Raising and Releasing Monarch Butterflies

Students in Mr. Bob Szuszkowski's fifth grade class at Ironia School in Randolph studied the lifecycle of Monarch butterflies and watched Monarch caterpillars hatch from their eggs this fall. They saw the caterpillars pupate and then emerge from their pupas as adult Monarch butterflies. Miss Dio's fifth graders and Mrs. Smallwood's second graders also raised their own Monarchs. The students tagged the Monarchs and then released them on Friday, September 21 and Monday, September 24, 2007. All third and fifth graders and Mrs. Smallwood's second graders participated in the release.

Following the release, the students will track Monarch migration patterns on the internet, as the butterflies make their annual fall migration to the mountains west of Mexico City, Mexico. The monarch tracking will be done in conjunction with the Monarch Watch Program of the University of Kansas and the website Journeynorth.org. If and when Randolph-tagged Monarchs are found, Mr. Szuszkowski will be notified and the students will receive certificates stating where and by whom.

The students will also participate in a symbolic migration, joining other children from the US and Canada in creating their own original Monarch butterflies to send to children who live beside the Monarch sanctuaries in Mexico. The paper butterflies arrive in Mexico around November 2, the Dia de los Muertos, just as the real monarchs do. According to Mexican legend, these returning butterflies are thought to carry the ancestors' souls and play a role in the Dia de los Muertos celebrations. Mexican students from the sanctuary region greet the butterflies and watch over them during the winter months.

In the mountains nearby, the entire eastern population of North American Monarch butterflies rests in Mexico for the winter. In March, when the real Monarchs' departure from Mexico is announced, the paper butterflies will return, carrying a special message from the Mexican students to the Ironia students.

Fifth grade teacher Bob Szuszkowski, a member of the Monarch Teacher Network of the EIRC (Educational Information Resource Center) in Sewell, New Jersey, spent his summer raising and breeding Monarch butterflies. Mr. Szuszkowski is part of a growing number of teachers who use monarchs as an interdisciplinary tool to teach science, social studies, language arts and technology.

During the summer, monarchs are found across the US, ranging as far north as the southern Provinces of Canada. Their caterpillars feed on Common Milkweed, a native roadside plant, which has been eradicated through the use of chemicals, as well as through overdevelopment, putting the monarch and its famous transcontinental migration at risk of extinction. With the longer nights and cooler temperatures of September, adult monarchs begin a 2,000 mile journey to Mexico, the longest migration of any insect in the world. They over-winter at high elevations in the mountains west of Mexico City. In the spring, their great-grandchildren return north to complete the annual cycle.