Ideas for teaching the migration of Monarch butterflies with reading comprehension and science writing in upper elementary grades.
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It’s truly an amazing thing to be looking at a chrysalis one day, and the next day see a Monarch butterfly emerge. Have you ever had the opportunity to do a Monarch butterfly project in your class?
One year, one of my students brought in a Monarch butterfly chrysalis she and her grandmother had found in her backyard. My class was full of joy and wonder as we learned about this beautiful creature. We were publishing a school newspaper at the time, so we reported on the metamorphosis from egg to Monarch butterfly.
Watching the Monarch Butterfly Emerge
We were lucky enough to be in the right place at the exactly right moment. The chrysalis had been in our room for several days. It was in the back of the classroom next to the door. We were lining up to go to lunch when a student shouted,
“The butterfly is coming out of its chrysalis!”
Of course, we all crowded around to watch the process. The butterfly emerged, wings wrinkled and wet and folded. It slowly began moving and stretching its wings. This took a bit of time, so we left to go to lunch. This momentous event caused great consternation on the part of the cafeteria workers.
After lunch, we had an impromptu science activity as we took the Monarch butterfly outside to release it in a field full of milkweed. After that, we came back to write and draw what we had all just experienced.
Let me tell you, my friends, (and you already know this,) students remember experiences and the feelings associated with them. They don’t remember the details of the lessons. They remember what they felt when they had an experience in your class.
This Monarch butterfly experience is one they’ll probably remember for many years.
I want to share this joy and wonder with you. That’s why I created a Monarch butterfly resource for you and your students. It’s a perfect study topic for spring.
But this topic is also timely in the fall. This is because in the spring, the butterflies are migrating north, and in the fall, they’re migrating south back to Mexico.
Did you know they arrive in the butterfly preserve in Mexico each year during the Día de los Muertos celebrations? How cool is that?
National Monarch Butterfly Days
Mark your calendar for these two important Monarch butterfly days!
National Western Monarch Day is in February each year. It celebrates the butterflies that overwinter and migrate through California on their route to and from Mexico.
National Start Seeing Monarchs Day is held on the first Saturday in May. It’s to raise awareness of the Monarch butterflies, and to encourage people to plant butterfly friendly native plants, such as milkweed. This will serve as food for the butterflies on their migratory path. Milkweed is the only plant the Monarch butterflies can lay their eggs on that provides proper nutrition for the larvae.
Wouldn’t this be a great day to have an outing and have your students chart how many Monarch butterflies they see? If you decide to post about it, use the hashtag #StartSeeingMonarchsDay. Others on social media will see your posts, and together, we can raise awareness.
When people count and chart the Monarchs, it helps scientists to track the growth or decline of the butterfly population. You can report sightings to Journey North. They also have free educator resources for reading, vocabulary, and inquiry. The Journey North News is free and is an example of a nonfiction mentor text you can use to teach writing about the butterflies.
Read Learn and Write About Monarch Butterflies
In the Migration of Monarch Butterflies resource, you get an original six-page nonfiction text to read with your students. It’s written and fact checked by me, not ChatGPT. You can choose to have them read it on their own. The passage is written at levels appropriate for students in grades 3, 4, and 5. Many images and diagrams are included, from actual photos.
In addition, you get an annotation guide to aid you in teaching your students how to annotate as they read. They can do it digitally or on paper with pens and highlighters. As students read and reread with annotation marks, their comprehension soars.
Vocabulary and Comprehension Activities
Next, you get six Tier 1 and Tier 2 vocabulary words related to the migration of Monarch butterflies. Remember, Tier 1 words are words we use in everyday language, but they might have multiple meanings or shades of meaning. Tier 2 words are vocabulary words related to the topic. Tier 2 words may include academic vocabulary.
Words to learn in this resource are chrysalis, larva, migration, overwinter, predator, and pupa. One page includes the definitions. There are also two pages with the words in word wall size. There are two vocabulary activities, plus a vocabulary practice page you can use to include more words you choose.
You also get two pages of comprehension questions. One is multiple choice, and the other is short response. Of course, all the answer keys to the vocabulary activities and the comprehension questions are included for you.
You get an extra activity to enhance the learning. It’s a life cycle activity, in which students need to match the four stages of the butterfly life cycle in correct order.
Before doing it, you might want to share this video from Headspace that shows the metamorphosis in rapid sequence with beautiful videography.
As always, you get writing pages with summary instructions and sentence stems, and a graphic organizer. When using a graphic organizer, remember it’s all about you teaching the strategies more than which organizer you choose to use.
As you can see, the resource is full of activities for comprehension, vocabulary, and writing.
Writing About the Migration of Monarch Butterflies
With the reading passage, the vocabulary, the writing papers, graphic organizers, and rubrics, you have everything you need to have a week-long lesson plan about the migration of Monarch butterflies. But you don’t have to use all of it at once. You can pick and choose what you use. If you only have one day, just do the reading and comprehension.
Migration of Monarch Butterflies is part of the Read Learn Write product line. They’re created with the same format as the Sweet History and California History products.
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