Insect Fun

 My dad found another class pet for us. Last week he discovered a huge green caterpillar crawling around on a 5-gal pail looking for a place to make its cocoon. He put it in a jar with some leaves and a stick and a few days later it made this cocoon! 

It's huge! About three and a half inches long and an inch and a half tall. It looks like it's made of coconut husk. The leaves stuck right to the cocoon. The kids were suitably impressed when I showed it to them today. Dad said to leave it on my porch over the winter so it won't accidentally hatch too soon. It will turn into a Cecropia moth, one of the largest moths in North America. The adults can't eat, so their whole purpose while in moth form is to mate, then die. This process takes about two weeks. Hopefully when it hatches in the spring there will be other moths around!

Other insect news... wasps have been getting in my classroom. We killed another two today! Last week we killed at least two or three. Our lovely new janitor gave me some wasp spray (basically dish soap and water). It works! At noon recess, my kiddos and I poked around the classroom to see where they might be getting in... We discovered another wasp nest on the back side of my classroom way up high by the roof. Also, I noticed wasps hovering around the air conditioning drain. It's a pipe that leads up into the wall/into the classroom, so it might be possible for them to crawl up there? I need to call the school trustee.