True Stories about Tagged Monarch Butterflies

JN for Kids page * True Stories About Tagged Monarch Butterflies Handouts * Blank Map * Handout 1 (optional) * Handout 2 (optional) Blank Map Overview: Students read true stories of tagged monarchs that have been found in ususual places. They gather details from the readings and try to make sense of the journeys. Teaching Ideas Activity As monarchs pass overhead on their way to Mexico, students may wonder, How fast do monarchs migrate? Where will the butterflies I see be in a few hours, days, or weeks? Explain that although we can't travel with butterflies, people do mark individual butterflies by putting tiny tags on the butterflies' wings. . . and sometimes find them in unusual places. Break students into groups and have each group read one of the True Stories About Tagged Monarch Butterflies that were tagged in one place and recovered (found) elswhere. They should then complete the following steps. Mark the monarch's the tagging location and recovery location on a Blank Map. Summarize what happened in their own words. Take turns sharing the stories with the rest of the class. Plot all the flights on a single map. (See this authentic example on the Monarch Watch site illustrating Dr. Urquhart's tagging data, which has many actual routes marked.) Ask, Do we notice any patterns? What questions do we have? How are the findings surprising, or different than we expected? How do they match our expectations? Summarize all of the findings in their own words. Optional Handouts: Reading for Detail Making Sense of the Story Handout 1 (Reading for detail) Handout 2 (Making sense of the story)

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