Metamorphosis and life cycles

This week we began looking at the fruit fly life cycle. I brought several vials and bottles each containing eggs, larvae, pupae, or adults. Students used magnifying glasses to identify each of the life cycle stages and to also draw pictures of what they noticed about adult fruit flies. (The drawing to the right was done by a kindergartner who attempted to make careful note of the number of legs and the eye color of her chosen fruit fly.) We talked about many different types of organisms that undergo metamorphosis including: insects, amphibians, fish, and plants. The students are excited to track the timing of the fruit fly life cycle in their classroom. They will recording the different transitions that they notice in the vials, from egg to adulthood in about 2 weeks time!