June 2014

In early May the weather turned nice and we were able to be outside a little more. We studied flowers and insects this month. Children learned some popular flowers' names and the parts of the flower and were able to dissect specimens into its parts.

We had some wonderful opportunities to explore and observe insects this month. We went on a bug hunt and were able to watch two groups of caterpillars go through their life cycle. The children learned the parts of an insect and a butterfly. Some children made books showing the parts. We learned that insects have an exoskeleton. Children were given an opportunity to match scaled up pictures of insects with their x-rays. Some of us were surprised to learn where butterfly’s and other insect’s organs and sensory inputs are located. For example, butterflies taste with their feet, smell flowers with their antennae, and their hearts and stomach are in the butterfly’s abdomen which is the last section of the butterfly’s body. The children found insect vision interesting. They were able to look through a complex and simple lens to see how an insect might see the world. We also discussed how insects see a different part of the light spectrum. To make this idea more concrete for them we brought in a TV remote and a camera which had a lens that could see the light from the remote control. Children were excited to see what otherwise was invisible to our eyes. Some children enjoyed matching pictures of flowers taken through camera lenses that imitated the way a bee, butterfly, or human might see the colors of same flowers. We also connected this idea to how insects find and pollinate flowers. This led us to explore the ways that some insects are helpful and harmful in our gardens and how we use some of the products made by insects. Towards the end of our study children watched the completion of the pupa’s metamorphosis into a butterfly.  We were fortunate that they came out of their chrysalises during school hours and were surprised to see the red waste substance called meconium that spilled out of the chrysalises as the butterflies exited. The children waited so quietly and patiently while watching this process. A couple butterflies dropped to the bottom of the butterfly garden and climbed up the netting to straighten and dry out their wings. Later we were able to observe the butterflies use the straw like proboscis to drink the juice from the oranges. We finished our study of insects the first week of June by releasing the butterflies to lay eggs and complete their life cycle.