Studying monarch butterflies

We started our science investigations this year by observing and learning about monarch butterflies. We had three caterpillars at one of our explore tables that quickly made chrysalises, which is where they will be for the next several days before they emerge as butterflies! We observed them each day and wrote our observations in our science journals. We also got to visit the garden with one of our garden parent volunteers, where we learned about the butterfly life cycle and migration route, plus got to release recently hatched butterflies! Below are some pictures of our explorations.

Looking closely like a scientist

We've been talking about looking closely like a scientist for the past couple weeks. We have "explore tables" that the kids can go to when they finish their work, and I try to rotate what's at each table every few weeks. Below is a picture of one explore table, where students can use magnifying glasses to look at different rocks (or "crystals" as they call them) up close.

We went on a nature hike in the front yard and picked out an item that we could practice drawing up close in our science journals. Kids picked pinecones, leaves, sticks and rocks, and we talked about the importance of drawing details and using accurate colors.

We've also adopted monarch caterpillars! Thanks to one of our parents, we were able to get six monarch caterpillars to raise. We've been documenting what we see on a (semi) regular basis, and even got to watch one caterpillar form a chrysalis!

We've also done a little bit of art, including painting our own butterflies.

We also had our garden parent liaisons take us out into the garden, where we got to make nature bracelets, chop tomatoes, and try salsa.

Friday was International Peace Day, so the art teacher helped us make pinwheels and plant them in the front yard! It was the perfect weather, sunny and windy, for flying pinwheels.