Tulip Garden Update: February 21, 2003
Wet, Cold Blanket of Snow Stalls Out Tulips Temperatures sank in the continent’s mid section with a weather system that closed schools and airports and brought lots of snow this past week. How did this affect our tulip gardens? What do you think? Take a look at the newly emerging (and blooming!) gardens this week.
Our First Blooming Tulip This Season! Do you see that red dot smack in the middle of Texas? That's our first blooming tulip reported this season! We heard from Mrs. Abbey Davis or Tye, Texas (32.45, -99.87), saying on February 17th:
An Elevation Experiment: How Quickly Does Spring Climb Mountains? Ah, the advancement of spring. Each week as we study the Journey North maps, we watch tulips emerging all over the continent. Can we learn to predict when spring will arrive at any given place? One famous naturalist, Edwin Way Teale has a theory. He wrote:
Wouldn't it be fun to test Teale's statement and predict the arrival of spring in the mountains? Thanks to a handful of Colorado schools, we can examine Teale's observation that spring "ascends mountainsides at the rate of about a hundred feet a day."
Activity: Then put on your thinking caps and answer these challenging questions!
(To respond to these questions, please follow the instructions below.) Last Week’s Cold: Is it Significant?
How did the temperatures in your hometown compare to average for this
week? Three Years, Three Maps: How Do They Compare? Each year as spring advances across North America students (and teachers) wonder how this year compares with other years. Just for fun, here are three year’s worth of maps showing tulip garden data between February 21 - 23.
Now answer this:
(To respond to these questions, please follow the instructions below.) Planning, Teaching and a Snack in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia
Tenth graders equipped with homemade puppet shows, Power Point presentations, posters and board games set out to teach the 4th grade students at the Glace Bay Elementary School about the Journey North project. The games and presentations were to teach the students about the tulip project and to prepare them for theplanting they would do on their school grounds later that month.
Sandra LeBlanc has some BIG ideas about how students can teach students. Find out more about this unique teaching and learning project using the Red Emperor tulips as a center-point. For more about this neat exchange and lots of pictures, visit: Capitol Hill Day School Plant Louisiana Purchase Garden Third Graders at Capitol Hill Day School in Washington DC finally planted RedEmperor Tulips.Theirs isn't just a normal square garden bed. Here is what they shared:
Connie Brown,Third Grade Teacher
Discussion of Challenge Questions #2 and #3 When we asked you to count how long it took tulips to emerge from the day they were planted in various places, students did a good job on their math. It took the least number of days in Louisiana where the bulbs were given a cold treatment in the refrigerator! Many of you mentioned that it was the climate that made the difference. Right. However, Ms. Cerullo's period 1 class, Joyce Middle School, Woburn, MA tackled the question of WHY head on. Here is what they shared: “We don't think that counting the number of days between planting and emerging has any relevance. We think the most important factor is temperature, especially the ground temperature at the depth of the bulbs. Snow cover is also a factor and can help by insulating the ground and adding moisture. We have had more snow than normal this year and our temperatures have been far below normal. We predict a fairly late emerging this year.” Great job Joyce Middle School! How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:
1. Address an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-tulip@learner.org Copyright 2003 Journey
North. All Rights Reserved. |