<\/a>#2. Elytra, The Ladybug<\/h4>\nGrace not only liked the smell of crayons and paste in her nursery school, she wanted to learn everything about everything. One early fall day, Miss Holmberg and the Mothers volunteering that day, took the children on a walk around to the back of the school building and onto the Nature Trail. Grace and her cousin, Zack were paired up as buddies for the hike.<\/p>\n
When they came to a grassy clearing in the woods, Miss Holmberg had everyone sit on the logs they found placed in a circle.<\/p>\n
\u201cPut on your listening caps,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat do you hear?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing,\u201d Savannah said quickly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, close your eyes so your ears can hear,\u201d Miss Holmberg suggested.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I hear little peepers singing. Are we near a pond?\u201d John asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear leaves knocking together in the trees,\u201d Grace said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear a bee buzzing,\u201d Zack said with alarm.<\/p>\n
\u201cSit very still and the bee will keep on going,\u201d Miss Holmberg advised. \u201cNot everything in nature makes a sound. I want to share Elytra\u2019s story with you.\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho is Elytra?\u201d Karrah asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll show you.\u201d Miss Holmberg reached into her pocket and pulled out a puppet. She handed it to Grace.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrace, you can feel the round back on the puppet, as the others can see the bright red color with black dots on its back,\u201d she said. \u201cNow, put your hand into the glove part of the puppet, Grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, it\u2019s got legs!\u201d Fred yelled in excitement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a ladybug!\u201d Martha said. \u201cCool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, it\u2019s a ladybug puppet,\u201d Miss Holmberg agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis glove has six fingers, but, I don\u2019t have enough fingers,\u201d Grace said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s because insects have six legs,\u201d Miss Holmberg said. \u201cWe\u2019ll put this tissue in the sixth leg so Elytra looks right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLadybugs are all around here; not making a sound. I have a story about Elytra, The Ladybug.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elytra could not remember what had happened or where she was when she woke up. Her head pounded and she was starving.<\/p>\n
\u201cA tasty aphid would be good, about now,\u201d she thought.<\/p>\n
As she Looked around the garden, other ladybugs slowly tested their legs and wings.<\/p>\n
\u201cElytra is the name given to the 2 front, false wings or shell that covers the true wings used for flying,\u201d Miss Holmberg explained.<\/p>\n
Two ladybugs flew up and were carried off by a puff of summer wind. She saw another one get snatched out of the air by a swallow. Elytra wanted to go home, but where was home?<\/p>\n
She remembered that all the ladybugs had been herded into a small, stuffy box and mailed off. They must have crammed a hundred or more ladybugs into the mailer. It was no way to treat a ladybug. Or a gentleman bug, for that matter either.<\/p>\n
\u201cLadybugs are not native to every state,\u201d Miss Holmberg said. \u201cThey are raised on Ladybug farms and are shipped by mail to those who place an order.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mailer sat in the post office for almost four days. Then in the mail box at the end of the lane for two days. The jostling she’d gotten in the boy’s bike basket when he finally did pick them up, was enough to make her pass out. The way he just dumped them all out into the garden was a shock but it brought her to her senses.<\/p>\n
Elytra saw well-tended rows of carrots, onions, beets, and beans with patches of tomato, pumpkin and cucumber. Bright mounds of marigolds were scattered in among the vegetables.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Grandma Kate plants all kinds of things together so she doesn\u2019t have to weed it so often,\u201d Sarah said. \u201cShe says it keeps the bugs confused, so they go away.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A few weeds grew along the board paths, but that didn\u2019t matter to Elytra. Her mouth was like cotton on a humid summer day. She wanted water, but, where was it?<\/p>\n
She walked down the board and noticed a round, puddle. Carefully she dragged herself up onto the edge of the pale, the amber liquid smelled awful. Slugs limp bodies floated on it. Their deaths warned her not to drink the beer.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeer?\u201d John exclaimed. \u201cMy Dad drinks beer, but he doesn\u2019t fall in or drown.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Elytra opened her red shell and spread her true wings and hoped the wind wouldn\u2019t take her too far.<\/p>\n
She squeezed a bitter juice out of her leg joints. This liquid is actually blood but once a bird tastes its bitter taste, they won\u2019t feed on Ladybugs.<\/p>\n
A swallow caught the bright red of her shell and swooped down to snatch her out of the air, but, at the last minute, he remembered how bad the other ladybug had tasted. He knocked Elytra to the ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cWow,\u201d Zack said. \u201cThat was close!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She fell to the dirt. She landed\u00a0 on\u00a0 the outer leaf of a fluffy, brilliant yellow flower.<\/p>\n
Painfully\u00a0 she Crawled toward the\u00a0 main\u00a0 stem\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 dandelion. Sheltered underneath was a small well of water. She took a few cautious sips.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, Dirt, roots, pebbles, and Elytra went sailing through the, air. The boy didn’t care how he weeded the garden or what he mashed.<\/p>\n
Elytra managed to spread her wings in time to keep herself from smashing against the cement birdbath. she landed on a rock.<\/p>\n
The boy’s dog noticed her land and came over to investigate. He sniffed so closely to her, she could feel the smelly wet breath.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a dog,\u201d Fred interrupted. \u201cHe stays outside, \u2018cause Ma says he\u2019s too stanky.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
When the dog excitedly barked, Elytra was tumbled antennae over wing-tips off the rock.<\/p>\n
The punky, fragrant rotting wood softened her fall when she Landed flat on her back. It’s moistness felt cool. Her eyes were soothed by the dark wood shielding her from the glare of the sun.<\/p>\n
As she kicked her feet and pumped her wings to right herself, she sensed there were other ladybugs nearby.<\/p>\n
Elytra search for them. They were Under the bark. she found many of her travel mates hiding from the boy and his dog, hoping they wouldn\u2019t find their hiding place behind the rock and\u00a0 under the log. She felt safe within the colony. She was home.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Miss Holmberg put the puppet back in her pocket and said, \u201cLet\u2019s count with the ladybugs. Each time I say a number, you hold up that many fingers to see hominy ladybugs come to the Ladybug Party.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ladybug 1,\u00a0 say how do you do.\u00a0 Hold up one finger, Savannah.<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 has\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 come\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 play\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 with\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 you.<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0 3,\u00a0 has\u00a0 climbed\u00a0 a\u00a0 tree,<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0 4\u00a0 sadly skinned her knee.<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 5\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 is\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 hiding\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 under\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 bark.<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0 6\u00a0 wants\u00a0 to be\u00a0 a\u00a0 lark.<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0 7\u00a0 got\u00a0 stuck\u00a0 in the hay,<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0 8\u00a0 doesn’t know what\u00a0 to say.<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 9\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 never\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 knows\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 time,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and<\/p>\n
Ladybug\u00a0 10\u00a0\u00a0 only has\u00a0 a dime.<\/p>\n
Ladybugs\u00a0 1,\u00a0 2,\u00a0 3,\u00a0 4,\u00a0 5,\u00a0 6,\u00a0 7,\u00a0 8,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 9,\u00a0 10<\/p>\n
Do,\u00a0 come\u00a0 play again.<\/p>\n
Grace and her classmates clapped and laughed as the finger-play ended.<\/p>\n
For the next couple of days, the children read books, looked at inter-net pictures and learned more about ladybugs. But, the best time was when they could play with the ladybug puppet with six legs named Elytra.<\/p>\n
Science Reference: Coccinella (beetle) septeinpunctata (7 spots)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey! You Got Eyeballs In There? By Kate Chamberlin As Grace grows up, some of her stories are happy, some trying, some enlightening, and a few themes are sad, but, they\u2019re all the warp and woof of what goes into the tapestry of life we call Family. The daily living skills and techniques demonstrated by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1026,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions\/1026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/katechamberlin.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}