Butterfly Journal
2004-05
This page is full of pictures! It might require extra loading time but it's well worth it!!!
Saturday, April 9, 2005
Ms. Welch ordered our "Painted Lady" butterfly kit.
It should arrive next week sometime and we will begin naming our caterpillars.
We researched the painted lady, and this is what they will look like when they hatch!
Here are some facts:
Painted Lady (Scientific name=Vanessa cardui)
Like to eat: thistles; aster, cosmos, blazing star
Male Painted Ladies have smaller abdomens than females.
The tiny scales attached to butterfly wings give the wings their color.
Butterflies have taste sensors on their legs.
Parts of a Painted Lady:
More Painted Lady Links:
Earth's Birthday
Butterfly Anatomy
Painted Lady Printouts and activities
Very Cool site on Painted Ladies including some video files!
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Our special package arrived!
We got our caterpillars in the mail today.
We put some food and a caterpillar in each cup.
They were so small.
They looked like they had just popped out of the egg.
We named our caterpillars and made "name posters".
We put together and decorated our butterfly journals so we could write down our observations.
Print your own journal cover and pages here
Here are the names we gave our new babies:
Monday, April 18, 2005
When we got to school today, we discovered our caterpillars had gotten fat!
We couldn't believe how large they had gotten over 2 days!
They are about twice the size they were when we got them on Thursday.
Our caterpillars are about 1/2 an inch(some more)long now with lots of spikey hair!
They look really long!
Friday, April 22, 2005
When we left from school today, we noticed that some of our caterpillars were
walking around on the lid of the jars.
We predicted some would be going into the "J" position or even their chrysalis soon!
Monday, April 25, 2005
When we arrived at school today, most of our caterpillars were in their chrysalis but some were still hanging in the "J" shape. We touched a few and saw them use one of their defense mechanisms...wiggling!
Friday, April 29, 2005
We put all the chrysalis' in the net to be ready for when they hatch.
Look how dark these chrysalis are.
That means they are very close to hatching.
Look at the second one, you can see the wing patterns.
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
When we arrived at school today, about half of our caterpillars had popped out of their chrysalis!
Can you tell which chrysalis has the butterfly still inside?
Thursday, May 5, 2004
Today, all but 2 butterflies have hatched. We watched them on and off today just to see what kind of things they do. We wrote about our observations in our journals. One thing we saw today that was especially interesting was the butterflies eating using their probacis. We also noticed that when the butterflies wings are closed, they have great camoflauge! Check out these cool pictures!
Great camoflauge huh?
Wow! Look at this butterfly using its probacis (tube like tongue) to eat!
Monday, May 9, 2004
For the past 2 days, there have been lots of butterflies "stuck" together mating.
Look at what we found!
Can you guess what those little green dots are?
Still can't tell? Look at the next picture. Maybe it will help you guess!
Wow!
You guessed it!
Eggs!
The life cycle continues!!!
Tuesday, May 10, 2004
Today when we arrived at school, we looked at the new eggs. There are so many on one of the flowers that it looks almost entirely green! We looked even closer and noticed that some new caterpillars had hatched. They are so tiny! They look like specks of dirt, except they move! We were amazed! We will keep these new hatchlings to observe until our butterfly release.
View our release pictures! You will need your password.
