At high tech elementary we are tagging monarch butterflies.
We tag monarch butterflies so we can track them and see where they migrate to. Also, so scientists can see if there are any patterns in Monarch migratory over years thanks to our work.
If they stay here in our garden, then they are called “Resident” butterflies. When they stay in our garden, it means that we have a healthy habitat for them to survive in. It also means we have the necessary climate and plants for them to survive.
Two years ago the first grade class of Mr. Romo started a project on building a butterfly waystation/garden. Today we are 4th Grade Mr. Romo’s class at High Tech Elementary and we have picked up on the first grade project and turned the garden into an interactive science lab. Our essential question is “How Can We Increase the Population of Monarch Butterflies in San Diego?” We are working with Cal Poly university and others on our project.
Over the decades the population of monarchs has decreased dramatically in numbers. In 1996 when monarchs migrated to Mexico they took up over 40 acres. Last year they only took up 1.65 acres. My class is working on a project to help bring up the population of the monarch butterfly. In order to do that we think that if other people can build a way station then the monarch is sure to survive its long migration.
Monarchs need way stations because they also have to eat. On the milkweed there are little flowers that have nectar, that gives monarchs energy. A way station is a planter filled with milkweed, that's the only plant monarchs lay their eggs on. If 50 people that live in the U.S.A. built a way station in their back yards it would make a huge difference on the small but mighty creature.
The problem is not everybody knows what to put in a way station even less how to build one so we have decided to create a book. Everybody in my class contributed to help make it. Some of us teamed up to create pages, for example me and my partner's are working on a page about how High Tech Elementary might be an overwintering site for monarch butterflies. A friend of mine is working on a page about our conservation efforts. We also have a page on how to build a monarch way station and what to put in it.
To make our way station book we used Google Presentation. Originally Google Presentation was meant for power points but we used it as a tool to help us with the book. In the picture above you can see that this is our way station book while still in Presentation mode. There were a few challenges like the time when someone deleted over 5 pages from our book! Luckily Mr. Romo pressed undo about 5 times on everyones computer. That was a setback because in order to find the culprit he also deleted some of the work we already did.
If you want to help us and the monarch butterfly, buy our book and build a way station!
We are HTe students. Mr. Romo's Fourth grade class.
We are the fourth grade class at HTE. HTE stands for High Tech Elementary and it is a place where students are free to express them selves. This is a special place because we have an opportunity to make a difference in the world by increasing the monarch population in San Diego. Our project in class is to help the monarchs by building way stations so it can increase the population of monarch butterflies.