NCCL in the News
Monarch Butterfly Project
We hope you were able to see the metamorphosis of our Monarch butterflies as they changed from hungry caterpillars to
iridescent chrysalides to beautiful butterflies! The students were very excited to watch the Monarchs and see how they changed
from day to day. Many parents, drawn in by their children ("Mom, come see how big the caterpillars have gotten!"), enjoyed
following the process as well.
The project began after NCCL Spanish teacher Paula learned all about Monarchs at a 3-day workshop in August that was run by the Monarch Teacher Network (MTN). The Network is sponsored by the Educational Information and Resource Center (EIRC), a New Jersey public agency.
For the past few years, the MTN has led trips to the Monarch overwintering colonies in Mexico. Workshop participants were encouraged to apply for one of these trips, so Paula pulled together documentation on NCCL's Monarch project, photos, and copies of students' work, and included it with an application. She soon received the good news that she would receive some fellowship money from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and would be going to Mexico from February 24 through March 4.
Many people here at NCCL helped make the Monarch project a success. The homeroom teachers' efforts were especially valuable. They volunteered their time, willingly joined in, and even provided additional activities and information to the program. The kids' enthusiasm and active participation made a big difference as well.
There are more Monarch-related activities planned throughout the year.
Trip report from Paula Hines, Spanish Teacher
Last August I attended a workshop through the Monarch Teacher's Workshop/EIRC to learn about the Monarch butterfly. During the course of the workshop we were all told of an opportunity to travel to Mexico to learn more and there was a possibility of grant money available. Why Mexico? Well, the butterflies overwinter there and in March start back through America and Canada. In the fall butterflies fly to the state of Michoacan in Mexico from as far north as Canada. Anyway, the applications had to be in by October and we basically needed to document everything we had done in the classroom (or in my case classrooms) up to that point with supporting photos and copies of the children's work. We could also include projects we were going to do during the course of the year. Much to my delight I was awarded grant money and went to Mexico for a week starting February 25 through March 4. I joined up with 22 other teachers from Canada and the U.S. and we toured two different butterfly sanctuaries, a local school where we visited with the teachers and children and where the teachers actually dressed up and danced regional dances for us, saw the temples of Teoutihoucan outside of Mexico City, the Shrine of the Lady of Guadelupe, Diego Rivera's murals in the palace in Mexico City, a silver mine, several small towns, the island of Janitzio where the Purepecha Indians continue to live, Alternare which is an organization that a biologist and farmers started to help teach the people who own the land the butterfly sanctuaries are on to build houses out of adobe and not wood, homeopathic medicine, and how to farm the land more effectively. My 7-8th grade class actually had a chili dinner for their parents before I left as a fundraiser for this organization and we were able to raise $160 to give to them. I delivered the money in person to Ana Guitierrez, the biologist and founder.
Every day was an amazing experience and it was just unbelievable to see, literally, millions of beautiful Monarch butterflies. Although I had seen many pictures, and knew intellectually what to expect, it's just hard to describe how magical it was. The native guide stopped and carefully picked up every butterfly, living or dead, on the path and put them in the wooded area. We all helped her out as we made our way up the mountain. She also let us know to walk up in silence so as not to disturb the butterflies.
In the second sanctuary we visited we could ride horses. That was a challenge as the stirrups were not adjusted for any of us and most of us had long legs!
The week flew by but I was ready to come back and share my photos and experiences with all the NCCL students and staff. I owe a great debt of thanks to everyone in the school for making my trip possible. The children for working so hard with their butterfly projects and being so enthusiastic as we started the year off with live caterpillars in three out of the four groups. The teachers for helping out so much and for bringing even more butterfly related topics to the class. And to the parents for encouraging the level of enthusiasm, helping out with bringing milkweed in to feed the caterpillars, and for helping so much with our fundraiser.
