Students at Agnew H. Johnston Public School said good-bye to some special friends on Tuesday.
About seven weeks after their tiny companions arrived at the south-side school, the Grade 1 French immersion class trotted outside and with little hesitation, freed more than a dozen painted lady butterflies.
The insects, raised in plastic cups from their larval stage, perched for several minutes on their student’s hand before taking off to explore the skies surrounding the school’s outdoor garden.
Teacher Jennifer McGuire has been conducting the experiment for the past 15 years and said it teaches children a whole host of lessons.
And it’s fun, she added.
“They love it. They just get so involved and they’re so motivated by the experience,” McGuire said. “It’s part of our science curriculum to learn about life cycles and plants and animals. But I’ve personally found over the years that the children see little nuances that you never see in a book.”
Six-year-old Teanna Lefebvre said the butterflies were “super nice.”
“Next year, I hope there’s more butterflies,” she said. “I learned that most butterflies have powder (on their wings). If you take off the powder then they can’t fly. So that’s why I learned to respect butterflies and now I want them to be free.”
Classmate Alexis Levesque said the tiny orange and black insects were the perfect pet because they were here favourite colour.
They also taught the youngster something most parents would be glad to hear.
“You have to be very quiet and gentle to them.”
The butterflies were ordered from a laboratory, and arrived at the school on May 1. The larvae were separated and placed into a plastic cup, along with food to sustain its growth.
Within 10 days they attached themselves to the cup’s lid, and slowly turned into chrysalis.
The process wasn’t without obstacles, though fallen chrysalises were rescued and taped to Kleenex, saving a pair of would-be butterflies from certain death.
