All of McGuffey’s science classes, as well as the preschool, have been raising monarch butterflies since the start of school. We’ve been observing them as they grow from tiny caterpillars into much bigger caterpillars, and been amazed by how much milkweed they eat!
Each year, we participate in Monarch Watch’s tagging program, which tracks the monarch migration south to Mexico each winter. Our first batch of chrysalises emerged as butterflies last week, which were tagged and released. They will make a 2,100 mile journey to a tiny patch of fir trees in the mountains of Mexico, where they will spend the winter. We’ll continue to tag and release our butterflies as they emerge.
As part of their monarch study, Heidi’s fifth and sixth grade classes will be creating and producing booklets about the monarch life cycle. They will distribute these booklets at the Oxford Uptown Farmer’s Market, where McGuffey runs the Monarch Booth on Saturdays. We will be there from 9:00am to 11:30am, offering everyone a chance to hold caterpillars, feed butterflies, and learn how to help conserve monarch habitat and protect the monarch migration.
Here are some short videos (with amazing close-ups) of the journey from monarch egg to monarch butterfly:
