Monarch Teacher Network Comes to South Haven!

Lisa releasing a butterfly

"In the end, we will preserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught."  --Baba Dioum

Watching a monarch come out of its chrysalis 

Cindy, hard at work!

Becoming one with the monarch

Tagging a monarch

Last week teachers from Mattawan, Paw Paw, Detroit and South Haven gathered at North Shore Elementary School in South Haven to participate in a two-day workshop devoted to incorporating the monarch butterfly into the educational setting.  It was a hands-on workshop that left teachers with everything they need to raise monarchs and integrate monarch lessons into their classrooms.  Teachers learned how to construct rearing cages and butterfly houses.  They learned how to find, raise and care for monarchs throughout their life stages; they learned about milkweed and the other insects that live in the milkweed patch; they learned the science and story behind the life cycle and the migration routes of this amazing insect and lessons and games that incorporate the monarch into math, science, reading, writing and social studies.  (A guide and DVD with details on both the science of monarchs and monarch activities for students of all ages was also included in the workshop.)   A huge thank you to Brian Hayes, director of the Monarch Teacher Network who makes these workshops happen!  And a huge thank you to Erik Mollenhauer (founder and former director of the MTN) and Cindy and Paul Wackerbarth who were the lead volunteers.  They volunteered both their travel expenses and their time to join us in South Haven and teach us something that they are passionate about --- the care of monarchs and their love of this amazing planet we call home.  Thank you Brian, Erik, Cindy and Paul!  We are richer for this wonderful experience!

"When one tugs at a single thing in nature . . . he finds it attached to the rest of the world."  --John Muir