Caterpillars

Say hello to our little friends! Last spring I student taught first graders and had a lot of success with my butterfly unit. Last year I ordered about 30 caterpillars from Carolina Biological, but to do this at home, I figured five would suffice (although they sent me 6!). I have a butterfly sanctuary, which is like a mesh basket, where these little guys will be transferred once they each form a chrysalis. Until then, they will hang out and eat (the yellowish stuff on the bottom is their food) until they get big and fuzzy. The look on Franky's face was priceless this morning when I took them out of their box. He's used to deliveries that involve mostly books so he was pretty excited to see actual live caterpillars. So far, the kids have checked on them a minimum of 10 times to see if they've gotten bigger. In honor of our guests, we're going to revisit one of our favorite books, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Below is an excellent video of the author reading the book himself.

You can also find several fascinating videos of this gifted author discussing his childhood and demonstrating how he creates his masterpieces on the Penguin website. In case you haven't guessed, I adore Eric Carle. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to settle a very important caterpillar dispute.