It's a Very Buggy World

There is nothing my 4th graders love more than getting up close with science!  They were overjoyed when I told them that we would be studying the life cycle of a mealworm in our Life Cycle unit.  (Me...not so much!)

After obtaining my science specimens from the local Petsmart store, the kids made sure they became a part of our classroom -- our class pets, if you will.  We set up a cage for them, complete with oatmeal and Cheerios, and watched them feed on carrots and lettuce leaves.  (Some of the bugs were even so talented that they used the Cheerios as a sort-of hula hoop -- very entertaining!)  I had the students write about the worms in their "Diary of an Earthworm" journals.  (I try to incorporate as much writing in my core areas as possible.)

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am not a fan of anything that slithers, crawls, or otherwise acts even remotely like a worm or snake.  Imagine how excited I was (not!) when our little earthworms decided to demonstrate the pupa stage of the mealworm life cycle and turn into little white puffs of blobbiness.

 

I was even able to get a close up of one of them...

 

 

 

Isn't she a beauty???

 

Any day now the pupas will be changing into the next phase of their life cycle -- beetles.  At that point, we are going to have to set our class pets free....