Spring

When we received our caterpillars, they were tiny little creatures. Each day, the children eagerly peered into their habitat to observe the changes they were undergoing. We read books about caterpillars and butterflies, some fiction like Eric Carle’s, The Hungry Caterpillar, and some non-fiction as well. We recorded the metamorphosis with pictures and writing in our journals. Finally, the big day arrived: we had butterflies!

First, we needed to give them food! So we added some cut up oranges and lovely flowers to their habitat, mixed up some sugar water, and carefully sprinkled the sugar water on the flowers. As the day wore on, we were so lucky to see the butterflies feast on the oranges and flowers, and their wings become more and more strong and beautiful.

The much anticipated release of our friends, was met with enthusiasm and excitement. The children selected a beautiful spot with a field of flowers upon which to release them. It took a little coaxing, but each one flew eventually flew confidently out of their home into world!

We have done much planting in our classroom and our tomato and basil sprouts were ready to be planted outside! With the help of Simona’s dad, Robert Stein, the children cleaned out a box on our playground to plant our sprouts. Then we used two different types of topsoil. The children used their hands to break up the first bag of topsoil, and then we added a special topsoil with fertilizer to help our plants grow. We made neat rows with our hands in the dirt and each of us took turns to plant! We added some young cucumber plants from the seeds of the cucumbers the children had planted last year! We can’t wait for them to grow.