Bring in the Butterflies

School:: Veterans Memorial Elementary
Subject:: Other
Teacher:: Rachel Buonocore
: Lisa Heben, Janice Iacavino
Students Impacted:: 734
Grade:: K-5
Date:: September 7, 2021

Investor

Thank you to the following investor for funding this grant.

Champions For Learning - $323.96

Impact to My Classroom

# of Students Impacted: 200

First of all I want to thank you for your generous support of our butterfly garden. The money awarded to me was utilized to purchase milkweed plants, pentas and soil that was shared between two gardens. As soon as the milkweed plants arrived at our school there was an explosion of hungry caterpillars...some of the kinder students thought it was actual magic! We had many learning opportunities to establish that we can attract butterflies, and thereby caterpillars, by knowing the different plants that act as food for these animals! The students learned how to identify the milkweeds as an important factor in the plentitude of caterpillars in the garden. Along with learning about the milkweeds, the students also learned about food for the butterflies (pentas) and how plants can create a habitat that facilitates food for both butterflies and caterpillars. We have even begun to discuss how the butterfly is a pollinator. My kinder class mainly takes care of the garden but the entire school passes by it when they are entering the school or heading to the main office. I have often witnessed older students stop briefly to enjoy and observe the butterflies and caterpillars. The result of this grant has no price limit! It as 'granted' our VME students have the most amazing opportunity- hands-on learning about animals and habitats as well as having a place of beauty! Thank you so much for supporting these children and making school a magical place to be!

grant photo

Original Grant Overview

Goal

To continue to help provide a space for students to learn about the life of a butterfly. Also, we would like to engage students with learning about gardening. This encompasses Science Standards across all grade levels.

What will be done with my students

Our students will help take care of the garden and continue to be the stewards of our butterfly gardens. The milkweed plants will continue to attract the Monarch Butterfly who will lay eggs on the leaves. Our garden is established but needs to be renewed with Milkweeds and soil. It is quite a spectacle to witness all of the caterpillars that munch and crunch on the Milkweeds. We are hoping to be able to rotate the plants so that they will be able to re-grow between the caterpillar transformations! The students will also be tracking and documenting the length of time it takes a caterpillar to grow from when it hatches to when it becomes a butterfly and seeing if there environmental factors that can affect the metamorphosis.
Our entire student body uses these gardens as a place to observe the life changes of the Monarch and even to just have a moment of repose in our busy days.

Benefits to my students

Being engaged in a natural surrounding has tremendous social emotional benefits for our students. Not only will the students be able to feel positive about caring for the garden but they truly take pride and ownership of what they contribute not only to our campus but also our community (the butterflies do travel outside our campus too!). Our students also get hand-on learning about plants and animals. We always say our garden is a Win-Win...for us as well as the plants and the animals for which we provide as well!

Budget Narrative

These supplies are being purchased from a local nusery called American Farms.

Items

#	Item	Cost
1	60 1 gallon Milkweed plants	$149.46
2	10 cu. feet of soil	$174.50
	Total:	$323.96

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