One of our families found this caterpillar outside our Collective gate on the morning of Sept 14th. The Collective students used several insect guides to determine it was a tomato hornworm. We brought it into our class and gave him a home on a pepper plant.
After just a few days, he disappeared. The students made several guesses as to what happened. They looked for holes in the net, searched for him around the classroom, and looked for a cocoon on the plant.
They couldn’t find him anywhere. We didn’t give up and kept looking for him each day.
Finally, on October 31st, a student noticed a large moth resting on the netting surrounding the plant. It had emerged! The students figured out that the caterpillar dug underground to make his cocoon.
What an authentic way to explore and learn about the life cycle of a moth!