It was the summer of butterflies at Coddington. Miss Lisa introduced our very own Coddington Butterfly Project to the children. It was a wonderful learning opportunity. Here are Miss Lisa’s thoughts on the experience:
“It all started with one monarch caterpillar in early July. The children were so excited about watching the changes occur with the first one that I found in my garden. We were joined by Rose Teeter, a local butterfly expert, who assisted in teaching us how to take care of monarchs. The children started to learn the words egg, chrysalis, proboscis, frass, emerge, endangered, first generation, second generation, third generation and fourth generation. They began to use them in describing what was happening to our monarchs. They learned that the first, second and third generation monarchs only lived for 12 days and the only thing they did was eat and breed. The fourth generation monarchs fly to Mexico. The children also learned that the monarchs are endangered and since we were helping them we were making a difference for our earth. The pride they had in this project was immense.
When it came time to release the fourth generation monarchs, the children witnessed the butterflies getting a tag on their wing so that people can keep track of the flight patterns. Each child had a chance to release a fourth generation butterfly with just a little help from a teacher. Coddington Road Community Center is going to be listed as a release site on www.monarchwatch.org for all of the fourth generation monarchs that we released. This website keeps track of monarchs from all over the country. If someone finds one of our tags they will know that we have made a difference and helped a species thrive.
The entire project lasted until mid-September when we did our final release. In total we released 14 first, second and third generation monarchs, and 37 fourth generation tagged monarchs. That is 51 butterflies total that we helped make it through to their release and out into the world.
I could not be prouder of how the children were so dedicated to such an amazing cause. After experiencing this project I believe that the children’s perceptions on how they affect the world has changed. I believe that they feel that they too can make a difference in making our earth a better place.” – Miss Lisa
