Symbolic Monarch Migration Update: February 28, 2002 This Update Includes: Did YOUR Symbolic Butterfly Reach the Sanctuaries? Symbolic Monarchs Landed at Mexican Schools Symbolic Monarchs Landed at the Butterfly Sanctuaries Agua or Tierra? Mexican Students Learn Importance of Habitat A Forest Sanctuary for the Classroom Watch Your Mailbox! Sanctuary Students Send Winter Greetings When Will the Symbolic Monarchs Migrate North? Did YOUR Butterfly Reach the Sanctuaries? Ever since November, we've been busy finding homes for the 10,000 Symbolic Monarchs we delivered to the sanctuary region. You'll find hundreds of photos and video clips at the links below. You may even find your own Symbolic Monarch in the hands of the person who's caring for it this winter! Symbolic Monarchs Landed at Mexican Schools Escuela Benito Juarez Escuela Issac Arriaga Escuela Cerro Prieto Primary Escuela Los Remedios Escuela Cerro Prieto Secondary Escuela Rancho Escondido Symbolic Monarchs Landed at the Butterfly Sanctuaries When tourists visit the sanctuaries on weekends they find a beautiful exhibit at the entrance, and Symbolic Monarchs to greet them. A banner reads "Migracion Simbolica: Uniendo a los ninos de norteamerica" (Symbolic Migration: Uniting the Children of North America), and the flags of Mexico, Canada and the United States wave proudly. Tourists are invited to "tag" a symbolic butterfly. On the back of the tag, they write their own address. When these Symbolic Monarchs come back in the spring, you may receive one that was tagged by a tourist. We hope the images below convey the excitement the visitors express. On the day I visited, children poured through the butterflies looking for favorites, parents read messages aloud to their children, people posed for photos, and a general sense of international goodwill was palpable. To a person, people were amazed and inspired to learn that over 51,000 students sent Symbolic Monarchs to Mexico for safekeeping. Visit the Symbolic Migration Exhibit Watch the painter make the Symbolic Migration banner Agua or Tierra? Mexican Students Learn Importance of Habitat Students in the sanctuary region are interested to know why their mountain home is so important for monarchs. They don't experience winter as we do in the north, so it's hard to understand why the monarchs must escape the cold, northern breeding grounds. And monarch butterflies are not the only species that migrates to Mexico to escape winter. In fact, Mexico is important to the survival of hundreds of North America's migratory species. This lesson looks closely at the connection between geography and migration. Using an inflatable globe, the children learned how much water--and how little land--North America has in the warmer, subtropical region. We thought you'd like to try the same lesson in your classroom that they enjoyed outdoors in Mexico! You can even try it in Spanish. Geography and Migration Geografía y Migración A Forest Sanctuary for the Classroom The teachers want the students to understand that the forest must be protected for their own needs, as well as for the needs of the monarchs. They decided to have the students create "forest sanctuaries" in their classrooms for the Symbolic Monarchs. All winter long, each student can keep an eye on his own butterfly and then send the butterfly back north in the spring. The teachers hope this will be a year-long reminder of the importance of forest conservation. Watch Your Mailbox! Sanctuary Students Have Sent Winter Greetings When we packed the butterflies last fall, we put aside one butterfly from each of the 2,405 participating schools. We carried them in a special box to Angangueo. For a full week, two highschool girls addressed envelopes: Each envelope was addressed to one of the 2,405 participating schools. We then gave the school children butterflies and their accompanying envelopes, so they could send a "winter greeting" to their new friends in the north. We hope you found one this winter in your mailbox! When Will the Symbolic Monarchs Migrate North? The overwintering season in Mexico will soon come to an end. Each spring, the Symbolic Monarchs leave Mexico at the same time in March as the real monarchs do. However, the humans at Journey North don't move as quickly as the real monarchs fly. It takes us a long time to complete the last leg of the symbolic migration. Here's the schedule: March: Symbolic Monarchs fly to Journey North Headquarters in Minnesota April: Journey North staff spends the month in Minnesota repacking May: Symbolic Monarchs are mailed from Minnesota back to you. Symbolic Monarch Homecoming: May 15, 2002 We'll do our best to have the Symbolic Monarchs to you by this deadline! Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form