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Butterflies

-> Butterfly Research
Butterfly Show July 2004
Raising Butterflies
Butterfly Show September 2004
Butterfly Show 2005
Butterfly Show 2006

We're going to learn about butterflies from butterfly books. I asked the librarian to help me find butterfly books. It let me borrow four! After we learn about butterflies we're going to go to the butterfly show. We're going to see what kinds of butterflies there are! After that we're going to order a butterfly kit. There's going to be caterpillars in the butterfly kit. There's going to be a pop-up tent and we're going to put them in there. Then I guess we'll just wait! Then when we're done waiting we're going to see the butterflies and let them go.

We need to figure out what caterpillars eat. We've got to figure out what butterflies eat. We need to figure out how a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. And we're going to figure out what kinds of butterflies there are!

What do caterpillars eat?

Green leaves and stems

What do butterflies eat?

They eat nectar from flowers

How does a caterpillar change into a butterfly?

Caterpillars usually turn into butterflies outdoors.
The change is called "metamorphosis"
The caterpillar started out as a tiny egg.
The caterpillar eats and grows for 12 to 14 days
The caterpillar makes a chrysalis
A chrysalis is also called a pupa
The caterpillar stays in the chrysalis about one week
The butterfly comes out of the chrysalis
The wings are wet and crumpled

What are some kinds of butterflies?

Painted Lady, Monarch, Black Swallowtail, Cabbage White, Common Blue, Dogface, Buckeye, Brimstone, Red Admiral, Green Hairstreak, Grayling, Small Skipper, Union Jack, Titania's Fritillary, Scarce Copper, Purple Hairstreak, Orange Tip, Clouded Yellow, Map, Marbled White, Zebra, Peacock, Owl, Blue Morpho, Pygmy Blue

Other facts about butterflies:

Butterflies live in gardens, meadows and yards
A butterfly is an insect
Butterflies and moths have hooks on their feet for holding on
They feel and smell with their antennae
Butterflies have four wings
The word "caterpillar" means "hairy cat"
Snakes, toads, bats, spiders, and birds all eat butterflies
There are more than twenty thousand kinds of butterflies

--story by Thea

References: From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman; Butterflies and Moths by Rosamund Kidman Cox and Barbara Cork; Butterflies and Moths by Bobbie Kalman and Tammy Everts; Butterflies by Emily Neye

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