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Here in our Grade 3/4 classroom, we've been raising Painted Lady butterflies. The Painted Lady's scientific name is Vanessa cardui; find out more about this beautiful butterfly!
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Our butterflies are Painted Ladies. The butterfly kit we ordered arrived with larvae (caterpillars), some small containers to keep them in, and some food.
Our first job was to put food in the containers to get them ready for the caterpillars.
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Then we moved the larvae into their new homes!
 
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They stayed there for about a week, eating.
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Soon the caterpillars began spinning threads, each to form its own pupa, called a chrysalis. Each larva grabbed hold of the top of its container, and wrapped the silk around itself to form a hard shell. They stayed inside for about a week. They're turning into butterflies.
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We moved the container lids into the butterfly box,
and taped them to its ceiling, and we're waiting ...
Unfortunately, none of our butterflies emerged!
We hope to do this activity again next year!
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