Caterpillar Diary – June 2015

As part of their topic work, Reception are growing caterpillars.  This page is a photo diary of their development.

Pupils can also go to Reception’s Treehouse page to discuss the caterpillars. Click on the link here: Reception Treehouse

Friday 12th June
Today was the day Reception said goodbye to their beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies.  Children from Reception and Nursery were joined in the Butterfly Garden by a some older pupils as they released the Butterflies and watched them flutter away.

The children were very well behaved and many sat sensibly with butterflies on their open hands waiting for them to fly off to explore the big wide world.

Tuesday 8th June 
The latest update comes to you with great excitement!  The butterflies are beginning to hatch out of their chrysalis’.

Hannah commented: ‘The butterfly came out, it is moving.  I can see it’s cocoon’.
Fadwa reports: ‘it is beautiful, just like the pictures in The Very Hungry Caterpillar book’.
Tasreef said: ‘I can’t believe its turned into a butterfly, it’s waving it’s wings at us’.

Thursday 4th June
The caterpillars are now all in the chrysalis form and have been transferred over to their large net enclosure.  The children continue to be fascinated by the changes and have made the following observations:

‘They are yellow, dark brown and spiky looking,’ said Ahmed.
‘They have got a lot bigger,’ observed Sarah.
‘The caterpillars are in the cocoons and now they are not caterpillars anymore,’ commented Kaitlynn.

1/2 Term Update
Mrs Brown and Miss Cam came into school to check on the caterpillars over the 1/2 term holiday.  They can report that the caterpillars are now about 3-4 cm in length and getting very fat!  They are green with light green stripes down their sides and white prickles on their backs.  Much of their food has gone and they are beginning to hang from the tissue paper at the top of their tubs in a ‘j’ shape in preparation for turning into chrysalis’.

Friday 22nd May
The caterpillars are very popular.  Zahra has noticed that, ‘they have got fatter because they are eating all the food’, and Sid said that ‘the caterpillars have turned green with stripes’.  

We can also see something that looks like a web in the pots. Some Reception pupils think a spider has crawled in to the pots. Others think the caterpillars are creating their own webs? What do you think?

We will keep observing closely and report back in our next update!

Monday 18th May
The Painted Lady Caterpillars finally arrived in Woodcroft Early Years after initially getting lost with the postman.  Mrs Baker has put them into their individual pots with their baby caterpillar food.  They are now in the ‘Understanding of the World’ area of the setting which has been a hive of activity with the children exploring them through magnifying glasses.  The children report that the caterpillars are currently ‘small, black, spiky and very hungry’!

More updates soon…