 |
 |
 |
Monarch Project 2007-2008
What is the Monarch project? We kicked off the year by examining the life cycle of Monarch butterflies by raising them in the classroom, while following, observing and recording each stage of the metamorphosis from a microscopic egg, through the larval, pupal and finally butterfly stages of life. During the months of September and October we tagged and released 403 Monarch butterflies in conjunction with the University of Kansas Etymology Department's Monarch tagging program. We will also follow the trans-continental migration via the web as the Monarchs leave their summer homes way up in the northern Provinces of Canada, migrate down along the east coast through New Jersey on their way to their final overwintering sites in the Monarch Sanctuaries of Sierra Chincua, El Rosario and Pelon, high up in the Trans-Volcanic range in the central Mexican State of Michoacan. 2007 Fall Monarch Migration Check Out Pictures From Our Monarch Project 
A seasonal affair Ironia students tag, free Monarch butterflies By P.C.ROBINSON, Editor
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 11:35 PM EDT | 
| Ironia teacher Robert Szuszkowski looks for a willing student to take a Monarch. Photo by P.C. Robinson | | | RANDOLPH TWP. – Ironia School butterfly expert and international traveler Robert Szuszkowski was at it again on Friday.
“Mr. S,” as the fifth-grade science teacher is known, invited members of the school’s third and fifth-grade classes to help release some of the 360 Monarch butterflies his class raised throughout the year.
The freed butterflies will, if they survive, make the long journey to Mexico, where they will winter and hopefully return to the U.S. next spring.
The release followed a Szuszkowski lecture and photo presentation on the trip he took to Mexico last winter as part of the international Monarch Teachers Network. The trip was funded through a Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation grant.
On Friday, Szuszkowski demonstrated how the Monarchs are tagged for research before they are released. The group also keeps a pen-pal relationship with students in Mexico, and children write each other and provide symbolic paper Monarchs as a gesture or good will. Szuszkowski, who also helped tagged Monarchs in Cape May on Saturday, plans to return to Mexico next year. |
 Ironia third grader Kate Humphries displays a free Monarch butterfly. Photo by P.C. Robinson |
Monarch Farewell 
Ironia Elementary School fifth-grader Brandon Lopez of Randolph cringes as teacher Kate Dio places a Monarch butterfly on his nose on Friday, Sept. 21. Fifth and third grade students helped release some of 360 butterflies students raised during the year as part of an international Monarch migration project.
Photo by P.C. Robinson
Mr. Szuszkowski's 5th Grade
|
 |
