

TYPICAL LESSON PLANS 125 



upright in the jar. A piece of wire screening may be placed 

 over the mouth. 



How does the worm manage to cling so securely to the 

 stem ? The children will be able to make out the sixteen 

 clamplike feet. What does it eat? When does it eat 

 more, during the day or night? Put some fresh tomato 

 leaves into the jar in the evening. Count the number put 

 in and determine how many it eats. 



Some day the children will find the worm not on the 

 stem, but crawling around on the surface of the soil. 

 If they watch closely they may see it begin to push its 

 way down into the soil. Why does it bury itself alive? 

 What is it doing? Wait about two weeks and then very 

 carefully remove the soil from the jar and disclose the 

 tomato worm no longer a green worm, but a brown pupa. 

 If the children look closely they will be able to find the dry 

 crinkled skin that the worm shed when it changed its form. 

 Is the pupa alive? Can it move about? Can it eat any- 

 thing ? The wriggling of the back part of the body shows 

 that it is alive, but it does not eat or move about. Put 

 the soil back into the jar. Make a little furrow in the 

 surface. Place the pupa in this and cover lightly with soil. 

 Place the jar in a cool room. A basement not heated with 

 a furnace is a good place. The study should be com- 

 pleted in the spring, when the jar may be brought back to 

 the schoolroom. This should be done in the latter part of 

 May, Place a small twig of some sort in the jar. When 

 the brown pupa case breaks open the moth will crawl up 

 the twig, and remain clinging to this while its wings dry. 

 Have the children note the number of wings and feet, and 

 the large beautiful eyes of the moth. When the wings are 



