Daily Blog Message
Written Brendan
“Today three egg sacks from the praying mantises hatched. They looked like shiny mantises.  The ones that already hatched a couple days ago were darker colored. In Writers’ Workshop we worked on our memory books.”

Today half of the class went to see a jazz band practice on campus. We discussed what instruments play in a jazz band and we got to hear each instrument play individually.  Then we got to hear the whole band play a song all together. It sounded amazing! Our favorite part was when we got to go on stage and try out several instruments and visit with the musicians.  The rest of the class will go see a jazz band practice on Wednesday afternoon.

View more photos in our May 3-7 Photo Gallery

When the teachers arrived at the ELC this morning for our staff development day, we were thrilled to see that the praying mantis egg sacks were hatching. Hundreds of praying mantids were pouring out of a single egg case. It was amazing to see. Hopefully the other egg cases will wait until Monday to hatch so that the children may witness this incredible event. A few of our moth eggs were also hatching and now we have three new caterpillars! Ms. Rachelle was smart enough to grab her camera and get these photos of the event. Thank you, Ms. Rachelle!

This week we continued to learn about butterflies. We have been observing and photographing our caterpillars’ growth each day. We have also been discussing the physical features of butterflies. We learned that butterflies are symmetrical and their wings are covered with tiny scales.  We painted our own symmetrical butterflies. We have also been comparing and contrasting moths and butterflies using venn diagrams. Today we learned that butterflies drink nectar from specific flowers. Butterflies have straw-like mouths called proboscises, which they use to drink the nectar. Today we became butterflies and drank nectar from our own flowers using our proboscises. 

We have been busy in the Creation Station this week. Several students used tin foil to create armor and turn into “Iron Men”.

Today we got to celebrate Monique’s birthday. We sang to her and presented her with a special card. Then we celebrated with treats and silly photos! 

View photos in our April 26-29 Photo Gallery

Last week in Writers’ Workshop we wrote books about butterfly life cycles. Students brought home their books for their family members to enjoy. Please admire your child’s special butterfly book. Here are a few student books.



Butterfly’s Life Cycle
By Brendan

You see this is a tree. There are butterfly eggs on it.

Caterpillars eat leaves. They also eat their egg shells.

Chrysalides hang until it turns into a butterfly.

Butterflies break out of their chrysalis. It spreads its wings until it can fly.

The Best Butterfly
By Isabela

First the mom lays the egg on the leaf.

The caterpillar comes out of a egg.

The caterpillar makes a chrysalis.

Then it will turn into a butterfly.

Life Cycle of a Butterfly
By John Michael

Some eggs are camouflaged. The butterflies lay their eggs under leaves.

Some caterpillars shed their skin. First they start as an egg.

Some chrysalises are different colors. The caterpillar sleeps in the chrysalis.

All butterflies are different colors. All butterflies sqeeze the blood in their thorax into their wings. The butterfly lays eggs everyday.

Butterfly Life Cycle
By Lily

The eggs lay on a leaf. Then the eggs turn into a caterpillar.

Caterpillar comes out of the egg. It eats his shell.

When the caterpillar is in the chrysalis it changes a lot.

The butterfly is an adult now. The butterfly lays an egg. Then the egg turns into a caterpillar. Then it starts all over again.

Butterflies are Here
By Monique

Butterfly lays her egg on a leaf.

The caterpillar eats the eggshell.

Caterpillars makes a chrysalis. You can see the chrysalis in a tree.

Butterflies come out of a chrysalis.