Lesson Summary Students prepare the food cups and learn how to care for the caterpillars. Students use a magnifier (hand lens) as well as their sense of touch and smell to observe the “mallow mush” food.  The teacher or other adult uses a paintbrush end to gently place the caterpillars into each student cup.  Students then observe the caterpillars with their magnifiers.  Students should not handle the caterpillars as they are easily damaged.  Students should observe the caterpillar within the cup before putting the lid on.  Students make and record their first observations of the caterpillars.  Teacher Background The yellow food in the cups is made from food plants they would eat in the wild.  These plants are part of the Mallow family.  Painted Lady butterflies prefer the round-leafed mallow plant.  It grows to be about 2 feet tall.  The female butterfly lays her eggs on the leaves and the hatching caterpillars eat these leaves after they emerge from their eggs. Set-up/Management Tips Caterpillars are usually between 3 and 6 days old when they arrive in the classroom and already have undergone at least two molts.  It is important for students to observe and describe the earliest stages of the caterpillars, please try to teach this lesson on they day the caterpillars arrive.  If you cannot teach this lesson on the day they arrive you can store the caterpillars in the refrigerator for up to one week.  This slows the caterpillar growth. When doing this lesson it may be helpful to recruit a volunteer, either an adult or older student, to help with the management of food cups and caterpillars. If possible, try to have extra time available to complete this activity.  To ensure everyone gets their caterpillar food cups completed and are allowed ample time to reflect. Decide prior to teaching this lesson if you will allow students to keep the caterpillars at their desk taped to the top or if you will keep them on a shelf. You can either teach this lesson in a large group setting with all students following the step by step directions or in small groups. Set up an “adoption center” in the classroom, which contains the extra caterpillars, so those students whose caterpillars die can “adopt” a new one. Tips for putting the food in the cups: •Place a small amount of mallow in each cup prior to beginning this lesson. •Demonstrate to students how to carefully press the food down into the bottom of the cup either using a clean finger or by using the bottom of another cup.  Be certain there are no cracks in the food because the caterpillars could get stuck and die.  •Place two caterpillars in each cup, gently using the end a paintbrush to move them.  If caterpillars eat the paper in the lid, put in new paper if they haven’t attached themselves to it yet. •Write each student’s name on his or her lid. Consider setting up a terrarium in your room with elements from nature for your students to observe how caterpillars might survive in a more natural habitat. Record information on the class calendar and student calendars each time you observe the caterpillars. Create a class calendar either on a transparency or on a bulletin board to record each time you observe the caterpillars and butterflies throughout this unit.  Give students a blank calendar to record the same information on the class calendar.  This calendar will be referred back to in future lessons. If your caterpillars arrive and are dead or are not thriving, call the GWAEA VAST center immediately to arrange another shipment. Begin discussions with your students about the life cycle and that the caterpillars and the butterflies’ life cycles may not go perfectly and that death is a part of this life cycle.  Beginning this discussion now may help them later when caterpillars and butterflies do begin to die.  It is also important to remember for later lessons that all of the butterflies may not emerge from their chrysalis perfectly shaped.  Use these opportunities to discuss how this may occur in nature and elements that may contribute to ailments such as broken wings or broken proboscis, etc.  Literacy Support There are currently no VAST Mediagraphies listed for this unit. Scientific Vocabulary The following words are key vocabulary words that will be introduced in this lesson and reinforced throughout the unit: mallow plant larva lifecycle food