Waiting for a Butterfly

We were waiting patiently for one of the butterflies to hatch out of their Chrysalis... waiting.... waiting... waiting. The Chrysalis had split and part of the butterfly had come out but then nothing else happened.

We wondered why.

We decided that the butterfly was dead and asked the girls what they thought might have happened to the butterfly.

‘Cause it fell down and hurt his head’
(we had explained that it was the Chrysalis that had fallen
and needed to be stuck back up with sellotape)

‘When it pumps it’s wings up it will get bigger’

‘It wasn’t pumping it’s self up’

‘It’s just a baby butterfly. It’s not ready yet’.

 ‘It might grow out when we go swimming’

‘If we put him outside his wings will get bigger, the other one did that
yesterday and then he flew away’

This exchange of ideas shows that the children have already
picked up a lot of knowledge about the transformation of
caterpillars into butterflies. As they have watched butterflies
emerging they have noticed that their wings are pumped up by exercising them.

Nature is the teacher!

Finding Cicada Shells on Mt St John extends our Inquiry

Hi everyone, we wanted to share the following with you. We realise it is a lot of reading (with no photos!!) but we thought you would be interested in what the girls are talking about. At the end there is a very interesting conversation that is worth reading too, so don't give up too soon!

Finding Cicada Shells on Mt St John

12 February 2104

An interest in Cicadas first began on one of our walks up Mt St John when the girls spotted lots of Cicada shells on a tree.

They were curious as to why there were so many on that tree

and some trees had no Cicadas on them.

Since then, Cicada hunts have become very popular and we have had several walks around the school looking for them. The girls have worked out

which trees the Cicadas like living in.

One particular Cicada shell they found captured their interest when they noticed 

it had a dead Cicada in it.

What interesting discussions followed…

“I think the Cicada is still coming out, it’s just asleep”.

“It’s like the butterfly. Something happened to it and it’s dead”.

“He got too tired and went to sleep”.

The dead cicada in the shell continues to be an interesting topic of conversation.

Extending an Interest

3^rd March

Today we watched a video of Cicadas emerging out of the ground after 17 years. The Cicadas walked up the tree and then hatched out of their shells.

The girls were fascinated!

We noticed the sound of the Cicadas on the video but when

we went outside to listen to the Cicadas, there was silence.

“How could this be?” we asked.

I pointed out that there was no sun and suggested that perhaps Cicadas

only liked singing when there was sun.

We tested out this theory during the day…

About 10 minutes later during morning tea Halle noticed that

the Cicadas were singing again, and Jacqui remembered our earlier conversation and she wondered if it was because it was sunny.

Throughout the day the girls noticed whether the Cicada’s were singing or not and they connected their observations with whether it was

sunny, cloudy, or drizzling.

“How do you think Cicadas make that noise?”

“They are singing” Tess

“I think they make it with their back legs rubbing them together” Jacqui

“I think they are singing like Tess said” Imogene

… and someone added that they thought the Cicadas

made that noise when they were eating.

To follow up on this interest we have begun to look closely with the

magnifying glasses at the Cicadas shells. We have begun

our first drawing experiences using the Cicada

shells and pictures of Cicada’s to help us along.

This morning we had a conversation and recapped what the girls could remember 

about the video they had watched.

They came out of the ground. Dakota

They grow wings when they come out. They didn’t have wings before that. Lily

They were all scrunched and then they pushed the skin out (making a movement with her hands). They push and push and then it cracks. Mika

It’s the skin that cracks. Scarlet

I know how the wings came out. They were all scrunched up and they rolled 

their wings down… like this. Zara

The wings got bigger and bigger. Dakota

Then they flew off straight away. Zara

But first they do exercises and get bigger and their wings come out. Mika

You know, the Cicadas don’t grow bigger. Lily

Yes, yes they do. Mika

No it’s just their wings. They grow longer and longer and longer. Lily

How do the Cicadas feel inside of the shell when they are coming out?

I don’t know.

We could close our eyes and think about it. Zara

When they come out they do this (stretching) and they see all the world.

They see the sun. When they are out in the sun they grow. Mika

When they come out of the ground they come out of their shell first. Lily

They feel good I think. Scarlett

I think the Cicada shell is it’s home and I think they would be sad. Zara

What do they feel when they see the world for the first time?

They would be scared I think. Zara

What do you think it would be like under the earth?

Cold and dark and damp…

We are continually amazed at the thinking, the wondering and the questioning that these girls are engaging in. Nature is a wonderful teacher!

 

Meeting Our Buddies

Today was our buddy picnic and this morning

our old buddies and our new buddies came to visit us.

It was very heart warming to see the way the girls who already knew

their buddy, greeted them with hugs and smiles.

The girls then introduced themselves to each other,

 ... before showing their 

buddy around the classroom and the garden.

At lunchtime, the buddies came back and picked up their 

buddies and we all went up to the grass

for lunch together.

After lunch they girls enjoyed playing with their 

buddies in the playground.

The girls have written their buddies names and

these have gone up next to their photos.

Ball Games

Each week we spend time enjoying games and working on ball skills. The girls are always so enthusiastic when we put them into teams and they love chanting and encouraging each other along.

The task was to collect two balls, jump into each hoop on the way to the 

bucket and then to throw the balls in.

Following three instructions as well as waiting your turn and joining 

the back of the line, is a challenge. 

The girls showed great persistence with this and each time

you could see them getting better at it!

 We then enjoyed some singing games and the girls particularly
enjoyed learning "Poor Little Sandy Girl". 

Shapes Around School

Off we went this morning on a walk around the school armed with the ipads, looking for shapes.

Before we even got out of the gate the girls had excitedly pointed out circles, rectangles, semi circles and triangles. Nature provided them with some serious challenges about 

what shape the different items were.

We are looking forward to using the photos tomorrow with the girls for further discussion and 

to gain a deeper understanding.

.

Today's Mt St John Adventure

Over the last few weeks we have been learning about shapes. 

Today during our walk up Mt St John we decided to go on a hunt for 

shapes that we might see in the outdoors. 

As we walked up the road, Féline saw a rectangle fire hydrant and then Isabella spotted the triangle on the road, pointing it out to us. Halle found a red oval leaf and Scarlett found a little round lady bug which Mariana took time to admire while it crawled on Scarlett's Thumb.

As we continued around the mountain many other things caught our attention. 

We came across a tree covered in cicada shells. Some of the girls held them in their hands while other girls were not so sure and decided to stand back. 

 The girls then decided to continue their journey around the mountain to the Fairy Grotto. Where they climbed the trees and pretended they were riding Roller Coasters. Mika found a little "Grasshopper" that everyone gazed at in amazement.