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My fifth grade students were testing, and since my classroom is a computer lab, I was left with no place to teach my third grader. What does a teacher do when it’s a beautiful spring day and there is no space in the school? Go outside. Kaia and I went to the garden. I had with me paint chips and the book Because of Winn Dixie, so we wrote poems and read aloud. When we took a break and walked around the garden, we discovered a patch of milkweed and counted four monarch caterpillars.
The next day we were offered the French classroom, but we made some time to go out and check the garden. Our count went up to eleven.
On Thursday when we went outside, there was a garden group who comes once a month to tend to the garden, teach 4H students and hold garden club after school. Today there was a naturalist who was speaking on monarch butterflies. She taught us a few things. One thing, do not trust your count because there are always more than you can see.
She showed Kaia how to touch a caterpillar. They do not sting or harm you, but you could harm their delicate feet. Kaia spotted some crawling all the way over on the concrete slab away from the garden. She rushed over to tell the naturalist about this. She explained to us that monarch caterpillars travel away from the host plant when they are ready to pupate. She gently picked these two up and carried them back to the garden area.
I decided to come back after school and gather a few caterpillars to take home. Meadow (yes, the naturalist’s name is Meadow) gave me instructions on how to care for them. It’s a good thing she did. I thought I had only brought home four caterpillars fat and ready for pupation, but as the days went on, there appeared 3 more in the net habitat.
The four made chrysalises on the plastic top of the container, but I’ve had to feed the three that appeared. I’ve been gathering (stealing) milkweed from our church school’s garden to keep them fed. I hope I haven’t brought home even more caterpillars unknowing. So far, so good. I’ll post updates on my Instagram and Facebook pages.
The science of nature fascinates me. I think I’d like to be a naturalist like Meadow when I grow up.
Reflections on the Teche 