The Annual Symbolic Monarch Butterfly Migration will begin October 9th. We will join other students from across the United States and Canada to create thousands of paper butterflies that will "migrate" to Mexico for the winter. Our "paper" monarch migration is timed to correspond with the real monarch's journey south. The paper butterflies arrive in Mexico around the time of the Dia de los Muertos, just as the real monarchs do. According to Mexican legend, these returning butterflies are thought to carry the ancestors' souls and play a role in the Dia de los Muertos celebrations.  Mexican students will watch over our butterflies--and return them next spring as the real monarchs journey north. Some of the butterflies will carry a special message from the Mexican students to the students here in the United States and Canada who make them.
For this project we transform a file folder into a monarch butterfly and added a class letter.  Then we add small individual life-sized butterflies with Spanish messages. We also send 2 class photos.  To help protect the real monarchs in Mexico we donate money to the Monarch  Butterfly Sanctuary Foundation. In the spring we will receive a butterfly that stayed in Mexico from another class. For more details about the real monarch migration visit this site:  http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sm/index.html