1. The Great Monarch Butterfly
Mystery Webquest
• Grade level – 2nd – 3rd Grade Students
• Purpose – Students will identify and reflect on
essential information about the monarch
butterfly including lifecycle, body parts, food
and habitat.
• Supplies – PowerPoint Slideshow (not auto-
advance feature utilized), Detective Notebook,
pencil, colored pencil, Internet access.

2. The Great Monarch Butterfly
Mystery Webquest Directions
• What are the stages of the monarch butterfly’s
lifecycle? (There are five.)
• Reflect on the video on the monarch butterfly’s
lifecycle.
• What are the parts of the monarch butterfly’s body?
(There are five identified.)
• What does a monarch butterfly eat?
• Draw a picture of a monarch butterfly eating milkweed.
• Where do monarch butterflies live?
• Where do they migrate?
• What is a concern about monarch butterflies?

3. The Great Monarch Butterfly
Mystery Webquest Directions
• Students will open slide show.
• Following step-by-step, students will read
directions on each slide and click on the link or
video provided.
• Students will be directed page by page to
answer questions or reflect on information
they have investigated.

4. The Great Monarch Butterfly
Mystery

5. The Case . . .
You are a nature detective.
Nature detectives find information about
nature. Now you have a case about nature.
You need to find out information about the
beautiful and MYSTERIOUS monarch butterfly.
Where are these beautiful butterflies going?
Are you up
to the job?

6. Every mystery leads you down a path.
Here is what you will need for the trip!
• The Detective Notebook to write our
information down. (Your teacher will hand it
out to you.)
• A pencil to write your notes down.
• A colored pencil with which to draw.
• Places to find the information.—One good
place to find the information is the Internet.

7. So let’s begin.
• First of all, do monarch butterflies start out as
butterflies? Click on the word butterfly below
and look at the picture that opens up.
BUTTERFLY

8. Detective Notebook Directions
• Do you see the picture with the butterfly egg in
it? It is near the top.
• Now turn to page two in your Detective
Notebook. Draw a picture of the egg in the top
box on the page 1 of your Detective Notebook.
• Draw a picture in each box of each of the other
parts of the monarch butterfly’s life cycle.
• Label each of the pictures of the parts of the
lifecycle!

9. Check your work.
• Did you draw a picture of each part of the
monarch butterfly’s lifecycle in each box?
• Did you label each lifecycle picture?
• If you answered yes, you are ready to continue
your investigation.

10. Let’s See the Butterfly In Action
• Click on the link to see how monarch
butterflies can changes:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUSKx
WMIh0

11. What did you see, detective?
• After you have watched the video, go to your
Detective Notebook.
• On page 3, you need to write down interesting
things you saw in the video.
• What did the butterfly do?

12. What did you see, detective?
• What did you see in the video that was new?
• What did you see that was interesting?
• You may watch the video again if you want to
take more notes.
• Click below here to see the video again:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUSKx
WMIh0

13. The mystery continues
First we saw the lifecycle of the monarch
butterfly. We recorded information in our
Detective Notebook.
Now let’s look at their bodies.
Click here to investigate the parts of the monarch butterfly’s
body:
http://missionbf.tripod.com/nectar.gif

14. Time to record more information!
• Turn to page 3 in your Detective Notebook.
• You will see a picture of a monarch butterfly.
• Label the parts of the monarch butterfly body.
– Hint: there are words on the bottom of the page to
help you!
HELP!!! Click here to investigate the parts of the monarch
butterfly’s body again if you need help:
http://missionbf.tripod.com/nectar.gif

15. Check your work!
• Did you turn to page 3 in your Detective
Notebook.
• Did you label the parts of the monarch
butterfly body.
HELP!!! Click here to investigate the parts of the monarch
butterfly’s body again if you need help:
http://missionbf.tripod.com/nectar.gif

16. Another mystery!
What do monarch butterflies
eat when they get hungry?
Check it out! Click below!
http://www.butterflyencounters.com/?gclid=CP
ufm-Da17MCFQY5nAodTg0A6Q
CC Image courtesy of Bark on Flickr

17. Another mystery!
What do monarch butterflies
eat when they get hungry?
When you have the answer, turn to
page 4 in your Detective Notebook
and write the answer on the line.
CC Image courtesy of Bark on Flickr

18. Another mystery!
After you write the answer
to the question, draw a picture of
a monarch butterfly eating
his favorite food
beneath the arrows on the page.
Here is the link if you forgot what the food looks
like:
http://www.butterflyencounters.com/?gclid=CPufm
-Da17MCFQY5nAodTg0A6Q
CC Image courtesy of Bark on Flickr

19. CHECK YOUR WORK!
• Did answer the question
“What doe a monarch butterfly eat?”
In your Detective Notebook?
• Did you draw a picture of
a monarch butterfly eating his food? .
CC Image courtesy of Bark on Flickr

20. Now for a great detective question!
• Where do those mysterious monarch
butterflies live?
• Let’s go to the Internet and find out!
• http://www.mtycounty.com/pgs-
animals/monarchs.html

21. Now for a great detective question!
• All the orange places on the map are where
we find monarch butterflies.
• Do monarch butterflies live near you?
• Here is the place to click if you need to look
again!
• http://www.mtycounty.com/pgs-
animals/monarchs.html

22. The Biggest Mystery of All

23. Where do the mysterious monarch
butterflies go?

24. Every year the mysterious monarch
butterfly disappears.
• Every year monarch butterflies migrate.
• Now we are going to watch a slide show about
the mysterious monarch butterflies.
• Click on this link to learn about what migrate
means:
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/tm/monarch/jr
/IntroMig2K.html
• Click on the word “Next” to investigate this
mysterious disappearance.

25. Every year the mysterious monarch
butterfly disappears.
Now turn to page 6 in your Detective Notebook.
Here is the question: What does migrate mean?
Answer in your own words.
Now, answer the question about where the
monarch butterflies migrate to.

26. Let’s learn more about where the
mysterious monarch butterflies go.
Click on the video.
Pay attention to this video. Find
out the important questions
scientists and detecties are both
asking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFoSpaNqqeQ

27. Check your work.
• Did you find out what migrate means?
• Did you write what it migrate means in your
own words?
• Where did the mysterious monarch butterflies
go?
• Did you write down an important thought
from the last video?

28. Here is a picture of monarch
butterflies that have migrated.

29. Congratulations, detective?
You have learned about the mystery of
the monarch butterflies.