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Part of our reading unit is about awesome animals and insects. We wanted to explore the metamorphosis stage of butterflies, but the school’s funding couldn’t support us in that so we ordered it on our own using Teacher’s Choice funding. Each kid gets his or her own caterpillar and sees it grow each and every day — they name the caterpillar, they talk to it, they really get to become caregivers. It would have been a hard process for them to internalize without seeing it in the room.

Every day the children were so excited; my on-time attendance actually improved because they were literally dragging their parents through the door to come to see the butterflies. It was a wonderful experience for them, exciting and thrilling.

If Teacher’s Choice is restored in September, my first priority will be to furnish our dramatic play area. For social-emotional development, dramatic play is very important because you have to interact with one another. I also start to hear language develop — I have English language learners, and dramatic play is one of the first areas they really took to.