Dear Boys and Girls:

So here I come to the last page of my exciting visit to a classroom in Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada!

One of the last big science units of the year is a Painted Lady Butterfly project.
About 30 teeny-tiny caterpillars arrived in one little container.
The children each got to pick a caterpillar of their own and put it in a little individual container.

It didn't take long for those little guys to grow into fuzzy wuzzy caterpillars!

In only two weeks some of them started to go through the process of METAMORPHOSIS.
They hung themselves from the top of the containers and shed their skins one last time.

If you looked really closely at the chrysalides, you could see the golden sheen of their wings forming!

Mrs. Boekhout put all the lids inside a special "butterfly box" so they would have room to fly.

It was too bad that I had to leave before the butterflies had hatched, but Mrs. Boekhout showed me a photo of what one of the butterflies from last year's class looked like. What a pretty butterfly!

Before I packed all my bags I took one last look around the classroom. I wanted to say goodbye to all the pets!
I said good-bye to the frog and the anole lizard and to all the walking stick insects (whew! there was a lot of them!)

Speedy the Leopard Gecko was so upset that he headed straight back into his little wet box!

The Giant African millipede and the mice, Cheeser and Nibbles, wished me a good trip.

The children were really sad to see me go, but they gave me a nice "Vancouver cap" and something even bettter...
a little beaver friend to keep me company! Now I will always have something to remind me of my trip to Canada!

There's just time for one last email before I jump on that plane home, to Florida!

Get ready Florida, Hugh Manatee is on his way home at last!!!

Thanks for the great holiday, Division 11!
love,
Hugh Manatee
xox