Dear Families,
In October, I discovered a Black Swallowtail caterpillar nibbling on my parsley in my home garden. I carefully plucked some parsley stems and placed them (with the caterpillar) in a small vase in a tank and brought the “caterpillar bouquet” into the classroom the next day.
“Ralph” (or Ralphette) as he was named through a class vote, soon became a cherished class pet. I sometimes bemoan how many times I need to remind students to put papers in their binders or cubbies or homework folders or clean up their tables, but discovered that a little critter can work wonders on 11 and 12-year-old memories. At morning meeting I mentioned that students could bring in sticks and other items from recess to add to Ralph’s home. Without further reminder, four hours later the class returned from recess, hands full of grass and sticks to add to the tank.
Over the coming weeks Ralph’s cage was further decorated. A beautiful sign was made with a picture of the butterfly he was to become (after researching what kind of caterpillar he was in the field guide- I didn’t tell the class I knew at first). And soon a set of playing cards with numbers from 1-10 were pasted on the outside of the tank. When I asked a student what these were for, the response was, “So he can learn to count!” A tiny birthday card was even made for him which everyone was asked to sign (not that it was actually his birthday!).
While most students are very familiar with the life cycle of monarch butterflies- typically the species studied in younger grades during life cycle units- the Black Swallowtail butterfly life cycle is somewhat different and provides an opportunity for further learning about many science topics we plan to study this year, from energy to climate change to ecology and earth-sun relationships. I realized that Ralph could be the “hook” I was looking for to tie together many of our units in science this year.
How do all these topics connect to a tiny caterpillar? Well, unlike the monarch butterfly which migrates to Mexico, many species of insects overwinter in NH. To survive, they go into a kind of “hibernation” called diapause- even producing anti-freeze chemicals to keep their bodies from freezing. Black Swallowtails are one of these species. Chrysalises that form in midsummer proceed to develop into butterflies, but those from the second generation that form in the fall will go into diapause and hatch the following spring.
What triggers a chrysalis to go into diapause? Colder temperatures and shorter days. These two triggers tie directly to what we plan to study this year: Climate change could affect temperatures and thus makes us wonder, how will climate change impact Black Swallowtail butterflies? The length of day and night, however, continues on the same schedule unaffected by changing temperatures- governed by the tilt of the earth on its orbit around the sun. Both these processes tie directly to the flux of energy into and out of our earth system.
After doing a reading about diapause, students had various hypotheses ranging from predicting that if climate change continues, perhaps warmer temperatures might make the butterflies emerge earlier before food was available (a negative impact) to the thought that emerging earlier might allow the butterflies to fit in an extra generation over the summer leading to bigger populations (a positive impact). Having not yet studied climate change, students’ understanding of the process is poorly developed, but my hope is that the conversation has helped them connect it to their lives- to their class pet- and generated the curiosity and interest to fuel more in depth studies soon to come.
This week we are also studying the Winter Solstice (which is Wednesday). We will do this through a history lesson on traditions celebrating this day around the world, and also in math and science class as we calculate change in daylength in Chesterfield over the year in this week’s Problem of the Week. Once again this brings us back to Ralph. Just how long do the days need to be to trigger him to come out of his chrysalis? How much do our days change here in Chesterfield? Later in the year we will compare how the days change in other locations around the world and use the math skills from this week’s problem of the week once again.
Ralph is no longer in our classroom- he is at home on my front porch. Ask your child to tell you why we had to remove him from our classroom! It’s all connected to the science!
And check out this four-minute time-lapse video showing a Black Swallowtail caterpillar transforming into a chrysalis and then a butterfly. It definitely produced a feeling of awe in the classroom as we watched it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrowLvvmmds
Happy Solstice. May the soon to be lengthening days bring with them optimism and many reasons to celebrate our blessings.
Sincerely,
Laura White
In October, I discovered a Black Swallowtail caterpillar nibbling on my parsley in my home garden. I carefully plucked some parsley stems and placed them (with the caterpillar) in a small vase in a tank and brought the “caterpillar bouquet” into the classroom the next day.
“Ralph” (or Ralphette) as he was named through a class vote, soon became a cherished class pet. I sometimes bemoan how many times I need to remind students to put papers in their binders or cubbies or homework folders or clean up their tables, but discovered that a little critter can work wonders on 11 and 12-year-old memories. At morning meeting I mentioned that students could bring in sticks and other items from recess to add to Ralph’s home. Without further reminder, four hours later the class returned from recess, hands full of grass and sticks to add to the tank.
Over the coming weeks Ralph’s cage was further decorated. A beautiful sign was made with a picture of the butterfly he was to become (after researching what kind of caterpillar he was in the field guide- I didn’t tell the class I knew at first). And soon a set of playing cards with numbers from 1-10 were pasted on the outside of the tank. When I asked a student what these were for, the response was, “So he can learn to count!” A tiny birthday card was even made for him which everyone was asked to sign (not that it was actually his birthday!).
While most students are very familiar with the life cycle of monarch butterflies- typically the species studied in younger grades during life cycle units- the Black Swallowtail butterfly life cycle is somewhat different and provides an opportunity for further learning about many science topics we plan to study this year, from energy to climate change to ecology and earth-sun relationships. I realized that Ralph could be the “hook” I was looking for to tie together many of our units in science this year.
How do all these topics connect to a tiny caterpillar? Well, unlike the monarch butterfly which migrates to Mexico, many species of insects overwinter in NH. To survive, they go into a kind of “hibernation” called diapause- even producing anti-freeze chemicals to keep their bodies from freezing. Black Swallowtails are one of these species. Chrysalises that form in midsummer proceed to develop into butterflies, but those from the second generation that form in the fall will go into diapause and hatch the following spring.
What triggers a chrysalis to go into diapause? Colder temperatures and shorter days. These two triggers tie directly to what we plan to study this year: Climate change could affect temperatures and thus makes us wonder, how will climate change impact Black Swallowtail butterflies? The length of day and night, however, continues on the same schedule unaffected by changing temperatures- governed by the tilt of the earth on its orbit around the sun. Both these processes tie directly to the flux of energy into and out of our earth system.
After doing a reading about diapause, students had various hypotheses ranging from predicting that if climate change continues, perhaps warmer temperatures might make the butterflies emerge earlier before food was available (a negative impact) to the thought that emerging earlier might allow the butterflies to fit in an extra generation over the summer leading to bigger populations (a positive impact). Having not yet studied climate change, students’ understanding of the process is poorly developed, but my hope is that the conversation has helped them connect it to their lives- to their class pet- and generated the curiosity and interest to fuel more in depth studies soon to come.
This week we are also studying the Winter Solstice (which is Wednesday). We will do this through a history lesson on traditions celebrating this day around the world, and also in math and science class as we calculate change in daylength in Chesterfield over the year in this week’s Problem of the Week. Once again this brings us back to Ralph. Just how long do the days need to be to trigger him to come out of his chrysalis? How much do our days change here in Chesterfield? Later in the year we will compare how the days change in other locations around the world and use the math skills from this week’s problem of the week once again.
Ralph is no longer in our classroom- he is at home on my front porch. Ask your child to tell you why we had to remove him from our classroom! It’s all connected to the science!
And check out this four-minute time-lapse video showing a Black Swallowtail caterpillar transforming into a chrysalis and then a butterfly. It definitely produced a feeling of awe in the classroom as we watched it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrowLvvmmds
Happy Solstice. May the soon to be lengthening days bring with them optimism and many reasons to celebrate our blessings.
Sincerely,
Laura White