time the kindergartners were in the room so they could make daily observations.) We have 4 rearing boxes; three with 3 caterpillars, one with 4 caterpillars. The observation table is in an area of the room that averages 70 degrees F/20 degrees C.

Today we observed several caterpillars on the milkweed "pesto" in the food boxes, several on the edges of the food boxes, and several on the "ceiling" of the box, being very still. A kindergartner noticed tiny rounds of caterpillar poop. This news spread like wildfire. Kindergartners remembered that we used the word "frass" in September when we observed monarch caterpillars in the terrarium. Kindergartners practiced making written records with drawings of their observations of the caterpillars.

2:00 pm Kindergarten was invited to the blue rug during cooperative play time to explore NASA's website page featuring NASA TV. Projected on to a screen in our room from the computer, live video from the launch site showed various angles of the space shuttle on the launch pad, mission control, computerized maps of the position of the International Space Station, and spectators. A few kindergartners showed up early to watch but at 2:20 pm, we gathered all kindergartners to watch the launch. It was very, very exciting. There was a buzz in the air as we saw the countdown at 1 minute 30 seconds...and then just before 2:28 pm, the final seconds, with the Atlantis crew in charge, we counted along: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Lift-off! "Monarchs are in space!" we cheered on the caterpillars and the astronauts. We watched as various cameras captured images of the first 11 minutes in space. Eyes were riveted to the screen until we had to pack up for dismissal.

November 13, 2009

2009-11-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

With the Monarchs In Space project protocol as the guide , kindergartners worked in small groups with their teacher to assemble the rearing chambers with the appropriate items as seen in the directions. We talked about how we would make observations of our caterpillars in the classroom as the astronauts plan to do in space when they are aboard the International Space Station.

Kindergartners transferred the green food substance into the feeding boxes before they were glued into place. Inside the rearing boxes, two pieces of fabric were positioned at the top and bottom, and a small red container for nectar was adhered nearby. As we put the food substance into the feeding boxes, we talked about how we had made pesto with the basil leaves from our garden last month and how this caterpillar food could have been made the same way using milkweed, the food of the monarch caterpillar. After the caterpillars were gently moved with a tiny brush into the rearing boxes, the boxes were closed with plastic wrap and rubber bands.

November 12, 2009 (11:15 am)

2009-11-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

A package was delivered to our classroom at 11:15 am. It was labeled "Fragile. Live Insects. Do Not Heat or Freeze." The package was addressed to Kindergarten so we knew without a doubt it was ours. The return address said "Monarch Watch." We agreed that inside were probably the caterpillars for the Monarchs In Space project. We shrieked with excitement as we gathered to look inside.. We opened the box and examined the contents. Inside, we found tiny, tiny caterpillars in small containers, hanging upside down on a green substance. We found other containers as well, filled to the top with the green substance that did not have caterpillars inside. Some children thought that the green substance could be caterpillar food. Other children recognized the caterpillars because of their yellow, white, and black stripes and explained to others that they were indeed, monarch caterpillars. The green substance, if it was food, was probably milkweed.

November 12, 2009 (9:00 am)

2009-11-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

After a two month journey learning about the migration of our Monarch butterflies to overwintering sites in central Mexico, children began their today perplexed and very, very, curious. "Great news!" the morning message read, "Monarch caterpillars are going to outer space!" The children's curiosity led to an animated exchange of ideas at circle time:

Kindergartners: Monarch caterpillars can't go to outer space. Monarch caterpillars can't fly. They don't have wings. Caterpillars become butterflies and butterflies have wings. Maybe monarch butterflies are going to outer space? No, the morning message said that monarch caterpillars are going to space. Oh! I get it-a spaceship! They could go in a space ship! No, caterpillars can't drive spaceships, they're caterpillars. They can't turn steering wheels. Oh! They could just ride in a spaceship.

Teacher: How?

Kindergarten: Astronauts! They could ride in a spaceship with astronauts!

After the children arrived at this understanding by sharing their own ideas based on what they already know, we talked about the email we received about a project called Monarchs In Space. We had been invited, we explained, to join the project and learn about the changes in a caterpillar's metamorphosis to a butterfly on earth while astronauts, who will fly in the space shuttle to the International Space Station, do the same in space. We explained that we had to give Monarch Watch an answer immediately and so we had already replied to Monrach Watch. The kindergartners were glad we had said "Yes!" to the project invitation. Now we are eagerly anticipating the shipment of caterpillars and caterpillar food from Monarch Watch.