The 4-H Butterfly Project was a way for 4-H to instruct younger youth about life cycles. This was a very important curriculum for K-5 since it is one of the core areas for the state standards testing. The 4-H Butterfly project has been conducted for the last several years. This year the program was conducted virtually with 5 different 4^th grade classrooms. 

The Rowan County Cooperative Extension Service provided project books and a teacher's guide for the participating classes. Each classroom received 5-7 live caterpillars in individual observation cups and a pavilion/tent for them to use to hatch the butterflies. This year, over 90 youth were reached during this virtual experience, which has been the largest participation. During the project, the teacher would do weekly zoom meetings for the students to observe the live cycle, record their observations of the cycle of life, and identified the parts of the butterfly. 

Carol Spence with UK College of Agriculture, Food and Environment wrote a news story titled “4-H Agents Partnering with Teachers on ‘Homework’. The article mentioned programming from Anderson, Breckinridge and Rowan Counties. Carol interviewed Mrs. Richardson, a 4^th grade teacher at Clearfield Elementary School whom participated in the project. She had the following to say regarding the project.

“I have three kids at home, and they’re so excited to watch the five caterpillars change. 

“I want my students to be able to experience that as much as possible”. 

“When this all happened, I didn’t even think about 4-H. I was just thinking, how am I going to make sure that my students are getting what they need at home for core instruction”? 

“Raven reached out to me and asked if I still was willing to do the butterfly project with 4-H. She reached out to all 4^th grade teachers in the district. I said yes, because it would be a great way to stay connected with my kids”. 

“My class learned about the internal and external structures of animals last fall, so this was a great way to review some of what we learned in science back then”. 

This program will be offered again next spring for any 4^th grade teacher interested.