Butterflies in the Classroom

Butterflies+in+the+Classroom

At the beginning of the semester, biology teachers Keara Schaffer and Dr. John Rockett had gotten some butterfly larvae so that their classes could watch them develop and hatch. This was supposed to happen in May, but instead, the butterflies came a bit too early.

This week they hatched. Now their classrooms are going to be full of living butterflies flying around the room.

Mrs. Schaffer says that she is very excited about this happening. She loves butterflies and wants to spread awareness about the importance of pollinators.

“I feel blessed that the school will let me do this. I have never done this before. I love butterflies and think pollinators are super important to the environment. I wanted to spread awareness on the importance of pollinators and thought that this was a great way to do it,” Schaffer said.

Not only does she want to spread awareness she has a great love for butterflies and their life timeline.

“Butterflies are just beautiful, and I love metamorphosis. Having such a major change in your life and emerging as something so beautiful is just amazing,” Schaffer added.

The students seem to be just as excited as the teachers. 

Sophomore Mason Hensley is in Mrs. Schaffer’s first period biology class and says that he is excited about the butterflies and thinks that they are cool insects.

“I am looking forward to the butterflies because they will bring joy to my mornings, and they are really cool, and I like that they are all different colors,” says Hensley.

On the other hand, students are excited but do think that the butterflies will be a little distracting.

Brendon Williams is a sophomore who is in Dr. Rockett’s biology class. Williams says that she is excited about the butterflies but he thinks that they are going to be a little bit distracting.

“I like the butterflies because they look drippy and make the classroom more fun, but I do think that they will be distracting because they are going to fly everywhere and land on people,” Williams said.

With butterflies in the classroom, it is more of a hands-on learning experiment and can teach students more than a book can.

“I think they will help me learn because it is more hands, which is a much better way to learn because you can actually see in person and feel instead of just looking at a picture, so that is better than a book,” said sophomore Peyton Burcham.