Virginia’s State Parks . . . Your Backyard Classrooms Habitat for Monarchs

y visiting a garden in a during different life stages: egg, Grade Levels: K-5 state park or natural area, stu- larva, pupa and adult. List the items dents will observe and investi- on a board and discuss the concept Objectives Bgate the that monarchs need to of “habitat” with your students. Fo- • Observing that an organism’s habitat survive for each phase of their life cycle. cus on host plants (food for larvae) contains the things it needs to survive Students will develop an understanding and sources (food for adults). • Observing the parts of a flower and butterfly and how pollen is transferred of the concept of habitat by researching What happens when host plants • Researching native plants and learning and observing native plants needed by disappear from the habitat? about the benefits of native plants by the monarch. They will then draw plants 2. Ask about the meaning of a “na- using reference materials in a monarch habitat to be included on a tive species” in Virginia. Native is • Recording the many kinds of plants mural. Cameras can also be used to take considered what was here when the and animals in habitats pictures of in action. first permanent European settlement occurred in 1607, in Jamestown, Key Concepts Background Virginia. Explain the benefits of na- An organism’s habitat contains the things it needs to survive. There are A habitat is a place where individu- tive plants because, once established, many kinds of plants and animals als of a particular species live or spend they thrive in our climate. They have in habitats. Students will learn the time. An individual’s habitat has food evolved to withstand summertime anatomy of plants and butterflies. and shelter that it needs to survive. But- droughts and hurricanes. Using terflies are beneficial insects. As pollina- books and other resources, including tors, they are crucial to food production. the Internet, have students research Skills Many flowers must have pollen from a native plants that are good nectar Observation. Recording observations. Drawing. Cooperative work. different blossom to produce fruit and sources found in their region of Vir- seeds (cross pollination). A butterfly ginia. Make a list of those plants and picks up pollen from one when it have each student make a drawing of Materials drinks nectar. The pollen is spread from a plant that is a good nectar source Plant field guides or other books with pictures of nectar sources and milk- the feet, body and wings of butterflies. for butterflies. Have students draw weed. Large drawing paper. Crayons Milkweed () is crucial to the the whole plant, not just the flower. or colored pencils. Space on bulletin monarch’s habitat as it is the only plant on Use field guides, seed catalogs, books board or wall mural. which they lay eggs. It is their host plant. on or actual Caterpillars acquire toxins from the plants as guides. Encourage students Where milkweed, and the toxins protect them to draw several plants, each large Any state park or natural area that has from predators, even as adults. Females enough to be cut out. Have students an area for pollinators. usually lay only one egg per leaf to help label them by copying names from the survival rate, as hatching caterpillars the class list. When will eat un-hatched eggs. Adults feed on 3. Have each student make a full-page Late spring or early fall. nectar from large, fragrant flowers. The drawing of native milkweed found in sunflower family of plants, known as the their region. Use field guides or the Time Required Asteraceae, is the adult monarch’s favorite actual plant as a guide for the draw- 1 hour in the classroom and 45 minutes source. They also like other yellow, pink, ings. These drawings should also be for the field investigation. orange and purple nectar-producing cut out and labeled. flowers. 4. To create the monarch habitat, attach student drawings to the bulle- Procedure tin board or on a large piece of paper 1. Using the illustration below, discuss for a wall mural. what a monarch needs to survive 5. Students may add drawings of

Virginia State Parks Your Backyard Classrooms | 1 Habitat for Monarchs

caterpillars, butterflies, other insects, Extension birds and other animals that might Students can visit nearby butterfly live in the same habitat. gardens during the year to note changes 6. Have the students examine the in the habitat for each season. Plants will die down in the winter but emerge attached pictures of the parts of a in the spring and bring forth flowers butterfly and parts of a flower. -Ex during summer and fall. Pictures can be plain that a butterfly can sense with drawn or cameras used to illustrate the their feet the sweetness of nectar in changing habitat. a plant. 7. Contact a state park or natural area Credits and make arrangements to take the http://www.flightofthebutterflies.com/ class outside to a butterfly garden. in-the-classroom/ Have students look for the plants The World Book Encyclopedia 1977, and insects they identified for their U.S.A. by Field Enterprises Educational monarch habitat. Students (teachers Corporation for lower grades) can record findings Butterflies Through Binoculars (The and review what was learned. East), 1999 by Jeffrey Glassberg

Some Nectar Sources for Resources Pollinators in Virginia http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/monarch. html Spring http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/natural_ heritage/nativeplants.shtml Blackberries/dewberries Rubus spp. Blueberries Vaccinium spp. http://basrelief.org/Pages/notes.html Dandelion Taraxacum officinale Flora of Virginia, 2012, By Alan S. Redbud Cercis Canadensis Weakley, J. Christopher Ludwig, and Red clover Trifolium patense John F. Townsend Wild plums/wild cherries Prunus spp.

Summer Common milkweed Asclepias syriaca Orange milkweed Asclepias tuberosa Swamp milkweed Asclepias incarnat- Bergamots Monarda spp. Coneflowers Echinacea spp. Dogbanes Apocynum spp. Pickerelweed Pontederia cordata Sumacs Rhus spp. ThistlesCirsium spp. Ver vains Verbena spp.

Fall Asters Aster spp. Blazing-stars Liatris spp. Goldenrods Solidago spp. Ironweeds Vernonia spp. Joe-pye weeds Eupatorium spp. Pickerelweed Pontederia cordata

SOL – Sols: k.1, k.2, k.6, k.7, k.9, 1.1, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.4, 2.5, 2.7, 3.4, 3.6, 3.8, 3.10, 4.4, 4.5, 4.9, V5.2, V5.3.

YBCHABI/2015 2 | Your Backyard Classroom Virginia State Parks Habitat for Monarchs

2. Caterpillar 1. Egg

3. Pupa

4. Adult

Orange Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Four-stage life cycle

Virginia State Parks Your Backyard Classrooms | 3 Habitat for Monarchs

Front Wing

Veins Compound Eye Antennae

Head

Proboscis Front legs

Middle legs Hind orax Wing Abdomen Hind legs

Parts of a butterfly

4 | Your Backyard Classroom Virginia State Parks Habitat for Monarchs

Pistil Stigma Stamen

Anther Style

Filament Ovary

Petal

Stem Receptacle

Parts of a flower

Virginia State Parks Your Backyard Classrooms | 5