In these lessons, students observe and describe stages of the monarch life cycle (egg, larva, chrysalis, and adult butterfly). They describe transitions between the stages, that is, hatching, molting, chrysalis formation and eclosion (butterfly emergence). Students are encouraged to record changes in appearance and behavior within the life cycle stages. They make drawings and write descriptions of these transitions.

To learn about migration and geographic distribution of summer and overwintering generations of monarchs, students read a newsletter, International Traveler.

• Lesson 1 .Students' observations and records of change throughout the life cycle ( Observing External Anatomy and Behavior ) are used to create new displays showing features of the life cycle. For example, timing of each life cycle stage can be represented and compared across individuals. Or, the duration of each life cycle stage can be represented as part of the whole.
  
• Lesson 2 . Students read the newsletter International Traveler, and/or use web sites from Monarch Lab, Monarch Watch, or Journey North to learn about monarch m igration and annual life history. This can be supplemented with map studies that include host plant distribution and seasonal changes in host plant availability. The migration records from Monarch Watch (tags recovered) is another useful source of information for these lessons.

While children often know basic insect life cycle stages (egg, larva, pupa, adult), they may have had limited experience with observing these stages in living organisms. Here they learn more detail about changes within the stages, such as molting and growth of larval instars . They note major transitions such as chrysalis formation and adult emergence from the chrysalis.

While children may know that monarch butterflies migrate, they learn here how the movement of successive generations of monarchs follows seasonal cues and available food sources. They also learn what is known about the geographic distribution of monarchs as well as the difference between activities of the summer generations and the over -wintering colonies.