Kindergarten Teacher Brittany Fortuna’s class celebrated each aspect of the butterfly’s life cycle and the time that passed helped teach the scholars about patience.
“The students loved learning about the life cycle of a butterfly,” Fortuna said. “They got very excited to watch them as caterpillars, see them build their chrysalis, then transform into beautiful butterflies. Then they got to see them fly around inside their cages and jump with joy when they saw them fly out when we released them!”
Stevie von Seeger teaches second grade and encouraged her students to research the natural habitat of ladybugs to replicate that inside their classroom. It turned out the cute little bugs can live in grasslands, forests, cities, suburbs and along rivers.
“We then we went on a scavenger hunt to find outside materials to make their habitat,” von Seeger said. “My students were able to find some tree bark, sticks, leaves, grass, as well as other materials. Ladybugs can eat grapes, tomatoes, apples, raisins, etc. My students were very diligent about giving the ladybugs fresh food and water daily to ensure that they would thrive in the classroom setting.”
The school has been doing this project every spring since opening for the 2018-19 school year (except in 2020 due to COVID). Fortuna’s students anxiously watched daily to see all the changes.
“They noticed all of the changes of each stage of the life cycle,” Fortuna said. “They noticed the caterpillars grow longer and rounder, noticed the chrysalis get formed, and noticed them wiggling out when they came out as butterflies.”
The passage of time and investment in learning created an endearing relationship between the classes and young bugs.
“When the day finally came to release our ladybugs, the students had mixed emotions,” von Seeger said. “They were very happy that they were able to release the ladybugs back into their natural habitat, however they were sad that they would not be able to see them each day.”
A quick walk outside to visit their new friends helped with that.
About Pembroke Academy
Pembroke Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Detroit, Michigan, serving students in Young 5s through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.
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