Stage 3: Chrysalis

This was a sign written by a child who learned that for our caterpillars to survive, they needed to remain undisturbed.

The child sounded out each letter for this sign. For the letters he did not know how to write from memory (but he knew what they looked like), he got a book to copy the letters from.

If you were able to read this sign, there is no denying that you are a preschool parent! If you can't read the sign (or at least a part of it), the translation can be found at the end of this blog.


When we came back to school on Monday, most of our caterpillars have turned into chrysalis. There were a few that were not quite there yet, but getting there. We learned during our research that caterpillars hanging shaped like a "J" at the top of the cover (or leaf, if they were in the wild) will soon turn into chrysalis.
Not wanting to miss this important event, the students were quick to make observational drawings of the changes happening to our special creepy crawlies.
For good measure, I taped all the little cups with individual caterpillars/chrysalis so they don't get "accidentally" knocked off from their hold of the cover.
The million-dollar question: What is this black speck at the bottom of the container on top of the caterpillar's food? We had lots of guesses--from poop, to spiders that opened the lid to keep the caterpillar company, to a part of the caterpillar that fell off.

The million-dollar answer: It is the skin which the caterpillar sheds as it grows bigger. In its lifetime (not that it is that long), the caterpillar sheds its skin (molt), 3-4 times. Obviously, the bigger the caterpillar gets, the more substantial the size of the skin is.

The day has come! As soon as the chrysalis attached itself to the cover, it was time to transfer it to the butterfly pavilion. How long before the butterflies come out? The guesses have been from 2 weeks to 7 years. We'll see.

I'd like to share an excerpt of a conversation that I overheard in the yard. Backstory: this happened the day we transferred the first batch of chrysalis to the pavilion.

One child commented on a hair clip that was about to fall. She said, "Look, your hair clip is hanging like a pupa on your hair!" Talk about very vivid imagery!



Dance Festival



We hope you enjoyed the preschool's version of the Maori dance. Thank you parents for doing the costumes and to Charlie for sewing all the headbands. The elementary teachers who watched our dance for the first time couldn't believe that we only started practicing the dance 8 weeks ago, for half an hour each week. Thank you Teacher Ayla!


*Translation of the sign: Please do not touch