More Monarchs & Musings

Here is the second Monarch Butterfly that completed its transformation process this afternoon.

While Connor was at school, Colton, Arrah and I learned about the different life stages of the Monarch Butterfly.  There are lots of great websites to use in learning about and demonstrating where a butterfly comes from.  Here is the website of one of our favorites:

http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/MBUSA.htm

This one is fun for smaller kids because it shows the "wiggle jiggle dance" that the caterpillar does as it grows and sheds it skin and spins its chrysalis.  My kids love the bongo-type music that plays in the background and they laugh and laugh as they try to do the same dance.  The website also has some great pictures of the transformation and migration of the Monarch Butterfly.

I drew different pictures of the stages of transformation and wrote the terms under them for Arrah to color and trace.  She got to practice her letters and words, coloring skills and then use her imagination as she colored the caterpillar and butterfly--it was not a very accurate depiction of the Monarch, but she liked it and was very proud of her work, as you can see.

Colton didn't want to color a "butterfy."  "Me want a fire engine wit a picture of Poppie in it."  So, Colty and I drew out a fire engine and spent time finding the right colors and shapes for his picture. 

I put the title, "Whoo, Whoo!  Coming through!" on it for him and Arrah then sketched in a picture of Colton riding in the back of the fire engine with Poppie.  It was lots of fun.

We also worked on the "SH" sound and different body parts this afternoon.  We cut out a SHirt, SHorts, SHoes and body parts (like a head, legs and arms) and then assembled a picture of ourselves on a big piece of construction paper using glue and crayons.

I did my best to cut out fingers on the hand for Arrah, but gave up and created mitten-like hands for Colton that I then drew fingers on.  Colty demanded, "Where my forks on my arm?  Me need forks, too."  So much for my art skills!  :)

Here is the picture of the Monarch drying his wings right before we left to pick up Connor from school.  I was so happy that Connor was enjoying his first day of school--I went to have lunch with him, but left before he saw me because he was holding a friend's hand on the way into the cafeteria and talking excitedly about what was in his lunch box.  What a day of endings and new beginnings, of learning to spread our wings and let go.