ravished the children’s plants. Leafless,
flowerless, stalks were covered by rela-
tively enormous velvety green caterpillars.
Only five of seventy-five plants survived
the plague. The children were torn; their
beloved caterpillars were decimating their
beloved plants! I hadn’t planned on this
and wished we’d grown more Brassica for
backup. The conversation that followed
was a highlight of the unit:
“This is a big problem,” I said.
Sad, doe-eyed faces stared at me.
“The caterpillars are happy, but the
plants are sad,” one kindergartener sadly
exclaimed.
“Let’s look further. Why do you think
the plants are sad?”
“They’re dying. Their flowers won’t
even get to open.”
“yes, that’s true. And if they die, what
won’t they get to do?”
“They won’t make their seeds. There’ll
be no new baby plants.”
“If this were happening outside in
Brassica nature, what would no new baby plants
plague
mean?”
“The animals would be hungry; birds
ties. even in miniature the children could
couldn’t eat the seeds.”
see that these flowers had the same parts
“yes, many animals depend on these
as the lilies, including pollen on their
plants. Like who?”
anthers and a sticky stigma leading to their
“Birds . . . squirrels . . . deer . . . insects . . .
ovaries. The children knew just what to do
and . . . caterpillars.”
to help them along. They also experienced
“And butterflies—they won’t be able to
firsthand the reason for flowers’ bright
drink the nectar—or lay their eggs!”
colors and enticing scents—to attract pol-
“Ah, now let’s look at OUR caterpillars.
linators.
you say they’re doing well. Think about
Back in our pavilion, Brassica buds
that. What’s going to happen to these cat-
emerged and a few began blossoming.
erpillars?”
We had no adult butterflies or moths yet
“They’re gonna run out of food.”
to help move the pollen, so the ambula-
“They might run out of food, but let’s
tory children happily assisted their rooted
imagine that there are just enough leaves
plants. The cabbage whites were growing
left for them to grow up. What’ll happen
fast now, already about a half inch long,
when they’re fully grown?”
but their damage to the leaves was still
“They’ll make chrysalises!”
minimal. The children left for the week-
“yes, and then what?”
end eager to pollinate more flowers when
“They’ll become adults and find a mate
they returned on Monday.
and . . . oh, they won’t have any plants to lay
their eggs on.”
“Right. What else will the adult butter-
Unplanned lessons
flies need this plant for?”
“Nectar!”
That’s when disaster struck. Our cab-
“Do you think the caterpillars are really
bage white caterpillars nearly doubled in
doing well if they’ve eaten up all of the
size that weekend. By Monday they had
plants so none are left?”
page 18 • Connect © synergy learning • 800-769-6199 • March/april 2010