A Time and a Season
By Debbie Locke

My second graders had anxiously awaited the arrival of our Painted Lady caterpillars. We had studied metamorphosis in the fall, and I had promised we would observe live butterflies in the spring. They finally arrived in a brown cardboard box – a week late! I calculated the days from caterpillar to butterfly and thought to myself, "Oh, no! We'll be on summer vacation by the time they hatch!"

My students, however, had no worry of such things and excitedly began to watch the five skinny larvae munch on the thistle plant we provided.

Four stages. After fattening up for a week, the caterpillars then each spun a chrysalis. I carefully removed the paper to which they were attached and placed it in my butterfly cage. My students began to patiently await the arrival of the Painted Lady butterflies, never thinking that it might not happen before school let out or that some of them might not live.

As we waited for the chrysalises to hatch, I thought about the four stages of the butterfly: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and adult. Each year my students seem to pass through each of these stages as naturally as we pass through the four seasons of the year. When my students arrive in August, they are still in the "egg" stage. Many are still shy and some need help finding their way around school, tying their shoes or just keeping up with their supplies. Within a few weeks, most students have settled in and are ready for the caterpillar stage. Just as the caterpillar begins to fatten up and store food for the chrysalis stage, my students are storing up the knowledge they'll use as they learn more difficult things throughout the year. Winter brings many new challenges for my students. We read more difficult stories, learn to carry and borrow in math and how to write in cursive. As spring approaches, I begin to think about my students' readiness for the third grade. Some butterflies struggle greatly to free themselves of their chrysalises; others seem to release themselves with very little effort. But they all have to struggle to get to the "adult" stage. Their wings will not develop properly if they're helped during this process. And so it is with my students.

On their way. On the last day of class, one of the butterflies had emerged before we arrived that morning. My proud second grade "parents" were so excited! I couldn't have timed it more perfectly. Each butterfly emerged that day, and what fun we had as we released them out into the world. It was time for me to release my butterflies as well. We had journeyed through four seasons of our year together and now I had to set them free. My new caterpillars would arrive in August and I could hardly wait.

Debbie Locke is the Lower School Director at Oakbrook Preparatory School in Spartanburg, SC.

May 2006, Vol.36, No.8