December 14, 2009 Day 29 Twelve Monarchs!

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...

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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.