Hello, Luca writing. Our caterpillars were doing well until one of them died. The first one to die was "Tiny". He got to attached to his leaf of old Milkweed and then died because he didn't get enough nutrients. The second to die was "Lucky". We had his leaf on an egg carton and he fell into the hole. "Lucky" was not very lucky after all. :(
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Monarch Morning
Saturday morning, Nana called me a little panicked. The hospice where she had been working as a gardener had instructed her to pull out all the milkweed in the gardens, as "it wasn't part of their gardening plan". (This, despite the fact that monarch butterfly habitats are already under siege on all sides) She was doing as instructed, when she found two plants, one with eggs and one with a live caterpillar on it. "I just couldn't throw him on the pile," she told me, "he deserves a chance to live." So she saved the plants, and at nine AM rushed over to my house to find a spot to plant them. The kids were elated that we were being given charge of new creatures, and I quickly googled "how to care for monarch caterpillars indoors". (Seriously, what did people do before the internet??) Mom arrived, and Luca carefully scoured the plant for any eggs, removing nasty aphids and spiders in the process. Sadly, the big caterpillar mom found that prompted all this had fallen off somewhere in transit. But we did find two new hatchlings (later named Lucky and Tiny), and we transferred to mom's mesh cat carrier. Then, as mom was literally walking over to pick up the plants for transplant, a monarch lands on the milkweed and starts laying eggs! Luca then once again went back to scour the plants for more eggs, and found at least two that the monarch had laid.
As a preschool teacher, I couldn't think of a better lesson illustrating how humans are screwing up, what we can do to fix it, and the general beauty of nature. What a magical monarch morning!
As a preschool teacher, I couldn't think of a better lesson illustrating how humans are screwing up, what we can do to fix it, and the general beauty of nature. What a magical monarch morning!
Luca and Astrid checking on Lucky and Tiny
Tiny (above), and Lucky (below)
Cat carrier/butterfly habitat!
Astrid Astrid Astrid
Wow, six months have passed! We've been so busy!
Spring was rapid. Astrid was born, Luca graduated Kindergarten, and we were off to summer in the blink of an eye.
Summer was INSANE. Once Kyra started work again, I had to drop off everyone else at three different locations, resulting in 2-2.5 hours of driving time every day except Tuesday. And I work from home! First we dropped Kyra off at work, then Luca at summer camp (which was a lot of fun), and finally Astrid at her daycare. There wasn't an opening at Kyra's new work - a daycare - so we had to wait until September until Astrid could go to school with her. This summer was a small taste of what many families must do every day, and we've been lucky to avoid such huge hassles.
Fall has slowed down a bit, but we're still breathless from the rapid summer season. It's November, and I'm trying to catch up on posting photos and videos from the summer. I haven't written anything about Luca's graduation or the start of 1st grade, the start of Astrid's new day care, or Luca's 7th birthday.
Astrid has been growing quite a bit! She's already learning the prerequisites to crawling and walking, like getting up on her hands and knees from tummy time and pulling herself up on things (with a bit of help). She's eating lots of different food, including some regular solids. For example, she seems to like bread! She's babbling a lot, and just like Luca, she says "Baba" quite well ("daddy" in Chinese). There are times when we think she may just mean it, too!
Here's a photo album with a few of the highlights:
Spring was rapid. Astrid was born, Luca graduated Kindergarten, and we were off to summer in the blink of an eye.
Summer was INSANE. Once Kyra started work again, I had to drop off everyone else at three different locations, resulting in 2-2.5 hours of driving time every day except Tuesday. And I work from home! First we dropped Kyra off at work, then Luca at summer camp (which was a lot of fun), and finally Astrid at her daycare. There wasn't an opening at Kyra's new work - a daycare - so we had to wait until September until Astrid could go to school with her. This summer was a small taste of what many families must do every day, and we've been lucky to avoid such huge hassles.
Fall has slowed down a bit, but we're still breathless from the rapid summer season. It's November, and I'm trying to catch up on posting photos and videos from the summer. I haven't written anything about Luca's graduation or the start of 1st grade, the start of Astrid's new day care, or Luca's 7th birthday.
Astrid has been growing quite a bit! She's already learning the prerequisites to crawling and walking, like getting up on her hands and knees from tummy time and pulling herself up on things (with a bit of help). She's eating lots of different food, including some regular solids. For example, she seems to like bread! She's babbling a lot, and just like Luca, she says "Baba" quite well ("daddy" in Chinese). There are times when we think she may just mean it, too!
Here's a photo album with a few of the highlights:
Astrid in her Take-Home Outfit
Luca and Astrid
The Whole Family!
Tummy Time
Learning to Sit
Two Goons in a Chair
Flower Girls
Laundry Girl
Jumping Girl
Reading with Brother
Halloween Costume (Take-Home Redux)
Eating Bread
I'll be catching up with the photos and videos soon, along with some new (professional) family photos for the website. Stay tuned! (What does that even mean nowadays??)Praise for Luca
Luca received his first report card today. He excels at knowing letters and their sounds, as well as counting forward and backward, counting objects, and reading, writing, comparing, and ordering numbers. Otherwise, he is proficient in all other skills.
Luca's teachers wrote two touching notes about him. In the section titled, "Child as a Learner and School Community Member", his teacher wrote, "Luca is a friendly and helpful student. He is a joy to have in class." In visual arts, his teacher wrote, "Luca is a pleasure to have in class! He is hard working, articulate, creative, and is also very helpful to his peers. Thank you Luca!"
We were reading his report card to him, and when I read the first note, I teared up. I'm so proud of my little boy!
Luca's teachers wrote two touching notes about him. In the section titled, "Child as a Learner and School Community Member", his teacher wrote, "Luca is a friendly and helpful student. He is a joy to have in class." In visual arts, his teacher wrote, "Luca is a pleasure to have in class! He is hard working, articulate, creative, and is also very helpful to his peers. Thank you Luca!"
We were reading his report card to him, and when I read the first note, I teared up. I'm so proud of my little boy!
