Caterpillars

This week 9 hairy caterpillars inside very tiny plastic cups entered my classroom. Inside these itty bitty cups they eat mushy brown food, poop in their mushy brown food and grow fuzzy cocoons. Despite my dislike for bugs I did willing allow these ones into my room. Only for the overused reason that everyone else was doin' it and I just couldn't let my kiddos be left out. So for now I am focusing on the future. Every time I see these hairy things I envision the butterflies that they will become. (Sort of what I hope others do when they see unperfect little me)

And while I wait for these future butterflies I get to have fun moments. Moments like when the teacher brought them into my room and told me to be careful because if they get disturbed too much they might explode. Lovely.

Then there was Day 2 with the butterflies. That morning my students anxiously ran over to their caterpillars to check on their mortality status. The first thing I heard were students squealing, "His head fell off!!!" "I think it exploded!!!" I am very new to this caterpillar business but I doubted their heads just fell off... So I went to examine. And upon examination I saw a hairy ball that indeed looked like a fallen off head. But I doubted it was a head because there wasn't any blood... But still in my naivety (or maybe just my stupidity) I wasn't entirely certain so I called up the expert teacher. Thankfully I was informed that their heads do not, indeed, ever just fall off (please don't judge me for thinking this was possible for even a moment, after all I was informed that they can explode). She further told me that the little hairy ball was dead caterpillar skin. You see they shed their skin and add that lovely mess to their mushy food and their poop. Oh caterpillars. I can't wait to see you live up to your full potential.

Not my picture but looks identical to the ones in my room.

And this is hopefully their future: