ladybugs in the library

This week we had 500 little ladybugs spend some time with us in the library. Divisions 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 all got to spend some time observing the ladybugs. The students were asked to observe the ladybugs appearance and behaviour.

We talked about how we can learn things about an animal by observing it. Some of the things students noticed were that:
-there are different kinds of ladybugs with different markings
-some ladybugs don't have any spots
-ladybugs can be different colours
-ladybugs have six legs and the legs move in pairs at different times
-ladybugs can crawl upside down
-ladybugs have cases that open up and their real wings appear and spread out

By reading about ladybugs, we learned that:
-ladybugs have four stages in their life cycle (egg, larva, pupa and beetle)
-they eat aphids
-they hibernate in winter
-there are about 5000 species of ladybugs in the world

At the end of each day, we took the ladybugs outside to set them free to find food for themselves and we discussed the importance of beneficial insects to gardeners and farmers and different ecosystems. We let them go near the potato plants in case there were any aphids there!

It was so fun to watch the students be so excited about the ladybugs and for some of them to be able to hold one for the very first time!

~Ms Novakowski