The Butterfly that Came to Class

On Thursday, I was teaching my third-year students about the environment. I used a lesson I vaguely remember learning in fifth grade, in which we went through different types of environments (rainforest, ocean, tundra, swamp, etc). What I remember from the lesson I had when I was ten was that we were divided into groups and assigned one of the environments, which we wrote a paper about and painted on a mural. I couldn't exactly have my students painting murals, but I did have them write a paragraph for the environment, come up with a food chain that existed in the environment, and draw it all on a piece of paper. There was one funny moment where I had to correct a group who were drawing different desserts (I'd assigned them the desert environment).

About halfway through introducing the names of different environments, a butterfly flew through the window into the classroom. I've had pigeons and dogs before, but this was the first time I've taught a class with a butterfly. Strangely enough, while the pigeon proved to be a fairly short distraction and the students didn't even blink at the wandering dog, the butterfly was a complete distraction, although I did try to incorporate it into one of the environments I was talking about. While they worked on their group projects, it fluttered around the room landing on various students. I don't think it found the window again before the end of class.

I still find it amazing that there are butterflies everywhere in January. I also find it hilarious that the only environment the students described as hot was the desert . . . apparently the jungle isn't.