five for frunday!

I never made it to link up last week and I just haven't felt the same since! So I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching on Frunday!

during our field trip to the Western North Carolina Nature Center in Asheville, I had a little kiddo's sister {who is unbelievably precious by the way} to hang out with! I had 13 parents go on the trip, so I didn't do much! haha! I let her play with my phone during the classes and here's a picture of each cycle of the mealworm's life. I love these little magnifying cases!

this is the part of the class where they say...can I have a volunteer!? I volunteer my silliest boy because I know what the end result is! I love this costume. It is perfect for the parts of a butterfly. There are noses on the antennae, lips on the feet, spiracles on the belly, and 2 sets of wings! It's great!

here's me with my mountain lion! We will be adopting an animal from the center by collecting silver money this week. The park is in danger of closing due to low funding and it is such a wonderful place we wanted to help out!

while I have been busy benchmarking, I've let small groups work on Life Cycle Literacy centers on one rug and these K'Nex life cycle blocks on another! These are awesome! I got them through a donor's choose project two years ago. You can make a caterpillar, chicken, egg, moth, froglet, tadpole, and a lot more! It also comes with photos for each!

I finally jumped on the bandwagon and made these rainbows. Inspired by Reagan Tunstall of course! We began poetry this week with acrostics. I told them no one word lines allowed! We wrote one about Earth Day as a class. I like my acrostic poems to have a few lines that are one thought. That's just what they did! I was really impressed! Each planned their poem in their much neglected poetry notebooks, then I gave them strips of paper to write their lines on. I hand drew a cloud for each student so they are each a little different. I write their names too. I just wanted to!

week one with the mealworms plus chick eggs, crickets, a caterpillars!

Well, we are officially opening up a zoo!
not really
but it feels that way
we have always used several insects for observation during our life cycle unit
it just seemed to happen all at once this year!
Everything came within 2 days
rather than spaced out like we had planned
but I am nothing if not flexible!

So first things first-we began with our mealworm study
the caterpillars were fine in their cup
the crickets were in the closet
and the incubator was warming up waiting on the eggs

I thought I would try to supply to with some management tips if you alo teach life cycles!
one: everything needs a home and a label!

all eggs get a number and an X and 0 for turning purposes

all mealworms are in a personal habitat labeled with parent names

these are solo cups and lids. 

I've had lots of inquiries! 

Caterpillars actually stay in the container they arrive in. If you order a butterfly kit, this is how it will arrive.

You transfer them to the butterfly tent when they form their chrysalis by attaching the paper towel to the side of the tent. 

and for the lap of luxury

here's the cricket condo!

We attached 2 liter bottles to each side of a central container

one side is filled with moist soil for egg laying (which was all day long!)

and the other with dry sand

if the middle is the "play area" or "living room" 

haha

it just has paper towels and pieces of cardboard to prevent the inevitable cannibalism

now, don't get me wrong

it's a lot of work on my part

but if my class was a tad more well behaved, it would have been easy to do this with them!

they did set up their mealworm habitats

this is the creature they interact with the most

and they are by far the cleanest!

and they can survive falls from desks

and they can't hop too quickly to get away

you get the picture

so here's a peek at what we've done this week in science

these are our birth announcements

Next year I will do some for each insect

but this year they are all mealworms

these are included in my file as well as everything below

and lots of observing and recording

I admit this student may be slightly confused about her senses

she just came last week

it's not my fault! I kid...

so if you'd like to observe some little creatures with a complete metamorphosis

mealworms are definitely the way to go!

widely available at your local pet store

cheap in large quantities

and clean and easy!

I'm also adding a few more ideas to my unit as we go

I keep finding new ways to explore these boogers

so snatch it up now!

winner of the life cycle literacy centers!

Cherie won! Thanks for pinning along with me!

and thanks to Cupcake for the font, and KPM and Nikki for the graphics!

and looky what arrived a few days early-too early!! We're not ready! I'm trying to finish up the water cycle! 

and this 80 degree weather just calls for all day outdoor recess! Right! 

Well, longer than usual at least! My poor, white winter legs!! 

Don't fret-I was wearing full length pants. 

These legs will not see the light of day for a long time!