Format
1. Using images and videos, we introduce the monarch butterfly.
2. Students use their own individual maps to track the monarch butterfly's migration progress as it is impacted by various obstacles; along the way, they are introduced to the butterfly life cycle and other related concepts.
3. We discuss national initiatives and local citizen science efforts to support butterfly and other pollinator habitat to empower students to get involved.
Objectives
GOAL(S):
1. Students will understand the magnitude of and the challenges faced during a monarch butterfly’s migration.
2. Students will discover steps they can take to support monarch (and other invertebrates’) conservation.
OBJECTIVES:
•(I THINK) I can understand the monarch butterfly’s migration and life cycle patterns.
•(I FEEL) I can appreciate the challenges monarchs (and other invertebrates) face.
•(I DO) I can take steps to support the migration of monarchs and the survival of other native species at my home or school.
Standards Alignment
National Standards
Next Generation Science Standards
3rd Grade
•3-LS1-1 Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
4th Grade
•4-LS1-1 Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
5th Grade
•5-LS2-1 Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.
6th Grade
•MS-LS2-4 Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations.
•MS-LS2-2 Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems.
•MS-LS1-5 Construct a scientific explanation based on evidence for how environmental and genetic factors influence the growth of organisms.
State Standards
Colorado Science Curriculum Standards
•SC09-GR.3-S.2-GLE.1 - The duration and timing of life cycle events such as reproduction and longevity vary across organisms and species.
•SC09-GR.4-S.2-GLE.3 - There is interaction and interdependence between and among living and nonliving components of ecosystems.
•SC09-GR.5-S.2-GLE.1 - All organisms have structures and systems with separate functions.
•SC09-GR.6-S.2-GLE.1 - Changes in environmental conditions can affect the survival of individual organisms, populations, and entire species.