Butterfly Action {with a mini FREEBIE}

For the whole month of March my little entomologists and I were keeping a close eye on some caterpillars....... watching them do that thing they do!

Just like all good scientists- we kept a journal of our findings:

For this first entry we decided to all write the same thing.... one of them came up with "arrived"..... wow! Apparently I often talk about arriving to school on time and these little caterpillars did just that!

Every year I order these little guys from Insect Lore and I really think they do a good job.  I never pay for the speedy shipping, yet the caterpillars always "arrive" within days of ordering.

These entomologists are collecting data!

In the picture above (March 13) we also did a shared writing that they later copied into their journals... but I love how this little friend added the phrase "No chrysalis yet!" And to copy "chrysalis" correctly from one of our charts makes me smile!

Finally all five were in their chrysalis and we waited and we waited (and I got nervous... oh no! are these things going to come on out before spring break or what?!) and YES they did!

We sat in a circle to release them... see all their fingers out. Hoping to have one land on their finger! Only 4 of our butterflies flew off that day... the last one just wanted to hang out in his mesh house a bit longer.

For the inside of the journal I kept it simple with blank paper......really, that's a sign of the budget cuts.  I am finding little things that don't need to be copied... such as a few lines at the bottom of these journals.

Below is the cover I used...just click on it to download your own copy.  The cute font is from Cara Carroll and the fab butterfly clip art is from Scrappin Doodles.

More on butterflies coming soon....