The students will work to raise money so that they can purchase milkweed plants. They will also ask their parents to help them plant milkweed near their own home.

Anticipatory Set:
Show the learners the caterpillar on the milkweed plant. Ask: Why hasn’t the caterpillar left the plant? (It‘s eating the plant. It won’t leave until it is ready to develop into a chrysalis) Note: Be sure to keep the plant in a net covered area or somehow enclosed because when the caterpillar is ready to form the chrysalis it will leave to find a higher, protected spot.

• Re read to the class the story, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Clooney.
• Ask the learners to recall why Miss Rumphius planted the flowers.
• Tell the learners that Monarch butterflies need our help. Explain to the students that the remaining milkweed habitats - pastures, hayfields, edges of forests, grasslands, native prairies, and urban areas - are not sufficient to sustain the large Monarch populations. To offset the loss of milkweed plants and nectar sources due to development, use of herbicides, and roadside management practices, we need to create, conserve, and protect milkweed/monarch habitats. Monarchs need places to lay their eggs and gain energy for their long migration.  (Go to http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sm/aboutmbsf.html to learn more about their migration.)  Monarchs in different areas migrate to different locations.  Those East of the Rocky Mountains migrate to Mexico. This is a long journey for such a small creature.  We can help Monarchs by creating Monarch gardens near our homes, schools, parks, zoos, nature centers, field margins, along roadsides, and on other unused plots of land. This effort won’t replace the amount of milkweed that has been lost or even keep pace with the habitat losses each year; however, without a major effort to restore milkweeds to as many locations as possible, the monarch population is certain to decline to extremely low levels.
• Ask the learners if they would like to be like Miss Rumphius by planting seeds and at the same time helping the Monarch Butterfly.  Explain that they are going to be asked to take a letter home to their parents. The letter asks their parents to plant milkweed near their homes in order to provide a home for the Monarch’s egg/larvae.  Let them know that by educating their parents and others about monarchs and the need to provide habitats for wildlife they will help raise the public's awareness of important conservation issues. They will also be performing an act of philanthropy.
• Ask: What it means to be a philanthropist?  Ask volunteers to explain. Tell them that they will need to explain to their parents that they are acting as a philanthropist for the common good.
• Explain to the class that they are going to raise money in order to purchase milkweed plants. Teacher Note: If you plan a year in advance, you can collect the seeds of the milkweed in the fall and then plant it in the spring.  These plants can be given to families.  For information on how to do this or to order milkweed plants see: http://www.monarchwatch.org/
• Ask students for ideas as to how to raise the money to purchase the milkweed plants.  Remind learners that true philanthropists give of their time, talents, and/or treasures.
• Create a list of their ideas, and then discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each.   Have the learners vote on which activity they would like to do. Work to develop a plan for the fundraiser.  Teacher input and guidance is vital here.

• Interactive Parent / Student Homework:
  (See Attachment One, Lesson Three:  Letter to Families)

• Monarch Watch http://www.monarchwatch.org/ 
   
• Monarch Butterfly  http://www.learner.org/jnorth/sm/aboutmbsf.html
  
   
• Migrating Monarchs http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/Instructor/
  monarchs.htm)
  
   
• Clooney, Barbara. Miss Rumphius. Puffin; (1985). ISBN: 0140505393