Date: 10/11/2007

Number: 1

Our third grade students raise monarch caterpillars in our classroom each fall. We intergrated our state standards into the instruction. It fits into our life sciences as we study the life cycle first hand. We were extrememly fortunate this year to be in the classroom to see each of the stages as they developed! We saw the hanging caterpillar molt and turn into the chrysalis. When the chrysalis turned clear and the butterfly was ready to emerge, I had children take turns sitting by it to be on "Butterfly Watch." We were able to hear the CRACK of the chrysalis while everyone was at independent reading time and were able to see the whole process of it emerging! We measured the growth of the caterpillars with centimeter strips and kept track of it using tables and graphs. We wrote about our caterpillars daily and improved on our writing skills through modeling of good pieces of writing. I gathered a basket of non-fiction books and let the children do their own research after doing a KWL chart with them encorporating reading. All of this was started on the second day of school. What a great "hook" to get children intrested in coming back to school! A wonderful book I found to read to the class was Isabel's House of Butterflies by Tony Johnston. It tells about a family in Mexico who must make a decision about whether or not to cut down their tree where the monarchs roost because the family needs the money they would get from the wood. Isabel comes up with an alternate plan to save the tree...and helps with the family finaces. Our paper monarchs thanked the Mexican people for taking care of the real monarchs all winter and told of how our school has planted a flower garden to help support the monarchs once they return. We love the Journey North web site and all is has to offer us!

Ashtabula, OH

Latitude: 41.9 Longitude: -80.8

Observed by: Mary
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