Last week, we welcomed some new members to the Silver Room! The Pumpkins were so excited to begin our caterpillar exploration. So far, we have watched them crawl around, find their spots at the top of the cup, and form their chrysalises. Throughout each step, the Silver Room friends have been hard at work as scientists and artists, observing what they see, asking questions, drawing hypotheses, and making sketches. We can’t wait for you to see all of the amazing work they have been up to!
First, we introduced the caterpillars during our Hello Meeting!
During Open Time, we set up an observation table for the Pumpkins to watch the caterpillars closely and sketch what they saw.
Caterpillar Observations and Hypotheses:
“One is crawling up and one is down.”
“One is bending their neck.”
“They’re wiggly!”
“The caterpillars have prickles.”
“One is sleeping.”
“One’s walking ahead of the sand.”
“One caterpillar is very big.”
“They’re eating! They’re eating food!”
“They’re kind of pointy”
“They’re not moving anymore. They’re all done crawling.”
“They’re taking a nappy. Maybe they’re tired.”
“Maybe when you take the cap off, then let them go fly outside.”
Caterpillar Questions:
“Is there a spider web in there?”
“Are they going up to the top?”
“Why they’re going down?”
“Why they’re not butterflies yet?”
“How many legs do they have?”
“Why they go to sleep? Why they’re not moving?”
After a few days of observing the caterpillars and watching them crawl to the top of the cup, they formed their chrysalises! We continued watching, drawing, and discussing them.
Chrysalis Observations and Hypotheses:
“They turned into chrysalises!”
“They’re turning butterflies!”
“They’re shaking!”
“They gotta push themselves out of it. Then they’ll fly away!”
“I wonder when they will turn into butterflies? Maybe 500 years.”
Finally, it was time to move the chrysalises to their new home!
Chrysalis Questions:
“Did they finish their food?”
“Some caterpillars are in their cocoons?”
“Is that a cocoon? Are they in it?”
“Why are they up?”
“Where’s the caterpillar?”
“Why is the cap there?”
“Are they butterflies?”
Here are some of the sketches that the Silver Room friends made this week:
We are so proud of the amazing work that the Pumpkins have been up to and we can’t wait for them to see the butterflies emerge from their chrysalises in the coming days!
