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The Butterfly Effect
The lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly has been followed with interest by many at ABC Manurewa Central. It created the best learning experience for children as it was child-led. It kept them captivated in the learning and strengthen their sense of belonging. The eggs found on the leaves of the swan plants in the centre's backyard garden hatched into tiny white, yellow and black caterpillars. But the caterpillars didn’t stay small for long! The children noticed that they munched and munched most of the leaves, and grew longer and bigger. Nga tamariki became so interested in the life cycle of the Butterfly and it became a regular home story to share.When one of the caterpillars started to hang upside down, and curl up its body, the kaiako/teacher decided to bring it inside and placed it in the display cabinet. This helped the children and adults to observe the metamorphic process more closely. The Caterpillar changed into Chrysalis and stayed for weeks.
One morning nga tamariki noticed the Butterfly popping out of the chrysalis. The children became so excited and once the Butterfly was confident to fly it was let out but the Butterfly didn’t want to leave ABC Manurewa Central and hanged around in the garden for a long time. The children were lucky enough to see the life cycle many times. This was celebrated with a Butterfly tea party where children came dressed up as Beautiful Butterflies. Children’s leadership skills were shining bright during mat time as they were able to retell the story of the Life Cycle of a Butterfly in their words.