I have awesome students! I teach Kindergarten through 8th grade. Every year the students raise monarch caterpillars. We then tag them to help the University of Kansas monitor their migration. My students come from all different backgrounds and skills, but they all enjoy the fall butterfly unit. Many have been concerned that the population of monarch butterflies are declining. My fifth grade wanted to plant milkweed that the caterpillars need.
These enthusiastic students thought that if they planted milkweed to attract the monarchs, they might as well create a butterfly garden. They have been researching host and nectar plants for Michigan butterflies. They are eagerly awaiting spring so that they can plant!
The students learned about the butterfly life cycle by raising monarch caterpillars. When they had adult butterflies, they tagged the butterfly and collected data on it. They were so excited when the University of Kansas sent an email saying that one of the butterflies was recovered!
The students wanted to create more habitat for monarchs and other butterflies as well. They learned to use a field guide and used other resources to find the butterflies' host and nectar plants. They were learning to work in small teams.
They learned that some seeds and bulbs need to be cold before they sprout. They want to share their new knowledge with the rest of the school by creating signs that identify the plants, so they will learn some art skills. I see that they are understanding ecology concepts and have developed a hunger to conserve or create habitat for pollinators.
In Their Own Words
We will be making a garden that the whole school will enjoy! We will help our teacher feed the monarch caterpillars she buys in the fall. They only eat one kind of plant, so we will grow its milkweed. We want other butterflies to come to our garden, too. We will help other people understand that butterflies need certain plants for their caterpillars and for nectar. We will make signs so people know the names of the plants and what butterflies can come to them.
We are being leaders by helping the kindergartners plant seeds with us. We are being leaders by making signs to teach people about the plants and butterflies. We are being leaders in our community because we are creating more habitat for monarchs and other butterflies to live. We will do this with native plants that won't need a lot of water and will come up every year, so we are saving money and protecting the environment!
We know that the monarch butterfly population is getting smaller every year. If we can plant milkweed, we will be giving them the food we need. That is the only food they eat when they are caterpillars. When they are adults, they need to drink nectar. So do other butterflies, so we want to put in plants to see if we can get different butterflies. We can also help teach about other butterflies by putting up signs in the garden we plant.
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Opolsky and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
