An average box turtle can live to be 100 years old and has it's own exciting tale to tell. So it wasn't surprising that the children at Good Shepherd Lutheran School in Elberta, were also excited when Lloyd Porter (dad of student Lana Porter), brought a box turtle to school one day, to share with Lana's friends.

Box turtles are found in North America and Mexico. They come out in the daytime and burrow slightly

into the ground to sleep at night. In warm weather they find a cool place and go out in morning or at dusk. They hibernate in winter by burrowing into the earth. Many time the turtles will return to the same spot each year, coming out around April. They live in grasslands and woodlands or near ponds. Females can lay up to 8 eggs which hatch in about 3 months. An average box turtle is about 5" long and you can usually tell it's age by counting the rings on it's shell, which is brown with yellow or orange markings. In the wild turtles will eat fish, frogs, snails and dead birds and mammels. When they become adults they eat less meat and more berries, fungi, roots and flowers. A turtle will go inside it's shell and close up when it feels threatened. Our box turtle was returned to the wild.

Every spring of the year, Shelley Stockwell introduces her students to the beauty and wonder of the life cycle of the butterfly.

A butterfly is an insect with six legs and antennae, or feelers, on it's head. In spring, a female butterfly lays her eggs on leaves. Inside the egg, a caterpillar is growing. It usually takes about 10 days for the caterpillar to grow. The caterpillar hatches from the egg and eats leaves to help it grow. It makes a leaf tent to live in and uses special silk to stick the leaves together. After a few days it sheds it's skin and grows bigger. It will wrap itself in leaves again while it grows a new skin. When it is fully grown, it is ready to turn into a butterfly and hangs from a leaf stem. It sheds it's skin again to form a pupa. This takes a few hours. The pupa is covered in a chrysalis to keep it safe. Inside the chrysalis, the pupa changes into a butterfly. After about three week the chrysalis splits open and a butterfly will come out. It's wings are a little bit wrinkled. So it climbs up the plant to shake out it's wings. Then it flies away. Then in the fall of the year the butterfly migrates to warmer places. But, the butterfly comes back in the spring to lay it's eggs on leaves.

Good Shepherd Lutheran School is located at 24933 Oak Street in Elberta, AL. Good Shepherd Lutheran School accepts students of any race, color, nationality and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate in administration of it's educational policies, admissions policies, and other school administrated programs. Children entering kindergarten must be five years old on or before September 1st of the same year. Good Shepherd's Pre-kindergarten class is open to children who are three years old. We are now registering for our Summer Program and the 2012-2013 school year. For more information call 251-987-1966 or email us at gsls@gulftel.com.