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ABOUT OUR YEARLONG
MONARCH PROJECT:
From the fall migration to their return in the spring we follow the
monarch butterflies incredible journey.
In cooperation
with other schools across the USA , Canada and Mexico we celebrate this remarkable species through our participation
in the The Monarch Teachers Network, Symbolic Migration and The Journey North program .
We incorporate
learning activities and experiences from across the curriculum. It is a thread woven throughout the school year.This
project was first implemented several years ago with a mini a grant from the Bergen Community College Center for the
Study of Intercultural Understanding.
FALL:
The children ( and teachers!) have been raising Monarch Butterflies all summer. We are tagging some of our butterflies for the journey south! The children create and send symbolic paper butterflies to Mexico to correspond to
the real migration of monarch butterflies in October (Up to 100 million monarch butterflies migrate each year!)
We also
work in our gardens and plant flowers attractive to monarchs and other butterflies . We created a monarch habitat and watch for their visit.( Our garden is now a registered Monarch Waystation! #675 )We observe their behavior and learn about the migration of this amazing creature.
As we say Adios to
the season's last butterfly we will celebrate with a Monarch Festival and Parade.
Click Here to help scientists track the fall migration to Mexico.
They
can't do it without our help!
WINTER:
As the monarchs
rest in huge clusters in the mountains of Mexico, the children learn about life in and around the Butterfly Sanctuary Region.We will write to the children of Mexico who receive and care for
our paper butterflies and we will receive letters from them in return. In February, Miss Hope may travel with the Monarch Teacher Network to visit the schools and butterfly sanctuaries. ( See my blogs from past trips below) Our class will create
bilingual books that I will bring to the children at the school I visit.
(Anyone who can
speak and read Spanish is welcome to help us translate our letters and text for the books!)
In March,we
will be helping to keep the magic of the migration alive by holding a bake sale to support the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary Foundation and Alternare
We also
participate in the Monarch Teachers Network Quilt Project
"All
peoples of the world are stitched together into one glorious quilt." Malagasy proverb
SPRING:
The
children prepare our garden for the arrival of butterflies. (Monarch butterflies would rarely make it all
the way back from Mexico. They will mate
and lay eggs along the way and it is their offspring that return to us.)
The children
plant and cultivate the butterfly garden . Monarch Butterflies will only lay eggs on Milkweed plants.. so we make sure that we have lots and lots of Milkweed in our gardens!
In May symbolic
paper butterflies return to us from Mexico!
They represent
the work of children all across the USA.
We write to them to let them know that their butterflies arrived safely...And so the circle of friendship continues!
SUMMER:
The children experience
the life cycle of the Monarch Butterfly as we raise and release them into our garden.
As a conclusion to our project and our school year, we participate in Children's Day and the Milagros Project.
The BCCCDC was
proud to host the Monarch Teacher Network workshop in August 2007 and look forward to hosting them again .
And in the Fall the project
will begin again............
"When one tugs at a single
thing in nature..he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
~John Muir
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