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!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
February 16 Day 94 Catching up!
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!
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!
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
February 2, 2010 Day 80 Sweet dreams...
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.
As butterflies, they lived 51 days.
As living creatures, egg to butterfly, their lives spanned nearly 3 months, approximately 90 days.
Incredible.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
January 24, 2009 Day 71 Reverent curiosity
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.
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.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
January 10, 2010 Day 57 Happy Day of Wings, butterflies!
Today marks the 31st day of our butterflies in their butterfly life stage...Happy Day of Wings, butterflies!Wednesday, January 6, 2010
January 6, 2010 Day 53 Gatorade Pompoms, Take two!
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.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
January 5, 2010 Day 52 11 butterflies return!
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.
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