Butterflies head south from Assumption

Last Updated on Monday, April 01, 2013 08:02 pm Written by Staff Reports Wednesday, October 24, 2012 06:02 pm

“Monarch reporters” Aubrey Hartman and Liam Colangelo, both of Galloway, show off their flighty friends.

Assumption Regional Catholic School kindergarten students have been busy learning firsthand about the metamorphosis of monarch butterflies.

Starting with locating caterpillars in the wild and finding common milkweed for them to eat, students monitored their daily progress.

Most days students observed the caterpillars munching on milkweed and leaving frass (waste pellets) in the rearing cages.

The excitement began when the students walked into the classroom and could not find one of their caterpillars.

What they did find was a little green chrysalis.

For several days students waited patiently to see what would happen next. One day, they saw movement. They watched excitedly as the creature broke free from the chrysalis and into the rearing cage as a beautiful monarch butterfly.

Once the butterflies had all emerged, students identified the females from the males and tagged them so they could follow their migration south.

On Tuesday, Oct. 2, a rather gloomy day, parents, families, students and staff gathered under the school’s covered entrance.

Students began chanting, “They gotta go, they gotta go, they gotta go to Mexico.” 

Jeanine Colangelo of Galloway and her students celebrate the takeoff of their butterflies. Pictured are kindergarten aide Roxanna Riley and AnnaMaria Marczyk, both of Absecon; Gwen Amalfitano of Brigantine; Jacob Brogden, Thomas Burley, Sophia Cerrone, Ava Federici, Steven Flynn, Molly Lewandowski, Patrick Logue, Jason Marcelin, Alicia Sedano, Daniel Seiders, Fiona Shanahan, Kendyl Thomas and Julia Higbee, all of Galloway; Richard Ohlsen and Mia Simone, both of Egg Harbor Township; Gabriel Hessert of Mays Landing; Lilliana Keim of Atlantic City; and Francesca Marchese of Ventnor.

Lisa Colangelo of Egg Harbor City and her class have fun after releasing the butterflies. Shown are kindergarten aide Tammy Palmieri, Liam Colangelo, Emma Crowley, Sean DiGuglielmo, Ella Jenkins, Twinkle Khatiwala, Emily Fussner, Aubrey Hartman, Morgan Mastro, Jack Scozzafava, Mackenzie Sutton, Cassidy Torraca, Gabriella LoPorto and Sebastian Vidro, all of Galloway; Holden MacNatt, Michael Tracey and Michael McKenna, all of Egg Harbor City; Noah and Tyler Bakey of Tuckerton; Maureen Brown and Stephanie Espinoza-Abreu of Egg Harbor Township; Kylie Hulse of Pleasantville; and Emily Petsche of Absecon.