Monarch Butterfly Migration Journey North

Monarch Butterfly Migration

Teachers' Guide for September 1, 2006
The suggestions below will help you integrate Journey North's real-time program in the classroom. This guide accompanies the Monarch Migration Update for September 1, 2006.
Getting Started: Orientation and Key Activities
This is the first update of the season. Take a few minutes to review the "Getting Started" section of the Web site. You will find links to key actitivies for tracking fall monarch migration. Most important: Keep a journal and make a map.
Reading: The Life Cycle of the Monarch Butterfly The Life Cycle slideshow featured today is also available as a booklet. This and other printable, nonfiction booklets provide foundational, background information at a simplified reading level while building reading skills and supporting standards. See: Journey North Booklets for Kids
Science Inquiry Skills: Questioning As a class, review the slideshow of the monarch's annual cycle. Get familiar with the classic story, “as told.” As you track migration this year, watch for exceptions to the rule. Try to find real-life examples as evidence that this story is over-simplified. Watch for observations that don’t make sense. Ask questions! You are sure to find examples that don’t fit conventional wisdom. (For example, some monarchs don't migrate to Mexico at all; in fall some breed/lay eggs in the southern United States and perhaps a new generation migrates, etc.) Scientists gain new understanding as new information and unexpected observations occur.
Migration Math: How many more miles must the monarchs fly? Here’s a simple way to help students (and yourself) get comfortable using our migration maps and navigating the Web site. Today's update included pictures taken in Canada this week of monarchs migrating and resting. How far are they from their winter home in Mexico? Start on the monarch home page. Have students click on the map. It will open to a "peak migration" map. Use the dropdown menu to choose "monarch fall roost" and look at that map. (The dropdown menu is marked with a rectangle on the map above.) Find the overwintering sites in Mexico (marked as red star). Challenge students to find Ontario, and this sighting from Thornton, ON with a picture of monarchs resting. Zoom-in to get close-up of Ontario. (The "Zoom" tool is marked with a polygon. Thornton, ON is marked with an arrow.) Click the "i" tool to read the comments and see picture. (The "i" tool is circled on the map above.) Ask, How many more miles must these monarchs fly to reach their winter home in Mexico? Use the scalebar on the map to estimate (or try Online Distance Calculator). [ANSWER: roughly 2,075 miles]
Other News
The Symbolic Monarch Migration is about to begin! >> Send a monarch to Mexico. Postmark deadline for migrating monarchs is October 13, 2006. Don't miss the trip!
Back to Monarch Migration Update: September 1, 2006 >>