Teaching Suggestions
Temperature
and Survival
The Balance Between Warm and Cold
Overview |
Background |
It
can be warm during the day at the monarch's winter home in Mexico, but
at night it's as cold as the inside of your refrigerator. This
is surprising! Why do monarchs migrate long distances to overwinter
in a place that is so cold? This slideshow explores a key question:
Essential Question
What temperatures do overwintering monarchs need to survive? |
|
|
|
Lesson
Goals |
- Explore how temperature conditions affect overwintering monarchs.
- Investigate how the forest protects overwintering monarchs in Mexico.
- Discover the adaptations monarchs
have for surviving in cold temperatures.
|
Instructional Activities |
1. Introduce the Slideshow |
Examine Cover Photo
This photo may surprise students who think that monarchs migrate to a warm place for the winter. Encourage them to share their thoughts by asking:
Make Pre-reading Predictions
Before viewing the slideshow, distribute the Anticipation
Guide and have students work with a partner to predict which words fit in
the blanks.
View
the Slideshow
As a
class read through the pages of the slideshow together, stopping occasionally
to spotlight key ideas and ask questions. Encourage students to share
questions sparked by the information and images. |
Monarch in Mexico
Anticipation
Guide
|
|
2.Find
the Facts |
Distribute the Risks/Benefits
Note-taking Chart and have students find and record facts
from the text.
- What are the risks and benefits of cold temperatures?
- What are the risks and benefits of warm temps?
- What
adaptations do monarchs have to survive the cold temperatures
they experience in Mexico?
Encourage students to use their completed chart to write Discovery Statements
that summarize what they learned.
|
Note-taking Chart
|
|
3. Discuss Key Concepts |
Use Guiding
Questions to spark discussions about key concepts. Be sure to highlight questions about monarch adaptions.
Many of the monarch's adaptations to cold are behavioral adaptations: shivering, climbing, clustering, basking, migrating to Mexico.
|
Guiding
Questions
|
|
4. Explore Average Low Temperatures |
Revisit the line graph from the slideshow that shows the average low temperatures at the overwintering sites. Use
the Questions for Analysis to help students explore the data. Challenge
students to write Discovery Statements to summarize what they
learned from this temperature graph.
- Collect and analyze current temperature data:
|
Line
Graph
|
|
5.
Describe How Forest Protects Monarchs |
Dr.
Lincoln Brower says the monarch's forest is like an umbrella and
a blanket. Analogies help us understand new things because they
draw upon our past experiences. This journal page has students
use analogies to describe how the forest protects monarch butterflies.
|
Journal
Page
|
|
6. Write Your Own Fact Book |
Make your own booklet using information you learned
about monarchs, temperature and survival. The blank fact book has photos, headings, and space for students to write their
own text.
|
Blank
Book
|
|
|