Our first silk moth chews its way out

Spinning silk from coccoons

Step 1: Freeze the cocoons

Step 2: Heat the cocoons, don't let them boil

Step 3: Use either your fingers or the toothbrush to find the "true end" of the thread

Step 4: Gather a number of thread ends from different cocoons, twist them together 

 

R. Buckminister Fuller, Passengers on Spaceship Earth

Grades: Middle School and High School

Objective: To explore Buckminister Fuller's idea of "Spaceship Earth" as it pertains to the first images of Earth from space and the 1960s and 70s American environmental movement

Painting with Lisa

More classroom pictures, plants, and learning displays

Silkworm Update: Ants, Cocoons

This morning when we walked into our classroom we found carnage.  Ants had come into our classroom and decimated an entire box of silkworms.

Luckily, we've been isolating the strongest and the weakest silkworms, separating them into populations we intend to breed and populations we don't want to procreate.  The box the ants attacked was the box of the weakest and most sickly silkworms--none of which had begun to spin cocoons.  

We took measures to prevent another ant attack.  We sprayed the area where the ants had been entering with our classroom with white vinegar, put lids on some of our silkworm boxes, and placed the boxes without lids in trays of water.

Ants killed dozens of silkworms in this box this morning

 

Art with Lisa

Grades: Elementary and Middle School

Objectives: To experiment with different drawing, gridding, and watercolor techniques