Monarchs Rule!

During the week of September 18th, 6th and 7th grade students at Craig School in Mountain Lakes, got “up close and personal” with monarch butterflies as they learned about the life cycle of this beautiful butterfly. The program was organized by a 6th grader and her mom, whose yard has been designated a “Monarch Wayside Station” through the Monarch Watch Organization. These Monarch Watch volunteers provide a milkweed garden for the egg-laying females and their caterpillars along with flowers that the adult butterflies use for nectar, and a source of fresh water. Monarch populations are on the decline due to the rapid disappearance of the milkweed plant, which is the only food source for the larvae. The farmland, meadows and roadside areas where milkweed once grew are rapidly disappearing as a result of urban sprawl.

The students learned about the larval stage by meeting Henry and Henrietta, two of the caterpillars brought to the school. Trying to match various types of insect larvae with their corresponding adult forms proved to be a challenge for the students. A jar full of mosquito ‘squigglers’ illustrated how different the larval and adult form of insects can be!

A lucky morning class watched an adult Monarch as it emerged from its chrysalis and began pumping up its soft, moist wings to dry. The young science students observed the caterpillars during the week and logged changes in their life cycle. They watched the caterpillars gradually stop feeding on the milkweed plants, crawl to the screening at the top of the tank, hang upside down and pupate into a chrysalis. Times and dates were noted as each new adult emerged from its chrysalis. The students had previously learned how to identify a butterfly’s sex by wing patterns, and were able to identify a male as the first-born, which they fittingly named "Craig". The high point of the experience was the moment when the butterflies were released to begin their long journey to winter destinations.

Students learned that a butterfly’s life is very short. The Craig butterflies were actually the fourth brood of Monarchs. The first brood had begun the trip through North America from a distant mountain forest in Mexico, or possibly as far away as Venezuela, where they had gathered to spend the winter. This first brood mated and laid eggs in early summer. By the time the butterflies reached New Jersey, they belonged to the third brood to have hatched since the start of the journey north.

Students came away from this experience with an understanding of insect life cycles, a new appreciation for the preservation of animal habitats, and the value of a pesticide free environment. Some students are planning to begin milkweed gardens of their own with the seeds they found while dissecting the milkweed pods. All, however, will smile when they see a monarch flying among their flowers next summer, wondering if it is a great-great grandchild of “Craig”.