Which minibeast are we studying in class next week?

Can you guess from these clues?

• This minibeast starts life as hairy, smooth or spiky. It is often brightly coloured or camouflaged  to scare off or trick predators!
• This minibeast changes completely during its lifecycle. This change is called metamorphosis.
• There are almost 20,000 different types of this minibeast.
• Once grown, this minibeast sucks up its food through a curly tube called a proboscis.
• We will be looking closely at the ‘Painted Lady’ variety of this minibeast.
• Here’s a close up of this minibeast at an early stage of its life cycle, do you recognise it?!

Post a reply to tell me what minibeast you think it will be!

Think you are an expert on mini beast habitats? Try this cool game and test yourself! You have to choose habitats and then select the best habitat for each mini beast- if the mini beast doesn’t like where you put it you will see it quickly move out to somewhere it likes better! Click the link below to get started:

http://www.iboard.co.uk/iwb/Minibeasts-Habitat-Manager-48

PS- this game isn’t tablet friendly, so try it on your PC or laptop! Thanks to Will’s mum for bringing this to my attention!

We went on a minibeast hunt last night! We found a spider in his web. He made his web under a brick. We saw a slater in the web- he was going to get eaten! We decided to save his life! We got a brush and a jar and we gently swept him in. We were really careful not to damage the web. Sorry you didn’t get any dinner, Mr. Spider!

By Lyall and Paddy

What is this caterpillar doing?!

Is he practicing headstands? Doing yoga? Has he slipped and is desperately trying to climb back up?!

His body is making a ‘J’ shape and he is very still. Can you see the strands of silk attached to him? What is he making?

Looks like some of his friends are crawling up onto the lid to join him…whatever can they be up to?

Do you know why the caterpillars are hanging upside down?

Tell us your ideas by replying to this post!

Yesterday we made these brilliant spiders with Mrs. Glass. Today they looking very comfortable in their very own web! Some people chose to add palps (used for touching, tasting and feeling) or fangs (for paralysing prey!). Did you know, it only takes a spider about three hours to make a web? Could you build a trap to catch your dinner in three hours?!

Here’s a link to the beetle video we watched in class today. Which was your favourite beetle? Where do you think you might find beetles in your garden?

Different Types of Beetle

It’s spider week! What do you know about spiders? Do you have a spider question? Do you have a spider fact? Post a comment and tell us what you know or want to know about spiders!

Look how the caterpillars have changed in one week!

Add a reply below to say what you think of the caterpillars’ progress and what you think might happen next!

Mrs. Ward gave us clues to next week’s minibeast that we are studying in class! Here they are:

• It lives on the ground.
• It eats other minibeasts.
• It is in a nursery rhyme that you know.
• It is in the minibeast category called ‘arachnids’.

What do you think it is?