Our frog and tadpoles are home at last!

Thinning plants, tasting vegetables in Senior infants

Releasing a butterfly,sharing a strawberry

Kites in Junior infants

This week we made lovely kites from cardboard, painted them, put on a face and streamers and bows and strings. There  was no shortage of wind this week so we were able go fly them this morning. We also sang " Lets go fly a kite".

Minibeast hunt in Senior infants

We went on a minibeast hunt at the back of the school.We found centipedes,snails,slugs and a beetle.We looked at them through magnifying glasses and then let them go again.

Volcanoes in Senior infants

We were speaking about volcanoes this week,after the volcano erupted in Iceland.We made our own volcanoes by mixing water,baking powder,washing up liquid and vinegar and then BOOM! Explosion time!

Caterpillars into cocoons in Junior infants

Four of our five caterpillars went into their cosy cocoons on Sunday night. Miss Ferguson decided that it was best to move them into their more spacious home, the lovely net tent. The last lazy caterpillar was in position (hanging upside down) but wasn't in a cocoon. We transfered them on Tuesday and by Wednesday morning he was in his chrysalis.
Now we just need to keep a close eye on Sharpy, Hairy, Slinky, Prickly and Snakey. We cannot wait to see their beautiful butterfly colours.

Nearly cocoons in senior infants

Look at our caterpillars.  Today they have started hanging from the top of their containers.  We think they will spin their cocoons soon.

Blue Tits

Two Bluetits built  a nest in teacher's bird house. It is amazing how they construct it. They now have baby birds and the mam and dad are very busy feeding them.  I'm not sure how many as I can't peep in in case I disturb them..

Lifecycles in Senior infants

Junior infant caterpillars

We have some very special guests in our classroom at the moment....in the form of 5 Caterpillars. We received a special delivery from Insectlore. We received a jar with 5 tiny caterpillars. They have food at the bottom of their jar and they are getting fatter and fatter by the day. We learned all about the lifecycle of the butterfly and we are going to follow all the stages....so keep checking our blog to keep updated.

Goodbye to our frogs: Senior infants

Kay (our very friendly garden advisor) came to admire our tadpoles and frogs.   She is taking them back to the pond from where they came, so that they can lead a nice interesting froggy life in their pond.  We transferred them to their travel container and said "goodbye" to them.  We will miss them in our classroom, but we know they will be happy in the wild.

Bigger fatter caterpillars in Senior infants

Look how much our caterpillars have grown!  They are now 14 matchsticks wide!

Nature walk in Senior infants

We have a frog! Senior infants

Water experiments in Senior infants

Our caterpillars have nearly doubled in size: Senior Infants

 On Tuesday our caterpillars were as long as 4 matchsticks held together.  Today when we measured again they were as long as 7 matchsticks.  They have nearly doubled in 3 days.  We left out 12 matchsticks in case we need that many on Monday.

Our tadpole is nearly a frog: Senior infants

Our tadpole is nearly a frog

Five very hungry caterpillars: Senior Infants

Five very hungry caterpillars arrived in our room today (Tuesday, 10th May). They came all the way from the UK. We were SO excited to see them. They came in a special container with lots of airholes so that they can breathe. They are really tiny now (about the length of a finger nail!!) but we expect that they will get much bigger over the coming weeks.  We don't have to feed them as they have special food in the container to eat. We learned all about the lifecycle of the butterfly today and teacher told us the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'. We also saw the video of it which was terrific and we learned a song about a butterfly. Please check out our Butterfly page (on the front page of our school website) for some wonderful related activities. You will also be able to find the video of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' there.

How big are our caterpillars?

We were wondering how big our caterpillars have become.  We used the ends of matchsticks because they are very narrow.  A tiny caterpillar is as wide as 4 matchsticks pushed together.

Our Painted Lady caterpillars have arrived

We ordered caterpillars from http://www.insectlore-europe.com/  They came all the way from the UK in the post.  They are really tiny now, but they will eat the food they came with, and soon we will have 5 beautiful Painted Lady butterflies to release into Renmore.  We will watch as the caterpillars turn into chrysalides in their cocoons, and then turn into butterflies.  This is very exciting for us.

A tadpole with legs

One of our tadpoles has back legs.  He still uses his tail for swimming, but we can see how he will soon turn into a frog.

Worms in our classroom: Senior Infants

Checking on our garden: Junior Infants