Students have been learning about magnets with our student teacher, Ms. Sue.  Today we had free time to explore around the classroom with our magnet wands and horseshoe magnets.

Students had time to find things that do – and those that don’t – attact to magnets.  They discovered that not all metals will attract to magnets but many metals do – even the bits inside pipe cleaners!

It was a lot of fun watching the children in ‘scientific mode’.  The discoveries and experimentation was inspiring.

Ask your child what they have learned about magnets.

We have been learning about apples.  Today we heard a story of how apples got the ‘star’ in their centres.  Ask your child to tell you the story.

We then looked at a variety (seven) different apples.  These were: Honey Crisp, Granny Smith, Ambrosia, Royal Gala, Fuji, MacIntosh, and Spartan.  We talked about their similarities and their differences – colour, shape, size, texture of the fruit and its skin.

We furthered our exploration by cutting open the Ambrosia apple (sideways) and finding the star.  We talked about the core and its storage of seeds.  We have also been discussing the concept of core (its meaning as a root source) during our Math unit on patterning.

I then cut each of the seven apples into pieces which the students enjoyed sampling.  As I cut each one we discussed the different textures and firmness of the apples and predicted the sweetness – or tartness – of each of them.

I think the students had a good time – and, hopefully, discovered some new favourite apple flavours while learning about the apples.

Students were very excited when they heard that we were releasing the butterflies this morning!!  Shortly before Recess we went out to our little garden and put our container onto the bench.  All students (who wanted to) got a chance to have a butterfly on their finger.

Most of our larvae had developed into chrysalids and most of those became butterflies.  Students put the butterflies onto plants in the garden.

When we had released all the adult butterflies it was time for Recess.  We placed the container back in the classroom.  We have a few chrysalids which have not changed yet.  We are going to give them a few days to see if they will.

Many of the butterflies remained on the flowers in the garden for a while. A few of the students reported seeing other ones flying away to new locations.

There were some that didn’t make it and remained dead on the bottom of the container.  We discussed the Circle of Life and why the adult butterfly lays over 100 eggs at a time – not all eggs become caterpillars, not all caterpillars develop chrysalids, not all chrysalids survive to adult butterfly status.

All in all, raising these butterflies has been a great learning experience for the students.  I hope they have all enjoyed it.

Students were very pleased to arrive in class on Monday morning to see that some of the butterflies had emerged from their chrysalids!!  These ones are enjoying some sugar water that is in the sponge and the lid below.  Students have been watching the butterflies’ long tongues (proboscis) which they use to drink liquids.

Some of the butterflies have, unfortunately, not had a successful transition into adult-hood.  As in all of nature, life is often a struggle.  We will likely release some of the early emergers in the next day or so.  There are still some which have not left their chrysalids.  We will wait a while longer to see if they will be viable.

Our caterpillar larvae arrived on Wednesday, May 22nd.  The students have been avidly watching their growth this past week.  We have noticed a rapid change in their size.  The caterpillars should soon attach themselves to their cup lids and form their chrysalises.  When they have done this we will remove the lids and attach these lids into our butterfly container.

I will keep you updated on their progress.