Note: This activity should be done after you send your butterfly to Mexico.
1. Put Your Class on the Map
Show your place in the international monarch community by posting to Journey North's Symbolic Migration map. Help students share ideas for international cooperation and stewardship of monarch habitat. Introduce your class and share messages of goodwill. Help students draft the class message by discussing these questions:
- How is monarch habitat in our region important?
- What can we do for habitat stewardship?
- How can people across North America cooperate to protect monarchs and their habitat?
Please write in English and Spanish, if you can! Your school will appear on the map to show your place in the international community united by monarch butterflies. Children everywhere can meet and communicate with you.
Suggestion: Include a Picture
Journey North's new database now lets you upload photos. Share a picture of the ambassador butterfly you created.
2. Explore Maps of the Monarch's World
Help students understand these key concepts as you view and discuss the maps:
- Monarchs fly freely between Canada, the United States, and Mexico on their annual migrations.
- Monarch butterflies are a shared resource. No country or person "owns" the monarchs.
- All North American neighbors share responsibility for protecting monarch habitat.
- Monarchs depend on cooperation between us all. Each person, town, state, province, and country can be important in preserving the monarch's magnificent migration.
3. Meet Members of the Monarch Community
Communicate with other classrooms, find partner schools, and share ideas and friendship. Visit the map often, to see when and where new people join the community.