Making a chrysalis

When we came back to class after lunch one day we sat down for our story as usual.  Some of the children noticed something unusual on our swan plant.  One of our caterpillars was almost finished making its chrysalis!  Miss B quickly got the camera to try to catch some of the wriggling and jiggling as the caterpillar shed its skin and made its chrysalis.

Monarch Caterpillars

In Room 8 we have 2 monarch caterpillars, we used to have 3 but one died.  A monarch caterpillar sheds its skin.  When it hatches it eats the egg shell. Butterflies fly to hot places like Mexico.  The butterfly dies after it lays its eggs.  They have to dry their wings before they can fly.  They hibernate.  Butterflies have a very long tongue to get nectar from flowers.  It is called Proboscus.  The skin falls off when the caterpillar makes a cocoon.  The caterpillars take about two weeks to turn into a butterfly.