Preschool students at Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center main campus learned all about the life of a butterfly, and got to watch them be released Monday.
The school received the caterpillar eggs from the Central Illinois Monarch Task Force.
The lesson about the butterfly life cycle began about a month ago, said Mary Keltner, a preschool teacher.
“When the children began, they had to use their x-ray vision and look very close to see the eggs that were on the milkweed leaves,” Keltner said. “And then as they watched the eggs grow, they would eventually see a small caterpillar emerge.”
Keltner said the students would squeal with joy to see the little caterpillars grow and change color, and would comment on how much milkweed the caterpillars would eat.
Two to three weeks into the lesson, the caterpillars would turn into the chrysalis form.
“And it was very exciting to listen to teachers come into our classroom, as they would tell us that their students got to see an actual chrysalis spin, or they got to see an actual butterfly emerge from the chrysalis,” Keltner said.
Keltner said it is also exciting because the school serves a diverse population.
“For example, we have children that are deaf and hard of hearing. And, to watch them interact with our hearing children,” Keltner said. “They would sign the word butterfly. We made resources for our teachers to be able help communicate across the spectrum.”
Watching the children’s excitement as they release the butterflies is what teaching is all about, said Keltner.
The butterflies that were released will travel to Mexico, then return to the butterfly garden at the school in the spring to lay eggs.
“In the course of one school year, our students can see two portions of the generation,” Keltner said.
The second generation of butterflies from the group will fly north to Ontario, Canada. When the butterflies return from Canada, they become the super generation that will fly to Mexico.
1470 WMBD/Kristina Leahy
