Butterfly Life Cycle

I love my job and all the little perks that come with it. There are notes, cards, and drawings galore that adorn my classroom door, I get a thousand little hugs a day, and every now and then someone brings in a gift card to say they appreciate all the hard work I do. In fact, this is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I got a few gift cards this week as a token of appreciation.

All of that aside, I love what I get to do. Teaching the students about various things like weather, magnets, the 7 continents, 2 digit addition and subtraction, the list goes on.. is a TON of FUN!

Right now we are learning about the life cycle of the butterfly. 2 weeks ago our tiny larva arrived. Since their arrival we have waited...Waited on the larva to start pooping...waited on the caterpillar to grow...waited on the caterpillar to turn into a chrysalis. Their presence in the classroom has caused one excited day after another.

Today the excitement reached a frenzied peak! We have to wait no more as our caterpillars finally emerged as beautiful Painted Lady Butterflies! Here is a shot of the box we keep them in once the go into their chrysalis. When the kids walked in the classroom this morning, and saw that we had butterflies, I was reminded why I do what I do! They were beyond excited for themselves!


I had one student who literally sat there all day and gave us updates on every movement of the butterflies. He even alerted us when one started to exit his little home, and we all got to see the butterfly come out. It was so cool. I have taught this for years, and every time I see it I am just blown away!

One kid said it best as we all huddled around the box to take a peek at the coolness that was in the box!... "It is amazing that they go in one way and come out another. What in the world happens in there?"

I wish I could tell you that I had a great explanation that explained every specific detail of the metamorphosis that occurred within the chrysalis, but I didn't... No one has a tiny camera in there checking it all out. I didn't really need an answer though with the awesome kiddos I have... As soon as he asked what happened in there, someone piped up and said... "It's just one of God's miracles!" I smiled, and left it at that and smiled!