Please Meet Jade, a Science Class Pet

Our Grade 6 science classes this year are full of smiling faces - some moving up from grade 5, as well as new students who have joined us at Branksome Hall Asia. In Lab 4, however, we also have a special new face…and this one is a little unfamiliar. She has 5 eyes, two antennae, and a powerful mandible. Her name is Jade, and she is our new class pet! 

Jade Mantiny Buddy - as named by the Grade 6 science students -  is an adolescent female Praying Mantis found by one of our faculty members a few weeks ago. We wondered if we could give this special insect a good life in Lab 4 and set up a terrarium at the back of the room. It turns out that she has been a really valuable member of our classroom. Jade Mantiny Buddy sparks curiosity and wonder in the students and teaches them about the natural world. The students have been feeding her live insects that we find in the garden, and have been providing her with fresh leaves, sticks and stones every week. Her favourite place to hang in wait of her prey is underneath the mesh of the tank, so sometimes she’s hard to spot. 

A few days ago, I came into the classroom to the horrified shrieks of grade 6 students checking up on her. “Jade is dead!” they exclaimed as they pointed to a shrivelled up, white corpse lying with its legs in the air. Upon closer examination, we noticed that this ‘corpse’ looked a lot like a Praying Mantis, but there was something funny about it… It was completely hollow. 

Upon closer inspection, the Grade 6 students found Jade happily hanging upside from her favorite spot on the mesh, with a fresh and clean new exoskeleton. She had even grown larger in size! We realized that she had just molted - she shed a layer of her exoskeleton in order to grow. A Praying mantis needs to go through 7 - 9 molts before reaching adulthood! We all wonder how big Jade Mantiny Buddy will get by the time she has finished growing. 

Kathy Binns, B.Ed, B.Sc, M.Ed
Head of Science
DP Biology, G10 Biology and ESS teacher