Making Silkworm Chow

Well, now that we've got these little rascals, I suppose we've gotta feed 'em now. Luckily, the company we bought the worms from sent a bag of Silkworm Chow with it. Morgan decided that she wanted to try her hand at making this silkworm delight. I think she got more than she barginned for. Upon opening the package, there was a horrible smell that was a combination of old, cut, wet grass, dirt, and a hint of doggie poo. She and Jordan created the mixture using the step by step instructions provided (good technical reading by the way - WINK WINK). We had to get the microwave and cook it. Man it stunk up the whole room! The finished product didn't look very appetizing either. Green and slimy -it actually did look like baby poop. Now we have to put it in the fridge to firm up a little before giving it to the little worms.

They're ALIVE!!!

It happened today. Riley was the first to notice something different about the eggs on the TV screen. He said, "Hey look, one egg is glowing." It had turned white. Little did we know that out of the view of the camera, a little worm had emerged and was foraging for some food. It was Jonathan who announced to everyone, "Mr. Boyer, I think we've got a live one here!" after he went to take pictures of the dish for the day. Sure enough, not only had one worm emerged from it's egg, but two had hatched. They were crawling around and moving around the petri dish exploring their new world. Well, as you can imagine, we were very excited to see that our eggs weren't duds as we were starting to wonder. Wow, two baby silkworms. We are now proud parents. *Sniff Sniff* Tear.

Still Nothing!

After a week of having our eggs, we still have nothing to report. We were told that it could be up to 20 days before anything starts to happen. We were questioning whether or not our room was the right temperature for raising them or not. We are about 3/4 of the way through the novel, Project Mulberry. We hope that they will at least begin to hatch by the time that we are done reading the book. The book has taught us a lot of interesting things about silkworms and it's really starting to peak our interest.

The Eggs are Here!

After tracking our package of eggs for the past few days, we were treated to a pleasent surprise today when Mrs. Peppiatt brought in a small package with a big label on the side the said, "PERISHABLE - OPEN IMMEDIATELY". Well as you can imagine, we were very excited. We all knew what was in that box, our silkworm eggs! After removing them from the box carefully we noticed along with the eggs, there was a package of Silkworm chow and instructions on how to raise the worms. After crowding around Mr. Boyer's desk, we all had to take a look at how small those eggs actually were. The book described them as little periods, that couldn't be a more accurate description of them. They were tiny.

The instructions told us that it may take up to two weeks for the eggs to hatch. We were instructed to leave them in the petri dish that they came in and placed in a spot that would be warm enough for them to hatch. Since our room is close to freezing at times, we figured the warmest place would be next to the printer and Safari system, since it seems that they are always being used. Mr. Boyer then placed the eggs under the flex cam which we have hooked up to our TV. We placed a damp cotton ball in the dish to help create some humidity. Our goal is to try and take several pictures of the them throughout the day so that we can see if there are any changes happening.

Inspired by Project Mulberry

In our OSCAR class, we are reading aloud the novel, Project Mulberry, by Linda Sue Park. The story is about two middle school students who have to come up with a project for an afterschool club. They decide to raise silkworms as their project. The book sparked an interest in our class and so we wanted to try our hand at raising them ourselves. Our goal is to use the information we get from the novel and through our own investigations and research to raise as many silkworms as we can.

Being that it's the middle of February in the state of Kansas, we had to send off for some silkworm eggs instead of live larvae. We are ordering the eggs from Niles Biological in California. We have come up with many questions about silkworms through classroom discussions and as we read, are compiling a list of steps from the novel that we will need to take to successfully raise our silkworms.

We will post results, observations, research, and testimonials about our experience here in our reading blog. Check back often to see how our project is coming along.

Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Here is podcast number two of four Roald Dahl podcasts from our literature circle groups. In this podcast Jonathan, Michael, Hannah, Makenzi, Alexis, and Caitlin will lead listeners through descriptions of some of the important characters. In listening to the characters descriptions from the novel, think back tothe two movies made and see how closely the films portray the characters.

Worksheets will be coming shortly

Roald Dahl's The Witches

Welcome to the first of four new podcasts centered around our newly completed author study over Roald Dahl. In this podcast, OSCAR students will explain some of the things they discussed in their literature circle groups about the characters in the novel. Feel free to download the graphic organizers we've created to go along with the story. The Witches was Roald Dahl's fifteenth book written in 1983. The was a movie made later of the novel in 1990.
This podcast was brought to you by: Katherine, Tim, Ethan, Reace, and Nathan

The Witches Character Organizer

Stay tuned for our next podcasts coming very very soon!