Blanchard kindergartners release butterflies they nurtured

The curriculum is about life cycles of the butterfly, but the little ones in Crystal Williams' kindergarten class learned a life lesson Friday morning -- all about watching something grow to let something beautiful go.

At about 9:15 a.m., the 24 Blanchard Elementary School kindergartners released five Painted Lady butterflies that the students, with the help of their teacher, nourished and nurtured through three of the four stages of the insects' life cycle. Decked out in tie-dye T-shirts to symbolize the emergence and beauty of their charges, the children watched as the black, orange and white-dotted butterflies quickly emerged from their plastic cup homes.

Mira Themm, 5, was hoping the winged creatures would stick around for a while, but the butterflies had other plans.

"We tried to put them on our fingers, but they saw their new friends and wanted to go outside with them," Mira said. She planned to look for her Painted Ladies at recess. She wanted to give them some flowers.

The journey to becoming butterflies began a few weeks ago. Back then, of course, they were mere eggs on a leaf. Blanchard's kindergarten classes received their prospective butterflies as tiny caterpillars, watching them quickly grow and eat. The long caterpillars then climbed up to the top of their cups, each wrapping itself into a chrysalis before its metamorphosis.

"They got bigger and bigger," said wide-eyed Allison Majors, 6, of the caterpillars' growth.

The children were still buzzing about the experience a half-hour later in their classroom.

Six-year-old Gracy Hartline offered a primer on her favorite winged insect, the Monarch butterfly.

"First they start out as little, teeny tiny eggs. Then they hatch into first instars," Gracy said, noting one of the developmental stages of the butterfly. "Then they eat a lot of milkweed and then they get real fat.

"Then they spin their cocoon, which is also called a chrysalis. Then she gets out of the chrysalis. She pumps up her wings, and then she flies all the way to Mexico."

There's trouble in Mexico.

"And then she falls asleep for a long time," Gracy continued. "Then they lay their eggs, and then they die."

It's up to the little guys after that. Gracy said the Monarchs' children are supposed to finish the trip.

Friday's butterfly launch was a release in more ways than one. As the sun pushed through early morning rain and clouds, Williams and her class were relieved to be outside.

"We've been trapped inside for it seems like weeks and weeks with all this rain," Williams said. "Just to get them outside in the fresh air and sunshine is wonderful."

Williams said her neighborhood is overflowing with people these days, many of them refugees from this spring's historic floods.

While some of the kindergartners seemed sad about saying goodbye to their new friends, Laniaa Brown tried to keep the release in perspective.

"The butterflies need to go," the 6-year-old said. "They need to be free."

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