Hungry Caterpillars

We were SO lucky to receive some caterpillars from our neighbour Ms. Johnston (@ChristyGarrity).  She is always collecting bugs and things that crawl!  We were so curious to see her caterpillar larvae, that she generously gave us some to watch and explore.

  

We had so many questions and comments about caterpillars.  Here is a record of what we talked about during our group discussion. We wondered how long it would take the caterpillars to turn into a butterflies? We also wondered why the caterpillars had so many legs? 

We worked in small groups to create a caterpillars.  We had to work as a team and decide what materials we would use, and how long our caterpillars would be.  This wasn't as easy as it sounded.  When we talked about what team work means, we said that it was about "taking turns," "sharing ideas," "listening to our friends," and "giving everyone a chance."

When we work as a team great things happen!  below are our finished caterpillar designs and a recorded presentation about how we made them. 

Group #1  

A.V. "N made the baby at the back, and we glued it at the back."

M.B "We put polka dots on the body.  They mean it is a polka dot caterpillar."

N.G. "We used a head for the front, and we used the paper to connect it, we used glue.  Then A, spin them like a circle type, like a cylinder..."

A.V. "It's a chain."

N.G. "Ya, it's a chain, and then she glued it."  

Group #2

E.L. "It, it's a caterpillar that is spiky."

J.P. "We used pyramids and rectangular prisms."

E.L "We used cone, circle, circle, cylinder, cylinder, square, rectangular prism, square, cube, cube, and then we used um, pyramid, square, rectangular..."

K.M. "Don't forget the back!"

E.L. "Square, rectangular prism, triangle, triangle, we got rectangular prism, semi circle... The back is separated.  It was created with shapes and a bridge.  The higher part is taller than this part, then this part is taller than there."

K.M. "We can use the triangle for the hair."

Group #3

M.R. "We used the long pieces as the nose and neck, and tummy."

A.M. "This side is the tail."

M.R. "And we used these as the feet.  We used rectangles."

A.M. "We used rectangular prisms and rectangles."

M. R. "This is the inside of the nose, and this is the antenna, and this is the tongue."

Group #4

M.D. "We used paper, crayons, and glue, and scissors, and we coloured it."

Z.B. "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14."

M.D. "And it's called the Rainbow Caterpillar because it has red, yellow and blue."

Group #5

G.V. "I know, we were finding, um, um, blocks like these so we could make the legs, and um, I wanted to count the legs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..."

J.P. "He said 16."

G.V. "These are the antenna.  The orange is for making the chrysalis.  He is just resting here right now."

Group #6

J.B. "We used yellow, orange, purple."

K.V. "We make a body and legs."

J.B. "1, 2, 3, 4... we have 16 legs!"

A.B. "He is so big. The front has a purple face."

Finally, we wanted to keep track of how long it would take for the caterpillars to turn into butterflies.  We are using a calendar to write down the length of time between each stage of the caterpillar's life cycle.

  

  

We noticed that the caterpillars have been growing. We predict that next week they will start to form their cocoons.  We wonder what colour the butterflies will be?  One thing is for sure... they are really furry right now!