November 26, 2009 Day 11 First Chrysalides Formed!

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

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

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....

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...

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

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

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.