Friday, yesterday, we released our mature Painted Lady Butterflies on the front lawn of the school campus. There were two scheduled releases, one for grades 3-5 at 11:30, and one for grades K-2 at 1:00.
I chose to go with the K-2 group because my lunch time is at 11:35, and no matter how much I wanted to have my 5th graders a part of the release of our seven butterflies, I did not want to sacrifice my lunch break (it's the only break I get all day between 7 a.m. and 3:45).
I directed all my first graders to sit with their regular classmates, and the one remaining 4th grader (I usually teach Wilson reading at this time) accompanied me and my butterfly habitat onto a choice spot on the lawn near some flower bushes.
He was thrilled when one of the butterflies that had flown out to freedom paused a few minutes on the grass near him, allowing him to place his finger near it. The butterfly crawled onto his finger. You should have seen his smile. Later, he talked about the feeling he had, how gentle it was as it crawled on his finger. He said he was afraid it might bite him, but he really knew it couldn't because it didn't have the mouthparts to bite. He also knew it didn't have a stinger, so he let it crawl on his finger.
I told him that a lot of bugs are like that: gentle and non-aggressive. Many bugs are ugly, scary-looking, and some have parts that could hurt us if they bite or sting us, but most bugs don't go seeking to harm us. Often we just get in their way, or we go out of our way to play with them or tease them: that's a good way to get bitten or stung. We talked about blood-sucking bugs... like ticks and fleas and mosquitos. They might fall in the category of "nasty bugs." I'm not quite as accepting toward them.
I am glad to report that all of my butterflies have flown off to complete their brief sojourn on this earth. I have but one chrysalis still hanging in the habitat in my classroom. I hope that by Monday it, too, will be ready to leave the habitat.
This has been one of the most interesting classroom events I have had with my students. The other was when I brought the AntWorks space-gel ant habitat to school last year, and another time, we had tadpoles and frogs. Such living studies spur interesting thoughts and discussions with students, and I think it helps them to be a little more respectful of the animal-life they encounter in their own backyards.
I also made some videos of the butterflies. I'm trying to figure out a way to show the video here in my journal. I haven't created a YouTube video yet, so I might go play with that sometime today or tonight.
In the meantime, here are some individual butterly portraits. I call them portraits because I noticed that individually the butterflies each had some identifying characteristics that helped me tell them apart. You notice such things when you observe them long enough.
For instance, their wings... Thursday afternoon I had planned on going home early, but while I was taking pictures of them out in the sun, I noticed that their wing markings are slightly different. Only to the discerning eye could the differences be seen. With a cursory glance, the wings all appeared to be same, much like human ears. You think they all look alike until you study them, and then you realize that ears are as individual as finger prints.
The wing patterns were all the same colors, and generally the same type of markings, but there were subtle and distinct differences that allowed a careful observer to distinguish one butterfly from another. When one of my students asked me if we could name them last week, I had told him there was no way to tell them apart. Except one, we named him Spot because he had a distinguishing red spot on his abdomen. Otherwise, we couldnt't tell them apart last week because we really weren't looking close enough.
However, I made the enlightening discovery on Thursday after a few of the butterflies had pursued each other in their mating flights. That's when I noticed how beat up some of their wings were. I could tell by the condition of their fragile wings whether or not they had participated in the ritual of mating.
So I took a few pictures, then I came home and downloaded them. I enlarged them, and sure enough, I could see the differences. I labeled the butterflies by the first few letters of the alphabet. Here they are:
Butterfly A
Butterfly B
Butterflies A and B look relatively less worn out and beaten around the wing edges than do Butterflies C,D,E,F, and G. I distinguished these two apart by the markings on their upper wings.
Butterfly C
Butterfly D
Butterfly E
Butterfly F
Butterfly G
And that is all I have for you today about butterflies, class.
Thank you for visiting!
18 comments:
This has been so interesting Bea. How wonderful for your class! What a special lesson they have learned here, one that I imagine they will never ever forget!
Marie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mariealicejoan/MariesMuses/
That's a great project to get the kids involved in. Nice pics too. B. x
I never knew this happened so fast!
what a lovely interesting entry this has been Your photo's are lovely, The children are so lucky to have you as their teacher. I am sur ethey will NEVER forget the lessons that the butterflies have taught them Have a lovely weekend. Sybilsybil45
This was a wonderful biology lesson taught to your students. Seeing the actual progression of development from egg to butterfly makes for a memorable experience. Even through your photos' I was able to understand the process like I had not known before or remembered. Thank you for sharing the project! mark
I appreciate your comments about the butterfly project. This is probably the last of the Painted Lady Butterfly entries unless something unusual happens with the last one, still in my classroom chrysalising. Krissy suggested I make a comment entry and that might correct the missing edit buttons. So if this works, I will get to rearrange all the photos to suit my visual/organizational preferences. Here goes...
Ok, gal...You've got a LOT better eyesight than I do, obviously! My eyes were starting to cross trying to tell the difference by markings alone. A & B look identical to me, except size, which could just be the distance of the photographer.
And when the heck is your planning period????? I've never heard of teaching all day with only a lunch break. I get a half hour for lunch...by contract they can't ask me to sit with my kids. I also get an hour & 10 minutes planning because I'm part of a middle school. My kids have two 35 minute "specials" classes. Your hours are so long, too. How come? I work from 8:05-3:40 for a K-8. Our elementary schools here are 7:35-3:05.
Please elaborate!
hugs, sher (wunzuponatime)
Sher, my elaboration on the hours: I get to school at or before 7 a.m. and my first student shows up at 7:45... that's a 45 minute planning period for me right there! Except on Thursdays mornings when I have car duty, which starts at 7:25 until 7:50. My last class is over at 2:25... but (since March) two days a week I tutor from 2:45-3:45 (for which there is a modest stipend; the kids in the tutoring groups are students who need further help in reading and math; after school, there are often workshops to attend, staff development meetings, and IEP meetings/SAT meetings, grade level meetings with other teachers between 2:45 and 4:00 ... I work until 4:00 or 5:00 making materials or gathering them, talking to teachers about the students ... those are my planning times. So, no there are no breaks. I have classes back to back all day long. While one grade level is at specials, I'm teaching another grade level. No breaks. Seems to be the norm for elementary EC teachers around here. That's it in a nutshell. bea
Oh, and I did get to do my edits tonight... don't know how the problem was corrected, but all of a sudden, the buttons returned just about 15 minutes ago! Patience is a virtue after all. bea
Regarding the similar markings between Butterflies A and B: I saw the differences in their upper wing markings, as well in the middle of their lower wings. Can't describe it without using lots of words, but look closely at the black markings in the middle of the orange section of the upper wings of butterfly A, then study the same area in Butterfly B... your eyes may be able to see the difference. It's like staring at two similar comics in the funny papers, and in one cartoon there are subtle changes. When you stare at the shapes of color int he wings long enough, and think about the shapes of black versus shapes of orange, the distinction becomes apparent. To me anyway. Good luck!! bea
Bea, you can't buy this type of learning or pleasure. I love the fact that the butterfly crawled on Wilson's finger before it went off on its sojourn. Wonderful way to keep the children's interest and such an effective way for them to learn and remember. The butterflies are just gorgeous. Chris
I still think this was a great learning experience for the kids...and your readers here. I had wondered what was going to become of them once they finished developing. I like the resolution here. Great job!!
Greg
Hi Bea...
wonderful pictures and so interesting...
Astra!
http://journals.aol.com/astra1547/astras-new-journal/
ASTRA1547@sky.com
Wonderful experience indeed, I think I like your students enjoyed this little adventure. Thanks for sharing hon! (Hugs) Indigo
So nice to know that you and your students have made this world a little bit more colourful. Such a terrific learning experience for the students, as well. Thanks ever so much for sharing your life lesson to us all. Much appreciated!
Sincerely, Rose~*
Thanks for letting us know how the butterflies did and for sharing the pictures. I especially love the ones with the little boy getting to hold the butterfly on his finger.
Lori
wonderful entry Bea! thanks for telling them all of the great things about bugs!
love,nat
oh! I LOVE butterflies.
Gem :-)
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