3-Day: Chrysalis Time
This week in 3-Day, we enjoyed all things spring!!! We spent the week observing our caterpillars eating, growing and pooping, eating, growing and pooping! On Friday, we were able to see silky webbing in the cups, which is a good sign! Some of our caterpillars created their adhesive silk pad, which will anchor the chrysalis to the lid of the container. Once they have all created their cocoons, the chrysalids will take approximately 7-10 days before emerging into butterflies.
Throughout the year, your children have been able to observe the tree outside of Bowen through three of the four seasons. We just created our spring tree by using glue and tissue paper to create pretty pink blossoms! You will see our trees on display in our classroom.
Many of the children have been spending more time in the block area lately. It’s great to see children problem solving and working together to create a variety of structures. More importantly, we are seeing some impressive conflict resolutions through this process. Some of the greatest goals of 3-Day include: teaching verbal skills to express needs, conflict resolutions and sharing information with peers. It’s nice to see children participating in activities that are new and exciting, while also facilitating these goals.
We learned about insects this week. We manipulated lots of pretend arachnids and insects in our sensory slime and at our discovery table full of rocks, water and sticks for pretend play. We learned that some insects are pests, some sting or bite, and some can be helpful by eating other insects. The children have been observing the behavior of some ants and spiders residing in our 3-Day classroom. After a lengthy discussion of bugs, we decided to use fly swatters to paint a beautiful 3-Day collaborative process piece of art! This week, we made caterpillars with our tiny fingers. The children did an amazing job listening to our instructions and the art came out way better than we ever anticipated! We have them on display outside our classroom. Our books this week included: The Grouchy Ladybug, The Very Quiet Cricket, RAIN, DROP, SPLASH and Rain.
We sang: "The Tree Song" and "This is a Nest". We also acted out "The Fuzzy Caterpillar" chant:
The fuzzy caterpillar
Curled up on a leaf,
Spun her little chrysalis
And then fell fast asleep.
While she was sleeping,
She dreamed that she could fly
And later, when she woke up,
She was a butterfly!!
Next week, as we wait for our butterflies to emerge, we will work on some gifts for some very special moms and continue our study of the metamorphosis of the caterpillar.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Karen and Caroline
