A Very Important Journey

Last Friday, an already exciting day because it was Field Day, became a great deal more exciting to our first graders when the first monarch butterfly hatched.  The students were brimming over with delight to meet the brand new female butterfly when they arrived at school.  She was just pumping life into her wings, ready to begin the final stage of a life cycle that brought joy and wonder to our classes.  What a magical transformation to go from a speck of a caterpillar, to a great big caterpillar, to a j-stage and then change into a beautiful, glassy green chrysalis speckled with bits of gold.  But Friday's change was the most spectacular of all.  A velvety, black and orange monarch was mesmerizing!

Later in the morning, the children burst from their seats when someone noticed that she had taken her first flight across her netted home, screaming, "She's flying, she's flying!!!" Several students started thinking up names that they thought would be fitting, 'Miss Flutter' being one of them.  That afternoon, our newly hatched monarch and the remaining chrysalises were moved into a large netted house filled with flowers, water and an orange slice for the long weekend.

What a thrill to return Tuesday morning to find ten monarch butterflies!! The students loved watching their graceful flights and seeing them sip nectar and resting quietly on the netting. A new set of observational drawings and writing brought our study up to date.  But now we had to plan for their release and it was with mixed emotions Wednesday afternoon that the students bid their winged friends good-bye.

The first graders each made a special wish for the monarchs out near the rain garden where students from years past joined in our farewell, remembering this experience from their first grade days.  Then the door was opened and one by one the monarchs took to the air to make their monumental journey south to Mexico where they will over winter until their spring migration north.  One monarch was not in any hurry and landed on a few of the students before fluttering away while yet another fueled up on some goldenrod nectar before departing.

We will continue to monitor the migration on Journey North as we explore their final destination, work on our maps and our book and hold fast to the wish that our monarchs will have a safe journey all they way to Mexico!

Personalize your own free picture slideshow