Life Cycles and Animal Surprises

We have just started studying life cycles in science, our final theme for the year. I decided to splurge a bit and get some animals into the classroom so we can see the life cycles. I ordered ladybugs, a praying mantis egg case, caterpillars, and chicken eggs. This week, our ladybugs moved from the pupa stage to the adult stage. Today, three of our butterflies crawled out of their cocoons. 

It was so amazing to watch the butterflies emerge. They are so beautiful.

We got three different types of chicken eggs. They won't hatch for another 20 days or so. We're also awaiting the baby praying mantises. Can't wait to see them. 

Today we were all out on the playground when someone looked up and saw not one, not two, but three large opossums in the trees above us. We were all fascinated by them. We watched for probably a half hour or so. One of the big opossums actually had at least one baby in it's pouch. As we watched, we could see little pink feet sticking out of the pouch, then the tail, then nothing, and eventually, the little guy crawled out completely. It was amazing.