MONARCHS ACROSS GEORGIA
Symbolic Monarch Migration

Symbolic Migration: Celebrating 25 Years!

Thank you for participating in the 25th annual "Symbolic Monarch Butterfly Migration" with youth from across North America. About 5,000 students in the United States and Canada created symbolic butterflies in the fall of 2020 and sent them to Mexico for the winter. Students from schools near the monarch sanctuaries in Mexico will protect the butterflies and send them north in the spring. The symbolic butterflies build bridges of communication between students in Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. United by the monarch butterfly, children across North America learn authentic lessons of conservation, cooperation, and ambassadorship. Read about the Mexican school visits on Estela Romero's blog site. 

This season we went VIRTUAL!
The complete details on how to participate were in the TEACHER PACKET for the 2020-21 Symbolic Migration season. The printable documents linked below are in the Teacher Packet as well, but are also included here for your convenience.

• Hello Friends/Hola Amigos Letter (1-page PDF)
• Monarch Butterfly Template 1 (2-page Google doc)
• Monarch Butterfly Template 2 (2-page Google doc)

To cover the costs of this important educational project, participants must buy a $10 “Passenger Ticket” for each Class Ambassador Butterfly folder submitted. These funds will support school visits in Mexico to deliver the butterflies and provide conservation education. Purchases are made through our secure website with credit/debit cards (Discover, MasterCard, or Visa) or mailed checks (U.S. banks only).

Questions? Email symbolic-migration@eealliance.org.

Buy Your Passenger Ticket

Symbolic Migration went VIRTUAL this migration season! ​The submission deadline was October 9, 2020.
Check back in August 2021 for details about next season.  The deadline for submissions will be October 8, 2021.

If you can't participate in the Symbolic Migration this season, but would still like to receive news, you can sign up to receive Symbolic Migration News Updates. 

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Timeline 2020-2021

Before October 9, 2020

• Introduce Symbolic Migration 
• ​Follow the directions in the Teacher's Packet and share your Google Drive folder with symbolic-migration@eealliance.org the submission deadline of October 9, 2020
• Report to Journey North's Fall Symbolic Migration Participant Map. Be sure to include the teacher’s name, school, town state/province in your message. Optionally, include a picture of your Class Ambassador Butterfly.   https://maps.journeynorth.org/map/?year=2020&map=symbolic-monarch-sent

Special note to schools with multiple classrooms participating: Because only one picture and teacher contact will be visible for a single location on the Journey North map, please choose one teacher to be the point of contact for the school and make a photo collage of all Class Ambassadors to upload to Journey North’s Fall Symbolic Migration Participant Map.
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 November 2020 - February 2021: Learn About the Monarch's Winter Home in Mexico

• Read about your Class Ambassador Butterfly in Mexico! Use the search function at the top right of the https://symbolicmigration.org/ website to locate your school or town. Check back weekly. Deliveries begin mid-November and are usually completed by late February.
• Read monarch butterfly news from Mexico: https://journeynorth.org/monarchs/news
• Enjoy online resources: See "Life in the Monarch Sanctuary Region"  https://journeynorth.org/tm/symbolic/jr/KidsJourneyNorth.html

 April 2021: Continue the Cycle of Friendship

• Watch your inbox! You'll receive an email sharing a Google Drive folder with clusters of life-sized butterflies and a letter from a Mexican student in ample time for a Cinco de Mayo (May 5th) homecoming celebration
• VERY IMPORTANT: Report the arrival of individual life-sized butterflies by contacting the teachers directly. Teacher email addresses should be on every life-sized butterfly. Please make time for this important step! Children will be waiting to find out where their own butterflies landed.

Follow Us & Keep in Touch

The Symbolic Migration project is a partnership project between Journey North, a program of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, and Monarchs Across Georgia, a committee of The Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia, a 501(c)(3) organization. Journey North manages the interactive Symbolic Migration Participant Maps and hosts all educational materials on the Journey North website. Monarchs Across Georgia administers the program and is responsible for all fundraising.