Each fall, monarch butterflies east of the Rocky Mountains make a 2,000 mile migration to Mexico, while monarchs west of the Rockies migrate to the California coast.  The monarch’s journey provides a unifying theme to teach essential skills in science, literacy, geography and other areas. 

The powerful story of the monarch butterfly led to the emergence of Monarch Teacher Network (MTN) in 2001 and its Canadian partners in 2003.  Since 2001, MTN trainings… at hundreds of workshops and numerous presentations… has inspired thousands of educators and people from 28 states, 6 provinces, and 6 countries.  

MTN’s two-day workshop… ‘Teaching and Learning with Monarch Butterflies’… is a combination of hands-on classroom and field experiences.  Participants gain the knowledge, skills and materials to raise monarchs and use them to create an outstanding learning experience for other people.  Workshops are taught by a team of experienced educators at sites across the US, June through August, engaging people of all ages.

Workshop participants receive a comprehensive guide (Journeys), a tri-lingual movie (English/French/Spanish) (“Journeys and Transformations”)… a tri-lingual monarch life cycle poster…rearing cages and more.  

The Journeys guide is packed with standards-based activities for people of all ages and abilities… with chapters on raising monarchs, developing butterfly gardens, inquiry-based science (including how to ‘tag’ monarchs), activities for Mexican/pre-Hispanic culture, history… language arts, math, social studies, drama, fine arts and more. 

The North American monarch migration was first discovered in the 1970’s.  Its future is in doubt.  Immediate threats are posed by modern farming practices, deforestation and habitat loss, and climate change is a serious long-term issue.

Monarch Teacher Network is bringing together people from across North America and beyond.  Because issues like deforestation, climate change and preserving monarch migration, can only be resolved when people work together across borders, languages and culture.