We have had a very exciting week in Year 2! As part of our Animal Survival companion project, we have been learning about life cycles of different animals.

On Monday, we looked at pictures and videos of different offspring and learnt their names, such as: hoglets, tadpoles, and larvae. The children worked in groups to match pictures of offspring to their parents. They then worked together to put the pictures into categories: mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and birds.

We then looked at the life cycle of caterpillars. We watched a video of a caterpillar creating a chrysalis and the children were fascinated! We wrote down lots of questions that we would like to learn the answers to over the next few weeks. Questions included: How long do caterpillars stay in their chrysalis? How does a caterpillar change into a butterfly? How do they make their chrysalis?

The children already knew some great facts about caterpillars and butterflies including: butterflies sunbathe after they leave their chrysalis in order to dry their wings, and caterpillars create webs in their habitat to catch them if they fall. Wow!

We then opened up our special parcel. Inside was two tubs of tiny caterpillars. We could see that they have started to make webs already! We looked at what else was in the parcel – a big net, a sachet of sugar water, and some models of the different stages of a caterpillar’s life. The children were brilliant at carefully passing around the tubs of caterpillars and understood why they needed to be gentle.

Over the next few weeks, in Year 2 we will observe the growth and changes of the caterpillars as they change into butterflies. Once they have gone through this metamorphosis (ask your child if they can tell you what this means!) we will release the butterflies together as a class. We will make recordings in our science book as we go.

Well done, Year 2!