Cabbage Caterpillars!

We have more pets!!  My husband was out mowing the grass and came across some caterpillars on a weed.  He thought I might like them for my class so I set out to find out what type they were.  I stumbled upon this website that has a gallery of caterpillar pictures where I discovered what he had found were Evergestis rimosalis or Cabbage Caterpillars.  I looked further and found out that they will turn in to moths (pretty boring brown moths) but I thought it would be neat to compare the monarch caterpillars with these little guys.

So far they have been pretty interesting.  They move around a lot and have shed their skin multiple times.  We even had some escape artists get through the top a few times.  Now that their cage is a bit more secure, we are hoping for some neat cocoons!

Here is one coming out of his (or her) skin.  He is coming down out of the skin...the skin stayed attach to the cabbage leaf!

Trying to escape!

They curl up when they are not crawling around...pretty cute!

 Sleeping/relaxing on a cabbage leaf :)

Butterfly Release!

 This week, we had our butterfly, Scooter, come out of our chrysalis!!  The students were so excited that everything "worked" the way I had been telling them it would!  Sadly, I think we are only going to have this one butterfly, the other chrysalis didn't fully form.

In order to have both classes see a release, the morning class joined another class for their release of Buddy and Beauty.  Here they are in the cage.

 We opened the top, but they didn't want to leave!!

Beauty is somewhere in this picture :)

And this is Buddy!  (look closely, near the center of the picture)  Buddy flew around for a bit then landed in the tree right above us!

 Waving goodbye to Buddy!

Here is Scooter!  Flapping his wings, getting ready for his trip to Mexico!

About to release him...

He didn't want to leave either, so I had to put him on my finger...but he didn't want to leave my finger.  We figured he just loved Kindergarten so much :)  He finally flew off and we were able to see him fly for quite some time!! 

Goodbye Scooter!!  We will see you in the spring when you return from your "vacation!"

Fund Racer!!

 Last Wednesday, we had a great day running around the track and raising money for our amazing school!!  The kids all had a great time and many asked, "can we do this again tomorrow?"  Here are some pictures from both classes.


Getting ready for the race!!

So excited!!

And they're off...

Meeting some new middle school friends!

So tired after an hour of running!

The PM class ready to go!

Some future track stars :)

Thank you to everyone who made this such a great success!!

The Caterpillars Are Changing!

We have had some changes with our caterpillars over the last few days!

Last Sunday night, Scooter created his chrysalis!  We got to see him when we came in on Monday.  Mrs. Anderson told us that it takes about 10 days to transform into a butterfly, so he should be emerging either Wednesday or Thursday!

When we came in today, Junior had attached himself to the side of the glass!  Usually they will attach to the top or to one of the branches, but I guess he liked the side!  He is starting to make the "J" shape before shedding his last layer of skin.  Hopefully we will go in tomorrow and see him in his chrysalis.  If you look closely you can see the silk attached to the glass...all of the blurry parts of the glass are actually the silk he made to attach strongly to the glass.

We also talked about the butterfly life cycle.  See if your child can name the four parts (or even draw them) and ask them why I like to see it in a circle!  (Hint: it keeps going and going!)

Marathon for Kids!

I am a bit biased when it comes to running and exercise, but I think it is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your family.  It is fun, you feel great, and it is great for you.

 What kid doesn't like to run?

Did you know that there is a marathon for kids right here in Grand Rapids?  I know, it sounds crazy, but it is a really neat program put on by the Grand Rapids Marathon.   It is FREE(!!) and there are a lot of neat items that the kids get if they run.  They get a t-shirt, race bib, medal, and post race refreshments!

Now, they are not running 26.2 miles all at once (that is just crazy!).  Once you register, you download a running log book to keep track of your miles.  You run or walk 25 miles (in increments as small as of 1/2 mile at a time) between now and October 15.

Then on October 15 at 1:30 the kids (with parents/grandparents/aunts/uncles, etc.) run and/or walk the last 1.2 miles with the other kiddos who signed up!  Also, after you complete miles 5, 13, and 20 you can take your running log into Gazelle Sports to get a free prize!!

It seems like an amazing program...and one that is very easy to complete and one that will give children a great sense of accomplishment along with instilling the importance of exercise!  And it is FREE!!!!  Please let me know if your child signs up...I may just be there at the end cheering him or her on!

Pets!

We have had a really great first week!  All of the students are really great; I can tell we are going to have a great year!  One thing that I love about the students already is that they all seem so excited to learn!  Something they have been very interested in learning about is our classroom pets!

First, our temporary pets...temporary because once they turn into butterflies, we will be releasing them.  Here is Scooter (named because he was scooting backwards while eating milkweed) and Junior (named because he looks like Scooter and I thought the suggested name of Junior Scooter was too obvious! :)  They are Monarch Butterflies and our wonderful aide, Mrs. Anderson, searched high and low to find them for us!  We are so excited to watch them grow and change over the course of the next few weeks!

Scooter

and Junior!

 Here are our two permanent pets...first Freddy the anole.  He looks a bit reddish in the picture, but he is brown.  He also changes to green.  He eats crickets and loves to lounge in the sun lamp's heat.

And my favorite pet, Maizey (named after Maize and Blue!)!  Maizey is a Crested Gecko, sometimes called an Eyelash Gecko.   When I got him, he was very young and I assumed (incorrectly) that he was a girl...oops!  He is a great pet and is very active, so the students love watching him. 

Some neat facts about Crested Geckos:

They have a prehensile tale; meaning they can hang by their tail.
If threatened, they can lose their tail.  If they lose their tail it will not grow back.
They were thought to be extinct until the late 1990's until they were discovered living on a tropical island, New Caledonia.
They jump a lot.
They do not have eyelids, but have skin that looks like eyelashes, giving them the nickname "Eyelash Gecko."
Since they do not have eyelids, they can not close their eyes to sleep or to moisten their eyes.  To sleep their pupils get very thin.  To moisten their eyes, they lick their eyeballs.
In the wild, Crested Geckos eat fruit.  As pets, they eat fruit baby food and the occasional cricket.
For more information visit Pangea Reptile.
Click here to see the different colors Crested Geckos can be.

Be sure to ask your child about our pets!!  I allow the pets to go home with students during Winter and Spring break, so I will be asking around those times if anyone is interested.  It is a great way to have different pets in your home!!