Ordinary Days: Science Inquiry: Goldenrod Galls

Two days of school have gone by. I am extremely exhausted, but it is a good thing! I always try to start the year with a big science activity my class can really get excited about. I usually do a monarch caterpillar/butterfly unit. Unfortunately, there are very few caterpillars around this fall, so I had to go on to Plan B. What was Plan B? Goldenrod galls!

The Canada Goldenrod plant grows all over our area. Many of these plants have a special feature called a "gall." This gall is a little home for the larva of the Goldenrod Gall Fly.

Yesterday I gave each student a Goldenrod gall to observe. They drew pictures with accurate coloring and wrote down some observations. They then had to think of 5 questions. The most common question was definitely, "What is inside?" After cutting them open, most students found a small white larva. We are keeping these larva, just in case any decide to go through metamorphosis and we can produce a few flies. It has happened in other years, so I have my fingers crossed.

Today we went out to the woods near our school forest and found dozens of galls. The class is to take them home and share what they have learned with their families.

Tomorrow we are going to go out and look for some milkweed. I'm still hoping to find a few monarch caterpillars yet this fall!