Butterfly Day

When Miss McKenzie arrived at school on Monday she found two Monarch Butterflies on our swan plant! A third butterfly had hatched also but was no where to be seen...we later discovered it in the art bay!

As soon as the butterflies were spotted we knew what this meant...BUTTERFLY DAY!!

We did butterfly maths, butterfly art and butterfly writing.We even got up close and personal with one butterfly. It was a very busy day!!

One butterfly really liked our Monarch caterpillar art!

During Maths time our 4th butterfly hatched...look at how crumpled the wings are when the butterflies first emerge from their chrysalis.

Here we are taking a peek at number 4. How lucky we were to get 4 butterflies in one day!

The new butterfly on Sam's finger

The butterfly really liked Georgia! Kazia was very excited!

Georgia wasn't too sure if she liked the butterfly getting so close to her!

Kazia, Katia and Hunter closely examining the butterfly

Butterfly number 4 was a girl because she doesn't have the 2 spots on her wings

 We released our butterflies on a beautiful sunny Monday afternoon - they flew straight to this plant just outside our classroom. They really liked the purple flowers.

 Here we are with our butterflies on the plant. We are just too intrigued by these butterflies to even look at the camera! :)

Whanau Group Colours Mufti Day

Athletics Day

Here are some Athletics Day photos. Thank you to Tom's Mum, George's Mum and Allie's Mum for taking some great photos of us!

It's Getting Closer!

Today our chrysalis has turned clear and you can see the butterfly inside! Very exciting! 

Ronald McDonald Teaches Us Road Safety

On Thursday last week Ronald McDonald came to Gore Main School. He taught us how to cross the road safely. He was really funny and he did some cool acts. He taught us to stop, look and listen before we cross the road. 

No More Caterpillars!!

All 5 of our wonderful classroom caterpillars have now made their chrysalises. We have a long two week wait ahead of us as we wait for the transformation to be completed and our butterflies to emerge.

There are 5 chrysalises hanging from our swan plant in this photo...

Can you spot all 5?

On Monday we were lucky enough to actually see a caterpillar forming a chrysalis. Mrs Miller was in Room 3 that morning and we watched the caterpillar as it shed its skin revealing the green chrysalis underneath. The skin which is known as the exoskeleton dropped off. We thought this was a bit yucky! Then the caterpillar wriggled and twisted and turned as it made the chrysalis. We then looked at the amazing golden detail on the chrysalis it is very pretty!With Mrs Miller we learnt lots of new things about our caterpillars. 

Look at how much it wriggles as the chrysalis is forming

Here you can see three stages of the chrysalis making process:

1. In a J

2. The caterpillar with its skin already shed and half way through the process

3. A competed chrysalis

The exoskeleton on this chrysalis didn't fall off it is still attached at the top...pretty cool to see!

Look at that amazing golden detail. I wonder how they do that?!

A caterpillar half way through the chrysalis process.

It has been so much fun to watch these amazing creatures in our classroom.

Hopefully we will get some of the writing we did that morning with Mrs Miller posted on our blog later. 

P.S: Some families have had problems with trying to comment on this blog. I think I may have fixed it so please try again...if it's still not working please let me know by commenting in your child's homework book or reading diary. Cheers!

Caterpillar Update!

One of our classroom caterpillars (we believe it's Ninja) has decided it's time to form a chrysalis. He/she has hung upside down in a J during class today. When I left school tonight there was no change and he/she was still hanging in a J.

When we arrive back to school on Monday we will be able to check out the beautiful chrysalis!

UPDATE: Miss MacBeth visited Room 3 after school today and she noticed another caterpillar (perhaps Stripes?) has started to make a silk pad and preparing to hang upside in a J also and then make a chrysalis. When we return to school on Monday hopefully there will be two beautiful chrysalises for us to admire!

Can you see wee white dot? This is the silk!

Here is a video of Stripes making the silk pad to hang from