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Background

In this lesson, students can explore how much milkweed a caterpillar eats over its lifetime, and in so doing answer the question of whether caterpillars eat more as they get bigger. Students will learn to make a simple bar graph of the quantity of leaves eaten each day. They will also practice recording observations of any changes their caterpillars go through (like molting) on the same data sheet. This is a good lesson to help students see a pattern emerge over time.

Materials

• How much does a caterpillar eat? Data Sheet (student handout)
• Larvae in individual containers

1. Have students keep track of the total number of milkweed leaves that their caterpillars eat each day.
2. Record the number of leaves eaten each day on the data sheet.
3. Have students record any other observations about their caterpillar each day on the same data sheet. They should note its length and anything else they see. For example, on the days that the caterpillar molts, it will stop eating for a period of time. If students record their observations of molting with quantity of leaves eaten, they will see the pattern of "fewer leaves eaten on days of molting" emerge from their data.
4. You may want to discuss these questions with your students:

• Do we need to use leaves that are approximately the same size? What would happen if some of our leaves were very small and others were very large?
• If we are keeping track of the total number of leaves eaten each day, what defines a day?
• What would happen to our measurements if the caterpillar ran out of leaves to eat? (Children should check that the caterpillar has enough leaves for the night before they go home each day, keeping track of how many they put in each night).

5. As an extension, read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to the class.

• How Much Does a Caterpillar Eat?   

• How Much Does a Caterpillar Eat?   Page 2    

ã 2000 Monarchs in the Classroom  - University of Minnesota
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