Butterfly Gardens are a wonderful way to give students a hands-on-science experience. This website will grow with our garden! Look for links to information and pictures at the bottom of this web page. (go there)
Our butterfly garden started with a special volunteer who wanted to give a special gift. Mrs. Gasser is an energetic, 83 year volunteer. She volunteers four days a week in the science lab. As a retired chemist, she offers a valuable depth of scientific knowledge. She also offers encouragement, kind words and excellent ideas. The butterfly garden was her idea. She believes that “each child needs to dig in the dirt, to hold their plant and to watch it grow.” To put this belief in practice, she is the primary sponsor of the garden and offered to provide a plant for each of the students in the Kindergarten and First grade.
Once new school construction was complete, the design process for the garden was started. The location of the garden was very important. We wanted the students to see the garden every day, to be able to make both formal and informal observations and to feel a sense of ownership of the garden and of course, to be the proper location for the plants. The garden is located at the student entrance to the campus and next to the primary playground. This location receives full sun and a lot of attention from the students.
It was important that the garden consist only of plants native to the area. This makes maintenance of the garden easier. After this consideration, the students were surveyed to discover which types of butterflies that they would most like to attract. Once planting is complete, simple weekly maintenance will be completed by a rotating class during their visit to the science lab.
The butterfly garden has been embraced by the students, teachers, administration, parents and the community. The students are very excited about the garden. Although, the garden has just been started, I have witnessed students at recess and after school, showing the plant they planted to other students and protecting the garden from wayward balls and runners. The teachers have commented on the progress and the art teacher used the garden as an inspiration for her spring art project. The administration gave their full support to the project and recently purchased two benches that were hand crafted by the district’s special needs students for the garden. The school district’s reprographics department will provide the signage to identify the plants.
The students have listened to books, written their own books, measured the plots, surveyed their classmates, and created graphs and art projects. Many of the lessons have had a science focus. All of the students have learned about the life cycle of the butterfly and the types of plants that support each stage of the life cycle. They have learned what butterflies are native to the area and what plants attract each type. Second grade students do observations and log the progress of the growth of their plants. The students have learned how to plant and care for the plants so the garden has a good start. In addition to providing a foundation for studies in life science unit, working in the garden has provided opportunities to reinforce concepts taught in the simple machines unit, the scientific method unit, the climate unit and the earth science unit.
I am excited about this project and look forward to watching our garden grow!
--Mrs. Nolan, Science Specialist