A Magical Morning

 What a magical moment, spending time this morning with Jennifer Lee's first graders at Haleiwa Elementary School! I shared a little bit about Jennifer's classroom in an earlier blog ("In Every Crisis Lies the Seed of Opportunity") and today, my husband Randy and I visited to experience the butterfly garden, first-hand.

It started when a caterpillar crawled into their classroom, and the idea for a butterfly garden grew from that one serendipitous moment. Jennifer shares that the students were excited and had so many questions, so naturally, she saw this as an important learning opportunity. By accessing grants as well as community partnerships, the students have become experts and proudly answered our questions and explained different aspects of their garden. They pointed out teeny tiny eggs on the bottoms of milkweed or crown flower leaves. They found caterpillars of all sizes and placed them gently into habitats where they could observe the transformation into butterflies before being released. They separated the milkweed seeds so they can plant more milkweed plants, a favorite food of the monarch butterfly. They asked questions, did research, and wrote their own information books about the monarch butterfly. And they are discussing how they can sustain the project by selling products at an upcoming school Pop-Up Fair. A couple of their ideas are selling a make-and-take habitat for a caterpillar so families can observe the life cycle or selling the milkweed seeds they have laboriously collected in a jar to grow more plants for food for monarch butterflies..

I would not have known about this butterfly garden if I hadn't crossed paths with Jennifer on one of our daily walks. We talked and her excitement was so infectious. Jennifer sent me a few photos along with an invitation to visit. I am so glad we took her up on her invitation.

So many teachers are like Jennifer. They are doing great things in their classrooms, but as teachers, we don't often have opportunities to learn with and from others except with those at our own school. A few years ago, teachers had "professional development leave" and they could attend a conference, visit other schools or classrooms, work on their university coursework, or participate in other professional learning opportunities. I know our teachers took advantage of this PD leave, and we supported and encouraged them to do so. Alas, a few years later, that PD leave became "personal" leave. 

There are many teachers like Jennifer who welcome visitors and who would love to hear new ideas from their colleagues from other schools. Wouldn't it be wonderful if teachers had professional learning days in addition to their sick leave and personal leave days? Perhaps teacher professional development should be more personalized and include opportunities to learn with and from others, to discuss challenges and to try out new ideas, and to learn from others including colleagues from other schools. In this day and age, we should be able to collaborate instead of everyone trying to reinvent the wheel. 

And if you get the opportunity, go visit the butterfly garden at Haleiwa Elementary School! 

P.S. Do you know how to tell which side is the head of the caterpillar? Do you know how to tell if a monarch butterfly is male or female? I learned something new from the students today! 

Students were excited to share with us about what they were learning. They certainly had sharp eyes, pointing out teeny tiny eggs as well as teeny tiny caterpillars!

These are milkweed seeds. They reminded me of dandelions because the winds sent them floating in the air. Students were separating the seeds; they have collected a lot of seeds for replanting.

A caterpillar and a monarch butterfly. I didn't get a good photo of a chrysalis, but there were empty ones that indicated a new butterfly had emerged.

It was really neat to see the metamorphosis of the students as writers! When a couple of them read their earlier books to me, they realized how much they had grown as writers. "I didn't spell very well when I wrote this book," one student shared. Yet the content and the voice of the students were evident in each book.