Theme: Exploring Wild
and Native Plants
Learning Takes Flight
Tales from Classroom Butterfly Gardeners
"Too often children are asked to save the whales, the rainforest,
the Earth," says habitat educator Judith Levicoff from the Philadelphia
area. "Although they're all important issues, they are overwhelming
concepts to a child. Children live in the moment and need immediate
results for their efforts. Butterfly gardens are a way that
kids of all ages can think globally and act locally."
Thanks to Judith's Magical Migrating Monarchs program in urban
Philadelphia schools, elementary and middle school students
in 14 classes raised Monarch butterflies indoors from caterpillars
during the fall, then tagged and released them and charted their
fall migration south. When the tagged butterflies are found
by field scientists, the information helps provide researchers
with important data on habitats. That winter, students learned
about butterfly habitat needs, then worked in teams to select
plants, plan, and plant gardens in schoolyards or lots in the
community. Classrooms soon sported butterfly bulletin boards,
poetry, migration maps, growth charts, and metamorphosis songs
while schoolyards and community lots blossomed with flowers
and butterfly wings.
Across the country, butterfly gardening indoors and out has
sparked a metamorphosis of students' understanding about basic
needs, life cycles, habitats, adaptations, plant/animal interactions--and
about making a difference in our environment. Read on for highlights
of other classrooms that have taken wing.
Learning Soars
in Butterfly Garden
Learning Soars in Butterfly Garden "Our students have
certainly learned the basics about butterflies and the plants
they depend on, but our butterfly garden has yielded an even
richer harvest than that," says fifth grade, Orion, IL, teacher
Marcia Whitmore. "What we've learned in this microcosm has prompted
a richer understanding of ecology and the need to conserve habitats
in other parts of the world," she adds.
Marcia's students regularly bring journals to the butterfly
garden to record weather data and observations of butterfly
visitors and the plants they frequent. "I want them to appreciate
that if you're going to be interested in the natural world,
you need more than casual observations. It's best to carefully
observe and keep good records, then review data and patterns
that emerge," she explains. 
Her students' keen attention to detail has had its rewards.
For instance, some students noticed that the zinnias and marigolds
they'd raised weren't attracting as many winged visitors as
the asters, big bluestem, bergamot, and other wildflowers in
the garden. This prompted further observations and a discussion
of why native plants might be most appropriate for local wildlife.
"When they looked more closely, the students had a tough time
finding the nectar on some of our classroom-grown plants, and
began to appreciate that the wild plants and butterflies were
better adapted to one another," says Marcia.
Students' curiosity about the colors and patterns on many butterflies
yielded a "real life" lesson on adaptations. Their research
revealed that such characteristics helped the creatures survive.
They learned that monarchs, for instance, eat milkweed and incorporate
its toxins into their bodies. This makes them distasteful to
birds who avoid not only the monarch, but also the viceroy,
which mimics the monarch patterns.
Classroom
Butterfly Nursery
"My keen observers also learned how to spot butterfly
eggs and identify caterpillars on the underside of leaves,"
says Marcia. They found black swallowtail caterpillars on Queen
Anne's lace and dill, and plenty of monarch caterpillars on
milkweed, then set up recycled bottle chambers in the classroom
to rear the insects. "Student observations and questions often
lead to experiments," notes Marcia. For instance, one group
speculated that the waste produced by caterpillars might be
a good plant fertilizer, and plans to set up an investigation
to test their hypothesis.
Inquiry on
the Wing
Ginny Elliot's third graders in Tama, IA, used their
GrowLab to raise native host plants for butterfly larvae as
well as nectar plants for mature butterflies. They collected
seeds of native prairie species, simulated winter by chilling
them, then successfully raised some indoors. "Although we set
some in the butterfly garden," said Ginny, "the students made
sure to return some plants to their original location."
The class also raised marigolds and zinnias and other annuals
indoors to plant outside as nectar sources for their winged
guests. They learned about the different conditions butterflies
require to survive, and how to provide those conditions in their
habitat. Students experimented with different types of plants
and water supplies. One young scientist even tried setting out
a tray with rotten fruit to see which species it might attract.
"In addition to learning about habitat needs and developing
a greater appreciation for these creatures," said Ginny, "students
came to understand that flowers and plants have much more importance
than simply the aesthetic value we humans perceive."
Got
Milkweed?
Entrepreneurs
Expedite Metamophosis
Students in the gardening club at Casselberry Elementary School
in Casselberry, FL, have filled an entire 10- by 10-foot garden
bed with a species of native milkweed, a favorite of Monarch
butterfly larvae. Their goal? To raise and track the eastern
migration path of Monarchs to Mexico and raise money for their
outdoor classroom. To enable others to experience the magical
metamorphosis they'd witnessed, the students 
established
a company to produce Monarch chrysalides in the classroom. (The
larvae dined on their garden-raised milkweed.) They introduced
the project to others by distributing a chrysalis they'd nurtured
to each classroom, pre-K through grade 5, then asked students
to release the emerging butterflies near the club's nectar-producing
flower beds. This was such a success that the young entrepreneurs
decided to sell chrysalid "trees" (with 1 to 5 pupae each) so
students, teachers, and parents could release Monarchs in neighborhood
gardens. Each sale includes a student-designed brochure with
care instructions and information on Monarch migrations.
The products must have delighted the first 200 buyers; 600
new orders are now waiting to be filled! Buoyed by their booming
business, club members have dreamed up other products--worm
farms, ladybug lodges, and praying mantis terraria--that might
inspire learning and yield a profit. "I originally had vegetable
gardens in mind, but it was student impetus that moved this
project forward instead," says fifth grade teacher Frances Guest.
"There's no question that they are much more committed to a
project when they're in charge!"
Author: Eve Pranis
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