It's ladybug time again

Ladybugs appeared at first recess today. 

Could these be the descendants of the ladybugs released in 2023? 

Or maybe the ones from 2019?
 

Lady bug releases have been happening at Gordon for at least a decade.

 

Natural aphid-eaters, Gordon’s ladybugs are part of an ongoing conversation about natural gardening techniques, which also include praying mantises (also pest-eaters) and red wiggler worms (compost-processing fiends).
 

It’s important for young students to learn to care for things that are smaller than they are.

It’s part of the process of learning to care for things that are bigger than they are: their campus, their communities and their worlds.
 

Gordon’s gardens also offer opportunities for lessons that carry over from one grade to the next.
 

Preschool just harvested the pumpkin patch they planted last spring, and soon they’ll put it to bed so that their neighbors and Nursery can replant it once winter is over.
 

Second graders are about to plant seedlings fertilized with compost made from their lunch scraps from last year.
 

And at recess today, Lower School students are playing with the distant cousins of ladybugs from years gone by.