News Photo by Julie Goldberg Left to right, Besser Elementary School second-graders Austin Keyes, Xander Barbeau, and Kennedy Martinson look at chrysalis in their classroom. The students are learning all about monarch butterflies and its lifecycle.

ALPENA — During the first few weeks of the school year, Besser Elementary School students are able to enjoy a hands-on learning experience with monarch butterflies.

Second grade teacher Penny Schultz said when she tutored over the summer, the students were always checking on the butterflies that she brought in and helped release them, so she decided to continue having the students learn with her class to watch the butterflies and release them.

With the butterflies in the classroom, the students in Schultz’s class are learning the steps of the lifecycle.

“This is the lifecycle, they know about the lifecycle, we’ve had some of the caterpillars and chrysalis die, so they said that is part of the circle of life,” Schultz said. “They can tell you the steps in the circle of life for the monarch. They can tell you about the migration.”

Second-grader Brady Kadrich said his favorite part about having the butterflies in the classroom is seeing them hatch and grow into their chrysalis.

“When they’re ready to hatch, they are black and you can see that they’re orange and black with white dots,” Kadrich said.

Schultz’s favorite part about having the butterflies in her classroom is that all the students are interested and involved. She said the other classes are also interested in the butterflies and visit her classroom to learn about them.

“We’ve given caterpillars to several other classrooms that couldn’t find any themselves so that their students can experience it,” Schultz said. “We’ve released in several of the other classrooms. Each day we’ll release with another group of kids so they share all the information.”

The students are going to continue releasing the butterflies and learning about butterflies and the lifecycle.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or 989-358-5688.