The start of the fall semester is a great time to explore monarch conservation in the classroom! With the fall migration underway, there’s a plethora of opportunities to instill environmental education into everyday learning. Below are a few ideas for monarch-based classroom activities:
Symbolic Monarch Migration
The Symbolic Monarch Migration project is a great opportunity to bring monarch butterflies into writing, geography, and language lessons. This program connects classrooms across the US and Canada to those located near the overwintering sites in Mexico. During the fall, students living in the monarch’s summer breeding range decorate paper monarch butterflies and write introductory letters. These letters then travel to students living near the overwintering sites. The following spring, students in Mexico decorate their own butterflies and letters which are then sent northward, creating a symbolic migration following the flight path of monarchs.
This program provides a unique opportunity to learn about the monarchs’ yearly migration, explore different cultures, and build international connections, all while strengthening reading and writing skills. This can also be good practice for Spanish classes, giving your students the chance to read and write in Spanish!
This incredible program has been used in over 2,000 classrooms across North America, and they are always looking for more schools to join. Information about registering can be found on the Monarchs Across Georgia website. Sign up by October 10th, to participate in this year’s exchange!
Pasta Lifecycle
For a fun way to connect art and biology, try out this monarch butterfly pasta lifecycle craft! This simple and creative activity can help students learn about the metamorphic lifecycle of monarchs and other butterflies. All you need is a few different pasta shapes, some paper plates, glue, and coloring materials.
This craft is a great way to get students involved as they learn about the different life stages of butterflies. From egg to caterpillar, chrysalis to butterfly, students can explore the resources each stage requires and the metamorphic process all while working on a fun craft to take home.
School Pollinator Gardens
One of the best ways to integrate monarch conservation with learning is by creating a school pollinator garden. While this might seem like a big endeavor, it doesn’t have to be. The nice thing about monarch butterflies is that they can benefit from any size habitat. So, whether your pollinator project is a schoolwide garden or a few potted milkweed plants, monarchs can benefit from your efforts, and students can gain valuable hands-on learning.
The great thing about school gardens is that there are so many different aspects of school that can be incorporated into this outdoor learning. Expand your math lessons by tracking plant growth, measuring plant height in different units, counting pollinator abundance, and estimating the percentage of plants that survive throughout the school year. Science-based activities abound in school gardens: from learning plant and insect identification to lessons in photosynthesis, learning about the role of pollinators and garden food webs, and even experiments exploring the scientific method. Students can ask: which plants attract the most pollinators, or does flower color affect pollinator abundance?
There are also numerous writing opportunities with school gardens. You could have your students keep a garden journal or a scientific notebook. You could even do a creative writing project where students write poems, short stories, or songs about the garden. And of course, artistic projects are a great way to explore monarchs and other pollinators. Students can draw or paint pictures of the plants and insects they find. You could have a photography contest or create a mural or art wall next to the garden.
When it comes to establishing a school garden, there are many resources to help cover the cost of installation. Monarch Watch provides free milkweed plants for many schools across the country, and Monarch Joint Venture (MJV) provides a list of grants teachers can apply for to help offset the cost of establishing a garden. For guidelines to help you start your garden, including design, site prep, planting, and maintenance, check out MJV’s schoolyard butterfly gardens document.
There are so many ways to incorporate hands-on learning in the classroom when it comes to monarchs and pollinators. As we begin our fall semesters, I hope you’ll think outside the box, try out a few of these active learning opportunities, and have fun exploring the world of pollinators!