Today we had our last day of swimming lessons. Everyone in Room 2 did a great job all week and Ms. Boyer could see that we are all becoming great swimmers!
Before we went to swimming we went outside to make some more observations at the anthill. We gave the ants a bit more sugar and recorded our observations about the ways that ants find food.
After we were finished our observations we explored the Whispering Woods for more signs of ants and other insects. We discovered quite a few signs of insects including galls, rolled leaves with caterpillars inside, and an aphid farm!
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| These bumps are called galls. Galls are formed by small insects like aphids or small wasps. The larva will live inside the gall until it is an adult. We noticed some galls were bumpy and some were flat. We think that the flat ones are empty now. |
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| This insect seems to have used two leaves to make its cocoon. We could see some silky holding the leaves together. We aren't sure what type of insect would do this...more research to do! |
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| This rolled up leaf has a caterpillar inside. We think the caterpillar is making its chrysalis or cocoon inside the leaf. |
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This is an "aphid farm"! The black stuff is all aphids and the ants are "milking" the aphids for their honeydew nectar. The ants will bring aphids together into these big piles and then milk them. The ants aren't killing the aphids but they are keeping them in that spot.
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Next week Mrs. Kidd will be starting her big library inventory. Please try to make sure all library books are returned on Monday.
Our helper on Monday is: Peter
