Classroom Resources

Many of our volunteers are organizations or classroom groups. We wanted to create a space for teachers or instructors to use to further educate their students and plan activities related to monarch butterflies and their parasites. We will be updating the available resources frequently with new classroom ideas. Please check back frequently.

A class participating in science activities involving monarch butterflies.

Learning Tools

To help understand some of the more complex language of monarch and parasite biology discussed on the website, we have created a glossary of commonly used words. We are working on a way to integrate this into the website, but we also wanted a source for instructors to access in case of clarification.

Crossword Puzzles: Three different levels of crosswords that use common words in the monarch-OE system. Click on the desired level below for the black puzzle and answer key.

Presentations

Below are several instructional presentations on the topics discussed on our website. These lectures can be modified or used as is to teach students more details about these systems. All presentations are in Microsoft Office PowerPoint format.

  • Parasites
  • Biology and Life Cycle of OE (PowerPoint)/(.pdf)
  • Monarchs and migration
  • Rearing monarchs
  • Testing monarchs for parasites

Photo by Mike Maudsley

Classroom Activities

Students raising milkweed and monarchs for classroom projects from Pinecrest 2nd grade class, Greenwood, South Carolina.

Photos provided by Anne Marie Glawe

There are basic techniques and fundamental knowledge about monarch butterflies that students need to successfully engage in inquiry-based activities. Students can gain a solid foundation for working with monarchs from a variety of sources. Click here for more information on inquiry-based learning materials using monarchs in the classroom. Additionally, we have created several activities for teachers to use in the classroom to help understand aspects of monarch conservation:

1. Give your Monarch a physical!
2. Population Dynamics
3. Scales and Spores!

1)Give your Monarch a physical!: This activity allows students to use a MonarchHealth kit to check monarchs for OE parasites and assess physical conditions of the butterflies using measurements such as forewing length, wing damage, and fat storage. This exercise is most appropriate for grades 7-12.

Photos by Sonia Altizer

Click here for all activity materials including overview for instructor and classroom worksheets.

For our teachers in Georgia, click the links below for various Performance Standards Correlation info:

2)Population Dynamics: In this follow up activity to Lesson 1 (Give Your Monarch a Physical!), students will compile and analyze class data for a monarch population. Students will use information from the individual monarch physicals to analyze the physical characteristics of a population of monarch butterflies. They will make mathematical calculations and graphs to describe the population and a typical member of the population. This exercise is most appropriate for grades 7-12.

Click here for all activity materials including overview for instructor and here for classroom worksheets.

For our teachers in Georgia, click the links below for various Performance Standards Correlation info:

3)Scales and Spores!: This classroom activitiy allows students to replicate the procedures that scientists in the Altizer lab at the University of Georgia use when analyzing MonarchHealth samples. Students will become more familar with the scienitific techinques used to analyze the samples they send into MonarchHealth. Students will learn how to identify and count parasite spores and use a standard conversion table to score and describe rates of parasite infection of the butterflies.

An example of a slide containing both butterfly scales and OE spores (photo by Andy Davis). Red arrows indicate OE spores, while yellow arrows show scales.

Click here for all activity materials including overview for instructor and here for classroom worksheets.

For our teachers in Georgia, click the links below for various Performance Standards Correlation info:

Click on each link below for several different photographed slides of various infection levels in monarchs. Copies or transparencies can be used to have students try to count the number of spores in their sample and determine the monarch infection status.

How to Score Monarch Infections: When determining how infected monarchs are with OE, we use the scale below:

  • 0 spores = 0 ( Not infected, disease-free)
  • 1 spore = 1 (Minimal infection)
  • 2-20 spores = 2 (Minimal infection)
  • 21-100 spores = 3 (Mild infection)
  • 101-1000 spores = 4 (Moderate infection)
  • > 1000 spores = 5 (Severe infection)