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Blount County teacher Colleen Mattison has this to say about Journey North's Virtual Monarch Migration Project:

Journey North has been the best Internet Project that I have come across! It has been many years since I was introduced to this project and I still haven't found one that is as teacher/student friendly.

Going back many years, my first recollection is of going online and seeing how simple this free project was to join. So I did; and then I had the surprise of my life!

You have your students make butterflies in the fall to send to Journey North, and they forward them to a Museum in Mexico, where they stay over the winter. As real butterflies start to embark on their journey from Mexico back to the US, so do the symbolic butterflies, and your class receives some back in the spring, a portion of those from all over the world. It was astounding!

Some students allowed me to keep their butterflies and the accompanying letters (some in Spanish) to show at workshops I present. Below are pictures of three of these amazing pieces of art that my classes received.

Here is a "stained glass" butterfly, made with black construction paper and tissue paper. On the back was a handwritten letter.

Here are a couple of other examples, one made using a coloring page template and the other made with a sort of 3-D collage technique:

You won't be disappointed if you try this with your class.

Colleen M. Mattison