Our monarch caterpillars are eating a lot of leaves!  It's so much fun to hold their soft bodies in our hands.  We are always very gentle with our caterpillars.  They are living creatures and need us to take care of them.  Our caterpillars are yellow, white, and black striped.  They have two pair of antennae and "sticky" suction-cup feet underneath their bodies.  As they eat they make holes in the leaves and sometimes eat the entire leaf.  Every morning we clean the frass (caterpillar poop!) our of the containers and watch them crawl in our hands.

Someday we hope the will make chrysalides and turn into butterflies.

For more photos of our monarch butterfly-raising  project, please see our slideshow titled "2012=2013 Monarchs & Migration."

Stay tuned for exciting updates from the Nature Play area in our classroom!

A concerted effort was underway this morning to expand on the "single spinner" designs of the previous day. Take a look at the moving parts our friends engineered with simple snap-together K'Nex pieces, the exciting results of awesome peer-to-peer teaching and learning.  For more "2012-2013 Kindergarten In Action!" videos,  refer to the menu at the right side of our blog.

 

 

 

Kindergarten's first harvest from the Salsa Garden (planted by last year's kindergarten class in the spring) was delivered to Chef Allie the morning of our first all-school organic foods lunch.  We harvested bell peppers, red and orange cherry tomatoes, basil, parsley, chives, and oregano.  We saw our first grade friends on our way to the kitchen and showed them the produce from the garden.  A day earlier, Chef Allie visited the Salsa Garden with David and Matthew, now in first grade.  News from the garden will be posted to the blog and cataloged in our "2012-2013 Gardening with Kindergarten" slideshow throughout the year.  Enjoy!