Metamorphosis of Monarchs

   Monarch Caterpillars   

By Emily Harris, Felecity Workmanmauk, Kamrhen Thompson

        On August 25, 2009 Mrs. Griffin brought a monarch caterpillar to her 4th grade class.  It was only 25 millimeters.  Her class fed it fresh milkweed leaves daily and watched it for about 5 millimeters a day.  Then on September 4 the whole class watched it metamorphose into a chrysalis.  They are waiting when it will emerge as a beautiful orange and black butterfly.  Before it hatches the pupa will turn clear.  It will take 1 hour for its wings to dry.  then we will let it go free.  Mrs. Griffin taught her class that monarch caterpillars can only live for ten months.  Mrs. Milgrim, Mrs. Galliher, Mrs. Sykes and Mrs. Woykowski all have monarch caterpillars that they are watching. 

 

 

 

The Butterfly

By Evan Barnes

        One day my teacher Mrs. Griffin brought in a monarch caterpillar.  Every single day we watched the caterpillar grow and get fatter.  It was awesome.  And then it died.  That day Mrs. Griffin threw away the caterpillar.  The next day Mrs. Griffin brought in another monarch caterpillar.  We watched it grow longer and fatter.  That was cool!  We watched it every single day.  We watched it, we watched it, we watched it and we watched it.  On Friday while we were at recess Mrs. Griffin said, "Gillie and Jamie, go check the caterpillar."  Jamie and Gillie yelled, "The caterpillar is making its chrysalis!" So we all ran in to watch it.  It only took about five minutes.  It was finally done.  It was gooey, greeny and it looked like jello.  It stayed like that for two weeks.  One morning when Mrs. Griffin walked in the room the caterpillar had emerged a butterfly.  It was amazing!  We gave it one hour to dry its wings.  The class tried to see if the butterfly would fly away, but it wasn't ready.  Later that day, Mrs. Griffin and Mrs. Milgrim's classes tried to see if their butterflies would fly away together.  Mrs. Deal, our library teacher, video taped the whole event.  It was amazing.  Felecity said, "They grow up so fast!"  They really do.  They do grow up so fast!  It was an awesome experience to watch the transformation from caterpillar to butterfly.

 

Monarch Metamorphosis Movie

To watch our movie click the butterfly.  Please be patient as it downloads.