We have a small garden area around our flagpole, a planter box for a native plant garden alongside our shed, and then 6 planter beds in our butterfly garden. There is milkweed currently growing around the flagpole and in our butterfly garden boxes.
Right now almost every class has monarch caterpillars in their classrooms that they collected from our gardens. We are watching them grow and metamorphose into butterflies, then tagging them and checking them for parasites before releasing them. The students love raising butterflies in the classroom and become very invested in the health and safety of their caterpillars.
