Students in Madison Hauseur's fourth grade classroom recently studied monarch butterflies as part of a module covering Animal Defense Mechanisms. The module, which is part of the new language arts curriculum at WCS, allows students to explore a variety of animal defense mechanisms through the close reading of several informational texts. The fourth graders drew and labeled pictures of monarch butterflies, while learning that the milkweed plant monarchs eat gives them protection by making them toxic. Their bright orange color warns predators not to eat the monarchs. Did you know that white monarchs are rare, and because they lack protective coloring, predators are more likely to eat them?