For Immediate Release: 02.12.10
A Grade 1 teacher at Wembley Public School will soon travel to Michoacan, Mexico where the eastern population of monarch butterflies spends the winter. Nancy Shelsted will attend a conference and participate in a butterfly sanctuary tour from February 13 to 20, 2010, thanks to the Monarch Teacher Network and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. While she’s away, she’ll be emailing her students as part of an interactive unit on butterflies that began at the start of the school year.
“In September, my students watched the inspiring metamorphosis of these butterflies in the classroom while learning about related environmental and global issues,” she says. “In a ceremony that included families and the school community, students dressed in costumes and sang monarch songs as they released their butterflies to begin their 4,000 kilometre journey to Mexico.”
Shelsted says the migration of the monarch butterfly is one of the most amazing in the world. “The story of the monarch butterfly is a symbol for environmental and social issues in the 21st century emphasizing how we must learn to communicate and work together - across borders, across languages, and across cultures to solve increasingly connected and complex environmental issues.”
“But this migration is considered endangered,” she adds. The Grade 1 class developed a project through which they could assist monarchs by protecting their habitat. “After learning about a young girl in the mountains of Mexico, whose family is forced to cut and sell a butterfly roosting tree for money for food, the students wanted to do more to help ensure the successful return of the butterflies this spring,” she says.
With the help of their teacher, they baked and sold tortilla butterfly cookies to support a classroom of students in Michoacan. They raised $140 to purchase much-needed educational supplies and created a bilingual book (English/Spanish) to share their messages of conservation with Mexican students. Shelsted will deliver these items to children when she spends a day sharing activities at a Mexican school.
In researching monarch butterflies, the students learned many fascinating facts. During the summer months, monarch butterflies are found across many Canadian provinces and the U.S. Their caterpillars feed only on common milkweed, a native roadside plant. With the longer nights and cooler temperatures of September, adult monarchs begin their journey to Mexico, making this the longest migration of any insect in the world.
These monarchs overwinter at high elevations in the mountains west of Mexico City. Millions of monarchs cluster on oyamel trees waiting for the milkweed populations to return to North America. In the spring, their great-grandchildren return to complete the annual cycle.
“The monarch migration is considered endangered because of the many threats these insects face,” says Shelsted. Pesticide use across North America kills monarchs and the plants they depend upon while legal and illegal logging in the Mexican mountains also threatens their habitat.
“Urban sprawl and global warming also take their toll along their migration route. The number of monarchs returning to Canada each year depends on the success of this migration,” she adds.
Shelsted says the butterfly project has given her Grade 1 students a dynamic learning opportunity in science and sustainability, with links to literacy and character development. “Our project will culminate this spring when we watch with delight as the monarch butterflies return to our community,” she says.
-30-
Media Contact:
Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor,
Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning,
Rainbow District School Board, 674-3171, ext. 7217.
Monarch butterflies provide dynamic learning experience for Grade 1 students
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A Grade 1 teacher at Wembley Public School will soon travel to Michoacan, Mexico where the eastern population of monarch butterflies spends the winter. Nancy Shelsted will attend a conference and participate in a butterfly sanctuary tour from February 13 to 20, 2010, thanks to the Monarch Teacher Network and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. While she’s away, she’ll be emailing her students as part of an interactive unit on butterflies that began at the start of the school year.
“In September, my students watched the inspiring metamorphosis of these butterflies in the classroom while learning about related environmental and global issues,” she says. “In a ceremony that included families and the school community, students dressed in costumes and sang monarch songs as they released their butterflies to begin their 4,000 kilometre journey to Mexico.”
Shelsted says the migration of the monarch butterfly is one of the most amazing in the world. “The story of the monarch butterfly is a symbol for environmental and social issues in the 21st century emphasizing how we must learn to communicate and work together - across borders, across languages, and across cultures to solve increasingly connected and complex environmental issues.”
“But this migration is considered endangered,” she adds. The Grade 1 class developed a project through which they could assist monarchs by protecting their habitat. “After learning about a young girl in the mountains of Mexico, whose family is forced to cut and sell a butterfly roosting tree for money for food, the students wanted to do more to help ensure the successful return of the butterflies this spring,” she says.
With the help of their teacher, they baked and sold tortilla butterfly cookies to support a classroom of students in Michoacan. They raised $140 to purchase much-needed educational supplies and created a bilingual book (English/Spanish) to share their messages of conservation with Mexican students. Shelsted will deliver these items to children when she spends a day sharing activities at a Mexican school.
In researching monarch butterflies, the students learned many fascinating facts. During the summer months, monarch butterflies are found across many Canadian provinces and the U.S. Their caterpillars feed only on common milkweed, a native roadside plant. With the longer nights and cooler temperatures of September, adult monarchs begin their journey to Mexico, making this the longest migration of any insect in the world.
These monarchs overwinter at high elevations in the mountains west of Mexico City. Millions of monarchs cluster on oyamel trees waiting for the milkweed populations to return to North America. In the spring, their great-grandchildren return to complete the annual cycle.
“The monarch migration is considered endangered because of the many threats these insects face,” says Shelsted. Pesticide use across North America kills monarchs and the plants they depend upon while legal and illegal logging in the Mexican mountains also threatens their habitat.
“Urban sprawl and global warming also take their toll along their migration route. The number of monarchs returning to Canada each year depends on the success of this migration,” she adds.
Shelsted says the butterfly project has given her Grade 1 students a dynamic learning opportunity in science and sustainability, with links to literacy and character development. “Our project will culminate this spring when we watch with delight as the monarch butterflies return to our community,” she says.
-30-
Media Contact:
Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor,
Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning,
Rainbow District School Board, 674-3171, ext. 7217.
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