The Magical Monarch Butterfly

 

By Kelli Bates

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  • Coach's Corner

    3

  • Anticipation Guide

    4

  • Magical Metamorphosis

    5

  • Excellent Egg

    6

  • Crunching Caterpillar

    7

  • Mighty Milkweed

    8

  • Leaving Larva

    9

  • Perfect Pupa

    10

  • Monarch Migration

    11

  • Mysterious Monarchs

    13

  • Musical Monarchs

    14

  • Retelling

    15

  • Anticipation Guide Answers

    16
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Coach's Corner

This book includes helpful coaches.  Pedro will help with word learning.  Hali will help you with comprehension.  Monty will teach you fun facts.

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Anticipation Guide

The entire lifecycle of the monarch butterfly takes 90 days.                   TRUE   or   FALSE

A monarch egg is the size of the tip of your pencil.    TRUE   or   FALSE

A monarch caterpillar will eat any leaf it finds.    TRUE   or   FALSE

Monarch butterflies migrate 1,000 miles.   TRUE   or   FALSE

After migration, monarch butterflies return to the same tree their ancestors rested on.              TRUE   or   FALSE

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Photo by Kelli Bates
Metamorphosis of a monarch butterfly

Magical Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis  is the process of changes that some animals go through to become adults.  There are four stages of the monarch butterfly's metamorphosis:  egg, larva, pupa, and adult.  The entire process takes about thirty days.

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Monarch butterfly egg on a milkweed leaf.

Excellent Egg

An adult monarch butterfly lays an egg on a milkweed plant.  It is very sticky, so it does not fall off in wind and rain. The egg is about the size of the tip of your pencil!  After about four days, the egg hatches.  

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Monarch butterfly larva on milkweed plant.

Crunching Caterpillar

What emerges from the egg?  A larva or caterpillar that is smaller than a pencil eraser!  Its first meal is the egg case it grew in. Then the caterpillar begins eating milkweed.  An adult butterfly lays its eggs on milkweed plants, so caterpillars can begin eating milkweed immediately.  A caterpillar's only job is to eat milkweed and grow.  Each time the caterpillar grows it sheds its skin, which is called molting.  A caterpillar will molt five times in two weeks.

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Tropical milkweed garden outside Lawrence, Kansas Public Library

Mighty Milkweed

Milkweed  is a special plant that has a chemical which makes monarch caterpillars and butterflies poisonous to its predators.  This is an adaptation of the monarch that helps keep it safe. If you ever find a monarch caterpillar to raise inside, make sure you give it lots and lots of milkweed. 

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Can you spy the caterpillar making a J?

Leaving Larva

For about two weeks the larva eats, and eats, and eats.  Finally, the caterpillar stops eating and hangs upside down in a J.  It will be in a J for several hours before it makes an incredible transformation. Click here to watch what happens.

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Perfect Pupa

Next, the larva changes into a pupa.  It will remain in its chrysalis for about ten to fourteen days.  The last two days the chrysalis will change from green, to clear, and then black.  Then you know a butterfly is about to emerge!  Click here to watch the change from pupa to adult butterfly.


a monarch chrysalis
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Monarch migration map

Monarch Migration

Because monarch butterflies cannot survive in cold winter weather, they must fly or migrate up to 3,000 miles to warmer temperatures closer to the equator.  The fall migration begins in October when the days shorten and are cooler.  After overwintering in warmer temperatures, monarchs begin their migration north toward places where milkweed grows.  Monarchs are the only butterflies that adapt in this way and migrate such a great distance.

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Monarch butterflies migrate in groups.

Monarch butterflies  migrate during the day.  Then at night they form clusters to rest.  They form clusters, or groups, for safety against predators  and to stay warm.

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Cluster of monarch butterflies on a branch of an Oyamel fir tree in Mexico.

Mysterious Monarchs

A mystery of the monarch butterfly is they return to the same place their great-great grandparents left eight months before.  Sometimes they even return to the same tree! In the spring, it will begin its long journey north toward milkweed and to start the lifecycle process again.

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This is a fun song you can sing to the tune "Up on the Housetop" about the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly.

First comes the butterfly who lays an egg.

Out comes a caterpillar with many legs.

Oh, see the caterpillar spin and spin.

A little chrysalis to sleep in.

Oh, oh, oh look and see.

Oh, oh, oh look and see.

Out of the chrysalis my oh my.

Out comes a beautiful butterfly!

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Four phases in the life of a monarch butterfly.

Click here to retell the lifecycle of a monarch butterfly.

Video from Discovery Education.

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Anticipation Guide Answers

The entire lifecycle of the monarch butterfly takes 90 days.                   TRUE  or  FALSE

A monarch egg is the size of the tip of your pencil.    TRUE  or  FALSE

A monarch caterpillar will eat any leaf it finds.    TRUE   or   FALSE

Monarch butterflies migrate 1,000 miles.    TRUE     or    FALSE

After migration monarch butterflies return to the same tree its ancestors rested on.              TRUE   or  FALSE

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