Laughter and shrieks filled the classroom as the children watched them darting about.
… Just two short weeks prior to that first flight the winged creatures were small black caterpillars.
The caterpillars spun chrysalides within a few days of arriving in Digby, and last week, right on schedule, they began emerging as butterflies. Six the first day … six the second day … six the next day.
Marshall says she did a fair amount of ‘butterfly homework’ and that may well have helped them thrive.
“I learned that they can’t just eat fruit—you have to punch holes in it.
“And I learned that if they come out of the chrysalis and fall, you have to help them back up. And then they have to hang upside down for up to two hours, in order to pump up their wings. If they don’t have that time in that position, they won’t be able to fly.”
June 5, the butterflies were released to the open air as the children watched, thrilled by their flight.
Marshall has spent the past 30 years encouraging young children to ‘spread their wings’.
She will be retiring at the end of the school year.
A metamorphosis in the classroom
A metamorphosis in the classroom
- Published on June 10th, 2009
- Published on January 31st, 2010
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Jeanne Whitehead/Digby
It was a big week in Linda Marshall’s primary-grade one classroom at Digby Elementary School. A dozen chrysalides transformed into Painted Lady butterflies and when the lid was briefly removed from the cage that held them, they did what butterflies do—they flew.
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