Tulip Garden Update: December 6, 2002 Today's Report Includes: Expecting Red! "Ohio Gozaimasu," Good Morning in Japanese! 6,580 Miles from Tokyo Out of Sight Out of Mind- Discussion of Challenge Question #6 Curiosity and Cold Weather Questions Looking for a Few Good Books How to Report to Journey North Over and Out for 2002 Expecting Red! Journey North students have certainly been busy planting! We've even had to make a new map so you can view all the gardens. View of tulip gardens planted on one side of the globe View of tulip gardens planted on the other side of the globe We have hit an all time high for gardens planted this past 4 weeks, with an additional 85 gardens reported! After adding today's data to your map you'll have a grand total of 214. If you've planted your garden but haven't reported it yet, please do so right away. Tulips Planted You can read all the wonderful comments these gardeners have sent (press the "owl button" and follow instructions), but here are a few- Ready and Waiting in GA (33.2845, -83.9801) Jackson, GA Tulips are in frig. waiting for Jan. 4th. We were really excited when we found the exact latitude and longitude for the school's courtyard. For our experiment we have one tulip in the room, one in the frig. and one in the "deep" freeze. We want to also do a time cap. and open in 10 years to see if the bulb would still bloom. We have not talked our teacher into this...| Teaming Up with the Elderly (42.9615, -76.0516) Jamesville, NY This year's project was in connection with planting in New Hampshire and Mass. Youth are assisting elderly to plant their tulips and report their findings. Students Defining Optimal (42.0740, -88.0212) Rolling Meadows, IL We have just finished planting 400 tulip bulbs! All seventh grade students researched the optimal growing conditions for Red Emperor tulips and used this information to select their site. Each class reached a consensus on a planting location. Two classes chose a western exposure site and 11 classes chose an eastern exposure site. We will soon be predicting emergence and blooming dates using data from previous years found in the archives. We are excited to proclaim the arrival of spring in our community. Something to Think About (42.4867, -71.1547) Woburn, MA This is the seventh year we have planted tulips for Journey North and it is the latest we have planted (Nov 5). However, we are well before our first hard frost and do not predict that it will have any effect on our emerging date. With six years of data we have seen no correlation between planting date and emerging date. Ms. Cerullo thinks a good Challenge Question might be; "What does effect the emerging date?" "Ohio Gozaimasu," Good Morning in Japanese! It is time to celebrate our first Journey North tulip garden planted in Asia! We would like to extend a welcome, "Yokoso! Gakugeidai Fuzoku Shogakko" to Dr. Rumimaru Fujita Setagaya and students at Elementary School Attached to Tokyo Gakugei University. The school and students are excited to participate in their first ever Journey North project. Mr. Fujita sent these pictures of planting day for all of us to share: Pull out your atlases and see if you can locate Tokyo, Japan (35.67, 139.80). How far are you from Tokyo? Try estimating and then measure. Once you have measured see how close you got by checking your answer with this helpful Web site: How Far is It? When do you think spring will come to Tokyo? Will it be earlier than your hometown, or will it be later? What do you need to make a good prediction? 6,580 Miles from Tokyo Students explore tulip dissection. Students all over the globe are planting their Red Emperor tulips to participate in the Journey North International Plant Study. This week we are happy to show you another garden: this one is in Trumansburg, NY, 6,580 miles from Tokyo, Japan. Their school-wide garden project involves Second through Fourth grade students working together with the librarian and enrichment teachers. Visit a gallery of their planting day pictures: Trumansburg Elementary Planting Day Photo Gallery Out of Sight Out of Mind- Discussion of Challenge Question #6 Roots from a bulb already a year in the soil- dug up in the fall. So what is happening to those tulip bulbs that were planted in the garden this fall? Students made some great observations about the bulbs in their gardens. Some bulbs don t look too different yet. Others reported that the bulbs were sprouting lots of roots and little shoots. Some bulbs have changed color slightly. Bulbs that have been planted since October should be showing these signs. They root slowly in the winter months while they are receiving cold temperatures that give them energy to sprout out of the soil in early spring. Good observations! Curiosity and Cold Weather Questions We're now approaching the deepest, darkest time of winter. What do you suppose will happen underground, when air temperatures drop lower and lower? Put your mind to work, grab a soil thermometer and explore underground using these questions as your guide: Does the soil temperature change during the day as much as the air temperature changes? Why or why not? If there is snow on the ground, does it affect underground soil temperatures? If so, why do you think this happens? Are soil temperatures different at different depths beneath the surface? (Students could draw a profile of the soil, showing how temperature changes with depth.) If the sun is shining does the soil temperature rise underground? How does this change at different depths? (Again, draw a soil profile.) Extensions: 1. Choose a partner class in Journey North's Classroom Exchange. Arrange to share your predictions and results. Classroom Exchange 2. Remind students that frogs, worms and countless other creatures survive the winter by living underground. Have students choose one such animal, then do research to learn about the adaptations this animal has in order to survive underground. Looking for a Few Good Books Wanted: Good literature links for the Journey North Spring Resource List. We especially welcome books about the coming of springtime in the plant world.We know they are out there! Do you have a special poem or book that you would like to share? Let s compile a list. Please direct your contributions to our new Teacher Discussion Forum. 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 to report from your site. (From the same button, you can also "Go to the Sightings Database" and read comments from all gardeners. Over and Out for 2002 From Journey South headquarters, this is Mary saying "over and out" until spring's Journey North comes to you with our first report on February 7, 2003!   Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form