Tulip Garden Update: September 14, 2001 Today's Report Includes: Follow the Wave of Spring Getting to Know You Teacher Tip - Tulip Project Portfolio What If...? Time to Experiment! Going to Extremes: The Annual Microclimate Challenge Challenge Question #1 The Tulips are Coming! Challenge Question #2 How to Report to Journey North Fall Lessons Available on the Journey North Web Site Teacher Tip - Gardens Year After Year National Science Standards and Journey North Follow the Wave of Spring It's Time to Dig In! This fall, plant a Journey North Tulip Garden so you can proclaim the official arrival of spring in your community. By sharing observations over the Internet, students across North America will follow the wave of spring as it moves northward and measure its pace from distant places. Getting to Know You Your tulip bulbs have arrived and you're about to bury them underground. But before you take your last look, maybe there are some important things you should know about them: Are all the bulbs in the class alike? How might their differences affect their growth rates? What do bulbs look like inside? What parts will become next spring's leaves and flowers? Your bulbs are the tools you're trusting to gauge spring's arrival. So get to know them before planting. Visit this lesson to show you how to weigh, measure & learn the anatomy of your bulb before planting: Tulip Tools Teacher Tip - Tulip Project Portfolio Portfolios can offer great organization tools for keeping track of your Tulip Garden project. Starting with recording Challenge Question #1, students can keep records of each step of the project. By dedicating a spiral notebook to notes, experiments, maps, pictures and journal questions, records can all be kept safe and permanent for each participant. How about starting the year with an art project to decorate the portfolios? Brainstorm creative ideas to help you organize and keep this work through the year. What If...? Time to Experiment! What if you planted your tulips upside down? Or 10 inches underground instead of 7, as the planting instructions specify? Would it really matter if you planted them in a warm, sunny courtyard? What would happen if you didn't plant your garden exactly according to the instructions? Try This! Plant your "Journey North" garden EXACTLY as instructed in the Planting Instructions. Gather all the questions students ask while selecting your garden site this fall. As a class, discuss which of these questions you could test in an Experimental Garden. For example, does it matter if the tulips are planted in the shade? On the north side of a building? In a sunny courtyard? Then, plant Experimental Gardens to test questions you'd like to investigate. Important: Next spring, ONLY report to Journey North about your "OFFICIAL JOURNEY NORTH GARDEN." (You can tell us what you learned from your "EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN" in the "Comments" section of your report.) Remember, the planting instructions are the scientific protocol for the International Journey North experiment, so follow them carefully! Going to Extremes: The Annual Microclimate Challenge If you're looking for ideas for an Experimental Garden, why not try your skills at our 1st Annual Microclimate Challenge? Here is the challenge: Cause two tulip bulbs to bloom as many days apart as possible. Try This! After you plant your Official Journey North Garden in the place that BEST matches your general climate, look for two opposite places that LEAST represent your general climate. First learn about "microclimates." See the lesson: Understanding Microclimates: A Matter of Degrees Then find two areas whose microclimates are as different as possible. Find places where climatic differences are the most extreme. (Think about ALL of the factors that might affect the rate of tulip growth as you search for your two sites. Consider everything that will affect your bulb, from the moment you put it into the ground.) Then tell us how you responded to this challenge! Challenge Question #1 "Where did you plant your two "Experimental Journey North Gardens" for the Microclimate Challenge? Describe your experiment, and explain why you chose the sites that you did. Finally, predict how many days there will be between the blooming of tulip at your two sites." (To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) The Tulips are Coming! All the way from across the ocean in Sassenheim, a small town near Amsterdam Holland, the Netherland Bulb Company grows bulbs for your gardens. These large Red Emperor tulip bulbs were dug this June. They were grown in soil both inland and soil recovered from the sea, and are about 3 years old when you receive them for planting. Many local garden supply stores also carry Red Emperor tulips, however for your convenience; we have many sources for mail order from the US, Canada and Europe. Information about out how you can order your Red Emperor tulips can be found on the Journey North Web site. Information for Ordering Red Emperor Tulips Red Emperor tulips travel a long distance to get to your garden! How far have they come? Challenge Question #2 "Find Amsterdam on a map and imagine the bulbs made a straight line directly to your garden. How far did the bulbs travel to your garden? (Whose bulbs traveled the farthest?)" (To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) How to Report to Journey North Don't forget to report when you have PLANTED your Journey North Garden As soon as you plant YOUR garden, be sure to let us know! In next month's update, we expect to have many garden locations to report to you. Simply press the "owl" button and a Field Data Form will appear. (From the same button, you can also "Go to the Sightings Database" and read comments from all gardeners. Fall Lessons Available on the Journey North Web Site Deciding Where to Plant the Garden (Planting Rubric) Predicting the Arrival of Spring (Global Challenge) Tulips as Tools (Dissection & Observations) A Matter of Degrees (Understanding Microclimates) Going to Extremes: The Annual Microclimate Challenge Replicating the Experiment (Take-Home Tulip Garden) Phenology Data Exchange (Find Your Partner Using Nature's Clues) Old Bulbs, New Tricks (Experiments With Last Year's Bulbs) What if...? Time to Experiment Mapping Suggestions for Fall Tulip Data Reasons for the Seasons: Exploring the Astronomy of Spring Visit these lessons on the Fall 2001 International Plant Study index page. Teacher Tip - Gardens Year After Year Many teachers choose to participate in the Tulip Garden Study year after year. The project becomes part of their curriculum and provides an ongoing record of the coming of spring in their area. How do you find room for garden plantings year after year? This question is often asked and we have a few suggestions: Make the garden larger over a 4-year period. The tulips are initially vigorous but will decline after about 4-5 years in the garden. Each year increase the garden site by adding an 8-inch strip for the current years' bulbs. By year #4, dig out the first year's bulbs and replace them with the current year's bulbs. Dig out the previous year's bulbs and use them for experiments. After investigating their own new bulbs, have students dig up the old bulbs. Predict what they'll look like, then inspect them, weigh them, measure them, and compare them with new bulbs. How are old bulbs different from new ones? Have students predict how each old bulb might grow the next spring, based on its unique characteristics. Brainstorm ways the old bulbs could be used. Link to: Old Bulbs, New Tricks National Science Standards and Journey North We've prepared a rubric to summarize how some of the International Tulip Study's fall lessons support the standards. Though summarized only for the U.S. national standards, the language should be easily adaptable for many state/province standards. Visit the Science Standards Page How to Respond to Today's Challenge Question IMPORTANT: Answer only ONE question in each e-mail message. 1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-tulip@learner.org 2. In the Subject Line of your message write: Challenge Question #1 (or #2) 3. In the body of the message, answer ONE of the questions above. The Next Tulip Garden Update Will be Posted on October 12, 2001 Copyright 2001 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form