Make Way for Sun-Earth Day!

Even though Sun-Earth Day 2008 is not until later in the year, on or near the Spring Equinox, I know that teachers work schedules and plans become very full from now until the end of the school year....if that comes for you. It is easier to add something to your teaching protocol, lesson plans and fun activities if you have had time to think about it.

Throughout the next few months, I will provide information about activities, groups and lessons that you can use, or not, for Sun-Earth Day. Most of these can also be used in Science or Social Studies classes, even if you aren't making a special effort for Sun-Earth Day.

The pedagogical reason I make a big to-do over Earth/Sun Day is two-fold: one for the study of the environment and two for the study of MANY related science strands.

Besides, Earth/Sun Day is a great time of year to bring your learning activities outdoors, and so it is a great reason to have a learning party. UH-OH! I know I said party and learning in the same breath, but it is OK! Don't you like to learn? Isn't it fun when you learn? Don't you want to share that fun with your students, peers and community? Then what better way than participating in project based learning that culminates with a celebration of all that was learned?


This is my choice for the Blog Action Day for the Environment blog entry for Classroom2.0. It seems to me that ecolibris is a community action group that ties the virtual world with the real world in a sustainable manner.

Earlier in the year, I wrote about various online groups and activities that are oriented towards sustainability and the environment. One of those groups was Eco-Libris, so I went back to their website and checked on their progress. First I am including a "quote" from one of blog postings from CR2.0 for Blog Action Day, on October 15, 2007. Then I will close this posting with a summary of what I found during my update at ecolibris' website.

Bloggers Unite - Blog Action Day

Whether we like to admit it or not, we all have favorite activities that probably require excess energy. I know most of us read books or still use paper....even though we are working to establish a "paperless" environment.

Each book that is published represents some pulpwood that was used to make the pages of that book. What if you could help by planting a tree for every book you read? For some of us, that would mean planting and entire forest.

Check out ecolibris, and see if their community project if something you would like.

I checked out Eco-Libris, and they have gained more partners, as well as acknowledment. They also have opportunities for collaboration (project based learning) for book clubs and other oriented towards selling and reading books. Here is a short summary of what EcoLibris is all about.

Momentous Monarch Migration

Monarch Migrations are momentous events, all in all, but when there are profoundly enormous groups of Monarch butterflies making landfall near human populations, it is news. These are rare events.


Many people frequently see small groups of 100 or less during the migration events, but very few people site large groups of Monarchs. These large Monarch groups are usually seen where special conditions of food, shelter, water, and weather come together to make an inviting stopover.

There are Monarch observers, in SE Kansas, who have hosted migration groups, numbering in the thousands on their land. The Monarchs usually roost in fields with flowers, cedar trees and ponds(streams or lakes),creating shelter. Having personally seen migration groups in the thousands at Wilson County State Lake,KS and at surrounding farms on different occasions over the past 20 years, I can vouch for these wondrous migrations.

Last week, Richard Hines, a Monarch Watch supporter, reported a Monarch migration cohort that will set records for many years. Richard enjoys the Monarch Migrations with his family. He recognizes the need for Monarch butterfly habitat, and he encourages these habitats by maintaining a Monarch Watch Waystation.

Mary Hines, a secondary Journalism, Yearbook and English teacher, takes excellent digital images, photographs, of the Monarchs and their migration. She was kind enough to share all the pictures used here.

A lucky farmer with 450 acres of blooming sunflowers in Southeast Kansas, near the Neosho River, west of Erie, KS, played host to what Dr. Chip Taylor, an entomology professor at the University of Kansas and the Director of Monarch Watch described as a rare event for this area.
Dr. Taylor enthusiastically reported this rare mass migration event to the folks at JourneyNorth,

Why So Rare?
Dr. Taylor explained: "The monarchs had been attracted to a sunflower field that was in full bloom....The 450 acre field had been planted late in the season, after the first crop was flooded out in early June. It is rare to have commercial sunflowers blooming this late in the season so the expectation of seeing such an aggregation at this time of year again is low."

View Larger Map

Estimating the total number in a Monarch roost is difficult, but considering the most conservative number of monarchs per square yard of the 450 acres of sunflowers and the bordering trees that were covering them, Dr. Taylor suspects the number could be 200,000 Monarchs.

I agree this is the conservative estimate considering that there is only one monarch per 10 square yards, in this estimate. The pictures taken at the rural Erie, KS site indicate that the roost size (monarch population in the field, trees, and other roosting areas) was closer to 1 Monarch butterfly per 1 square yard. You do the math! A number in the millions overwhelms the mind.

Taking the more conservative number of 200,000 Monarchs during this siting, the Erie, KS roost size is double the previous record-setting Monarch roost observation in SE Arkansas last year, in October of 2006.

It is important to note that the work of ordinary Canadians, Americans, and Mexicans, along with their scholars, teachers, nature lovers, and other leaders, makes it possible for the Monarch butterflies to continue to migrate. This dedicated community still travel to and from Mexico and Canada, through America each year.

Since various conditions impact the Monarch butterfly, these Monarch Watchers consider and work to minimize activities that often cause ecological crises in Mexico and the United States of America

In the past, some of these deforestations and habitat loss events have put the Monarch, as a species, at risk, but there are dedicated Monarch enthusiasts, including multitudes of students in the three countries, as well as the world, who help intervene to solve these ecological issues before they destroy the Monarchs. It is very awe-inspiring. You too can answer this call to action and enjoy the Monarch Migration.