Butterfy lessons incorporate interactive arts, science and reading skills

There's a four-step lifecycle of monarch butterflies.

• Egg
• Larvae (caterpillar)
• Pupa (chrysalis or cocoon)
• Adult butterfly

And students in Jeff Rager’s life skills class at Bellefonte Area Middle School have been learning about the process with interactive projects through lessons taught by a student teacher, which incorporates arts, science, and reading and language arts skills.

Mikayla Hubbs, a senior at Lock Haven University, said each lesson allows the students to tap into something new using creativity and critical thinking. Students created a caterpillar and participated in a "very hungry caterpillar" lesson. In the scenario, the caterpillar had eaten apples, so students made apple dumplings and passed out the dessert to teachers. They also drew and colored caterpillars and butterflies, and learned about things they observed in the classroom's butterfly net that housed milkweed and cocoons expected to hatch within the week.

Caterpillars were brought in by Rager who found them in a field behind his home.

Hubbs will be in Rager’s class until Oct. 15, before transferring to Robb Elementary Schoool, and will graduate in December with degrees in K-4 early education and K-8 special education.

*By Brit Milazzo, public relations director, BASD