January 14 (by Mark)
Today I brought some maggots. Mrs. Cochrane wanted maggots to hatch them into flies. Mrs. Cochrane likes flies flying around the classroom when it's forty below out. I got them from a fishing store. Maggots are used for fishing bait. They look like white macaroni with a small claw that acts like a head. They don't have a head. The part that looks like a head is a black claw. They are only a couple of weeks old. The maggots are 1 1/2 cm long. We started making a website. On the internet we found a fly buzz, lots of bugs and different fly images. The maggots are in wood shavings. 

January 15 (by William)
Some maggots started to become chrysalises today. We got to hold two maggots today. They were a bit harder. Some were a bit brown. They went all around the classroom. Ms Cochrane typed down our forty-five questions about flies and maggots. After that we went to the computer lab. We looked for the answers on the internet. The two maggots I held felt dry and squishy. They move very slowly. They don't have any eyes that you can see. On one of the websites I found out that there are more than 100,000 species of flies in the world. They even live in Antarctica. 

January 16 (by Taylor)
Today some maggots are black. Some of them are brown. Some of them are still vanilla coloured. I guess the ones that are vanilla coloured are taking their time. We passed a blue piece of paper with them on it to see if they'd changed. They'd changed a lot. Some of them look like they are ready to turn into flies. It takes 2-3 weeks for the pupae to turn into flies. We brainstormed ideas for writing. We wrote jokes and maggot math. We saw 3 dead maggots . For math we measured how many maggots tall Ms Cochrane is. I guessed she was 220. Ms Cochrane is 86 maggots tall. 

January 17 (by Alana)
Today most of the maggots that were in the pupas were black or a dark red. Some maggots were just starting to change. Dogs, fish, and frogs eat flies. Some adult humans don't like flies because flies spread diseases. Flies are good because they eat dead animals, and the baby maggots help people with wounds. Flies and mosquitoes are in a group called the Diptera group. The Diptera members have only two wings. Last night the maggots got to go to the YMCA because Ms Cochrane went swimming after school. After that she took the maggots home to get her husband to take pictures of them on her kitchen table. 

January 20 (by Britni)
Today we noticed that the four remaining white maggots are dead. Ms Cochrane counted about 65 chrysalises. They were black and had lines all around them. The black chrysalises are opaque. They are also called pupae. We used a microscope. Microscopes are used for making things look bigger. A microscope uses a light and a lens to magnify things. We drew and labeled a diagram for a fly. I think some of the maggots are turning into flies inside the chrysalises. I wonder how they turn into flies?

January 20 (Kenny)
Today we looked at a maggot under a microscope. The pupas are not flies yet. You can't see through the maggots because they are opaque. We drew and labeled each part of the fly. I think that most of them are just about going
to turn right into a fly. I wonder if one of the flies might have a broken wing and won't be able to fly?

January 21 (Logan) They smell like wood shavings. Some of the maggots were squished. Most of the maggots were black. They are changing inside of the chrysalis. It's called metamorphosis.

January 29 (Robbie) Yesterday we looked at a dead fruit fly. It was under a microscope. I could see the hairs on it. The fruit fly was very tiny. Its length and width are about 5 mm long. Yesterday we started a fly experiment. We put some of the pupas into a container. We put them in the freezer with wood shavings. We are going to see if the pupas survive or not. We are going to take them on out Friday. I think they will survive. Today we typed our fly research out on the computer. One or two people finished. The pupae really smell.

January 29 (Logan) We saw a fly under a microscope. The wings on the fly looked like tissues. The fly was very small. The legs on the fly looked like twigs. The wings were translucent. The pupas smell like rotten apples.

January 29 (Jessica) Today we typed our research on the computer. Yesterday we saw a fruit fly. The pupas stink. The fruit fly was dead. You can see through the wings. The legs looked long. The fly was tiny and small. The fruit fly was in a container.

February 5  (by Carla) Today 4 flies hatched. Ms Cochrane was shocked when she saw the flies. They are blackish gray. Their eyes are dark red. Our class was screaming. They were so happy to see flies. Are all the flies going to hatch or not? Which one would you choose? Now there are five flies. The fly is playing with its pupa. One fly is flying. The one that just hatched is on the side of the bin. Three more flies can fly, but they have to get used to it. Will they eat our lunch? They walked when they first got out of the pupa. Will the custodian forget the flies and bring a fly swatter? We noticed the first fly at 11:01 a.m. The one that we actually saw hatch came out at 11:15. a.m. Kenny saw the head come out first.

February 5 (by Avery) Today some flies hatched! The flies have red eyes. One fly is using his leg to wipe his wing. Ms Cochrane had a heart attack when she saw the flies. I think the fly is rubbing his leg because he doesn't know what it is. Ms Cochrane has fly poop on her finger. One fly is flying now. The new fly is crawling up the side of the container. This is so exciting! I always thought all flies were black. The new fly has crumpled wings. All the other flies have their wings stretch out. Some flies are grey. I have a lot of questions.

Feburary 6  (William) Today we wrote birth announcements. We had seven more flies hatch today. One of them took two hours to hatch. When it finally did hatch, it had white sticky stuff on its feet. Ms Cochrane and Britni helped it, and took photos of it all. Mrs. Turner came to our classroom. She does not really like flies. She was brave and opened the lid so we could see the new ones that had hatched. When flies are hatching the pupa starts wiggling. After that a head comes out. The body comes out after.

February 7 (Laurissa) Britni and Ms Cochrane took photographs of a fly that was just hatching. In my opinion flies rock. The custodian (last night) watched for every speck of black before she vacuumed. The specks were just part of the carpet! At Talk Time we passed around a walking fly. The fly felt like a shiver making its way to the top of my arm. The flies are half an inch long. The flies have over 1,000,000 eyes just in one eye!

February 7 (Avery) Today the custodian didn't want the flies to get hurt. She was checking every single black crumb before she vacuumed. Lots of flies hatched today. One fly died today. Flies hatched during gym. I was sad that that fly died. I think the fly died by the light. I think some more flies are going to die over the weekend. That dead fly had a million little spots on his eyes. We looked at it under the microscope.

February 11 (Victor) Two flies died. One got stepped on. The flies move slowly now. They prefer to eat oranges to apples. Taylor brought two different insect larvae from home. (One was barbequed in a green pepper, and one was in a strawberry) Maybe some flies are hiding.

February 11 (Brandon) The flies are sluggish. One went on Ms Cochrane's hand. They prefer oranges instead of apples. They're walking really slowly. They're not scared of humans. One landed on my hand. But it flew away from me. One went in a vent and did not come out. Some flies died. Ms Cochrane stepped on one. You never see all of the flies at once. One hid behind the filing cabinet. One hid behind the wooden box.

February 11 (Bryan)
We did tallies.
The number of pupae that hatched                                         23
The number of pupae that did not hatch                                 35
Two died while hatching                                                             2
The number of dead pupae that were in the freezer            + 5
The total number of maggots/pupae                                       65              

February 20 (Riley)
Every single fly is dead. My favorite fly was Bart. We did a biography of our favorite fly. I think that 4 flies died under Ms Cochrane's guitar because they did not get enough air under there. None of the flies hatched that had been in the freezer. I think we should do the experiment again with new flies. Only we should put them in the microwave. Mrs. Loder said they would be popcorn. I think another class should do this project because it was lots and lots of fun.

February 21 (Nicole)
The flies are dead, lying beside some rotten oranges beside the windowsill. Flies are more interesting than I thought. We wrote poems, stories, and research. I learned that females are bigger than males. I am still wondering what it is like to be a fly? I think other people should learn about flies.

February 21 (Shaneil)
All of our flies are dead. I think one was murdered (I think the custodian did it). It all happened so fast. Today I think is the last day we are talking about flies. I miss them. I learned a lot about flies. It was fun having flies in the room. It is mostly interesting to have a pet fly. It was interesting to know what they eat. Another class should do this because they would learn a lot.

February 21 (Christine) The last day I saw a fly was February 19. Through this project, I learned how to do picture clip art. I also learned how to look for clip art on the internet. I got to look for two fly pictures on the internet for my fly poems. I liked how I got to look for research and other things on the computer. The most interesting thing I learned is to type things on the computer. Today we went to the Paint Program to draw a fly. We shared our research, diagrams and poems with the Grade 2 class. Ms Cochrane found about six dead flies under her guitar. I think other classes should try this because it's fun for the kids and it's science for education.