That set up a lovely memory for me, back to when I was about 10 years old at intermediate school. For two years I was in a class, with a teacher who had a passionate interest in nature.
Mr Edwards - he was tall and thin and had been given the nickname 'storky'.
We all called him storky and were quite fond of him. At the time he was a strong member of the New Zealand Forest and Bird Society and taught us 'nature study' three times each week.
As part of our nature studies, he allowed us to keep small creatures in the classroom. There was a canary in a cage, three goldfish in a tank, two mice in a cage with ripped up paper and a turning wheel that they ran around in, and several other exhibits preserved in liquid in jars (one was a small octopus). We all took turns at caring for them and different people were designated to take a creature home, to care for them over the Christmas break that lasted for 6 weeks.
During Summer our class kept Monarch caterpillars in the classroom. We each took turns at watering the swan plants as we watched the caterpillars grow. They walked all over our desks and made chrysalis's in interesting places. One was up the side of the blackboard, another was on the underside of the desk of the girl who sat next to me. When the butterflies emerged from their chrysalis's, they flew around the classroom before we opened windows to let them fly free. As the butterflies flew off to their butterfly lives we would go outside and find more caterpillars to put onto the swan plants in the classroom.
Storky Edwards was my teacher for 2 years and for both of those years there were Monarch caterpillars and butterflies in our classroom. I will always be grateful to him for that.
So, here's the question..........
"When did you first see a Monarch Chrysalis?" I'd love to know.