On the first day of school several children shared a most curious story. They told us that they found of two caterpillars hanging upside down like "Letter J's." "Come on, Tr. Ann, we will show you!" By the time we arrived to take a look, both caterpillars had become chrysalides. We wondered why the caterpillars decided to hang upside down under the window and near the vent cover.
We checked the chrysalides every day. They were green and had gold spots. They matched the Monarch chrysalides that we have in our classroom perfectly. Now we know that these are Monarch chrysalides, too! "Hmmm. How did a white, black, and yellow caterpillar make such a beautiful lime-green case with gold dots?" we wondered. Monarch caterpillars are white, black, and yellow-striped! How curious! When it rained, the chrysalides got a little bit wet; we could see the drops of water on them. We checked them everyday for one week. Three days ago we saw the patterns of Monarch wings appearing on the inside of the chrysalides.
Today we came back from outdoor play and had a surprise! Both butterflies had come out! One had already flown away (Aha! That explains the monarch we saw flying at outdoor play...) but the other was still hanging upside down drying her wings. We thought we could bring it indoors so that we could tag it tomorrow when we tag our other butterflies.
Gently we carried the butterfly indoors and put it in the terrarium.
We watched as it climbed up the netting...
...and joined the other butterflies near the top. We carried the terrarium to a nearby table so that we could watch them while we ate lunch. The new butterfly seems to be making friends already!
On the first day of school several children shared a most curious story. They told us that they found of two caterpillars hanging upside down like "Letter J's." "Come on, Tr. Ann, we will show you!" By the time we arrived to take a look, both caterpillars had become chrysalides. We wondered why the caterpillars decided to hang upside down under the window and near the vent cover.
We checked the chrysalides every day. They were green and had gold spots. They matched the Monarch chrysalides that we have in our classroom perfectly. Now we know that these are Monarch chrysalides, too! "Hmmm. How did a white, black, and yellow caterpillar make such a beautiful lime-green case with gold dots?" we wondered. Monarch caterpillars are white, black, and yellow-striped! How curious! When it rained, the chrysalides got a little bit wet; we could see the drops of water on them. We checked them everyday for one week. Three days ago we saw the patterns of Monarch wings appearing on the inside of the chrysalides.
Today we came back from outdoor play and had a surprise! Both butterflies had come out! One had already flown away (Aha! That explains the monarch we saw flying at outdoor play...) but the other was still hanging upside down drying her wings. We thought we could bring it indoors so that we could tag it tomorrow when we tag our other butterflies.
Gently we carried the butterfly indoors and put it in the terrarium. 
We watched as it climbed up the netting...
...and joined the other butterflies near the top. We carried the terrarium to a nearby table so that we could watch them while we ate lunch. The new butterfly seems to be making friends already!
