Magnifiers and microscopes can reveal small details that children otherwise might not notice. I would love to have a digital microscope in the classroom so children could really see the head of an insect such as a butterfly. No happy face, no smile, no eyes with pupils and eyelashes but many other interesting structures —setae (hair), [...]
Yes, I will do this again next spring! We had caterpillars crawling out of the net housing, more caterpillars appearing than expected, wasps pupating next to their caterpillar host, a few deaths due to neglect, and beautiful (is there any other kind?) butterflies emerging from their chrysalids. My plan to introduce the butterfly life cycle [...]
This year I have challenged myself to use only local animals in the classroom, for budget and ecological reasons. Luckily for me and my students, Cabbage White and Black Swallowtail butterflies go through their life cycle to adulthood in our area before the end of the school year and can easily be found on collard [...]
