Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About the Symbolic Migration   Q. I have a question about getting started.... Please stop and read the simple instructions before asking any question. See Overview: How to Participate. We have noticed that 99% of all questions are already answered in the instructions! Q: I am looking for the internet address for how to participate in the symbolic migration. Information about the coming Fall's Symbolic Migration are available July each year. Watch the Symbolic Migration home page for the latest news and instructions. Q. If I am already registered, do I need to register seperately for the Symbolic Migration? No! Once you have registered for Journey North, you are in our database for ALL Journey North activities. If not, go here to register for Journey North: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/reg/index.html Q. What is the timeline for this project? For all information about this project see the Timeline. Q. I am not a classroom teacher, can I participate in the Symbolic Migration? Yes, many organizations in addition to schools participate (examples include 4-H, Scouts, homeschools, nature clubs and church groups). Q. Why do our butterflies need to be a quarter of a page-size or smaller? Beautiful buterflies can be made small. Smaller butterflies conserve resources. They pack easier and are more economical to send (migrate) to Mexico. Q. Can we send butterflies made out of recycled plastic and “found” materials? The butterflies must be made entirely from paper. They must be flat, not 3 dimensional, and have no 3D decorations and no glitter. We encourage you to use recycled paper! Q. Why do you require typed rather than handwritten messages? Handwriting, especially by children, can be impossible to read. This is why typing is so important. A child in Mexico cannot not write back if your address isn't clear and formatted correctly. They can't read your message if it's not clearly written. Q. Why is it so important to write our messages in Spanish? Your butterflies will travel to a region where very few people speak English. People in the U.S. and Canada have much better access to translation resources, so please translate on this end. Q. Why do we have to put our mailing address on every butterfly? Your class butterflies will be mixed with thousands of other butterflies. Q. Where on the butterfly should our mailing addresses go? A. Put your mailing address in a clear place. (Mailing labels work perfectly.) Here's why: Mexican students will copy your address, including its format, exactly. Therefore, use the EXACT format needed to mail a letter, like this: First Name School Name Street Town, State/Province, Zip/Postal Code Do NOT write your address in a single line or as part of a sentence or they will not recognize it as an address. Q. We are a small homeschool. Can we send just a couple of butterflies in the cluster packet? A. Yes. Even if you have only 1 or 2 paper butterflies (with messages of goodwill in Spanish) be sure to include the Spanish booklet as a gift to the child in Mexico who cares for your packet over the winter. Description of the Fall Mailing Envelope Q: Where do we send our paper butterflies? ADDRESS FOR 2009: Journey North 19130 Highland Ave. Wayzata, MN 55391 Q. Is it OK to send FedEx? Yes. Q. I do not understand why we must have 10" x 13" envelopes for the Butterfly Cluster Packet. If you use a smaller envelope, your butterflies might get damaged. In addition to a Cluster Packet of butterflies we add a newsletter and tagged butterflies. The 10"X13" size envelope ensures your butterflies will not be crumpled. Q. How much postage do we put on our Spring envelope? Your Spring envelope will be mailed to you from Journey North headquarters in Minnesota. ** Therefore, make sure it has exactly $2.00 postage (stamps only) affixed for the return trip from MN. Canadian Mail: Choices are: $2.25 Canadian postage, $2.25 US postage, or 3 International Reply Coupons (IRC) Q: Can we mail our butterflies directly to Mexico since we are going to miss the deadline? No, you cannot mail your butterflies directly to Mexico. Please understand and respect our need to stick to the deadlines--it would be impossible for us to manage this project otherwise. Every year we receive several requests from individuals to accept their butterflies late. These kinds of requests make it difficult to coordinate the project overall. SPRING Q. I sent 15 butterflies and only got 13 back. Journey North cannot guarantee that each student will receive a butterfly back in the spring. In past years, even with our greatest efforts, the return rate has been approximately 80-90%. We recommend teachers help students see this as a class project, rather than as an individual "pen-pal" exchange. Use these lessons to help reinforce the spirit and objectives of the Symbolic Monarch Migration. Q: Do we get our own butterflies back? A: No. You receive a cluster of butterflies made by children across the US and Canada in the spring. Q: Why are the butterflies we received this spring made by students in the United States and Canada? A: This is intentional. The Symbolic Migration is parallel to the actual migration. The monarchs begin their migration in the U.S. and Canada, go to Mexico. In the Spring they return to all parts of North America. Q. What happens to our Monarch Cluster Packet? One student in Mexico will receive and display your colorful cluster packet in their classroom this winter. In the spring the cluster packets are randomly returned and contain a mixture of butterflies. The spring newsletter inserted with the butterflies will explain the process. OTHER Q: I'm trying to share the video you posted of the paper monarchs ariving for the symbolic migration with my students. Can you help? I believe you need to copy and paste the URL, and put that in your "Windows Media Player". Open Windows Media Player Go to "File -> Open URL" Paste the URL that you copied in the box. For more technical tips >>   This Season Teachers Kids Orientation Registration Search Copyright 1997-2009 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Questions or comments? Contact us.