Tulips
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Tulip Garden Update: April 18, 2003

Today's Report Includes:

Wacky Weather Means Springtime!
Spring is an "in between" season as winter turns to summer. This week we see summery weather and wintry weather were both happening in many places. Duluth, Minnesota, had 80+ degrees Fahrenheit two days before an ice storm hit. This week you reported in about rain, heat, snow and ice conditions - all in the same week!

Check it out. Plot the data on your map or use ours. Spring is advancing!

Gardeners Share
Emerging Under the Snow in Jamestown, ND 03/23/03
Roosevelt Elementary School reports:
Last week we checked the tulip bed and it was still covered with snow, after several days of warm weather the tulip bed became uncovered and our tulips had emerged. Judging from the size they must have emerged under the snow.

Cold and Rain in Mount Laurel, NJ 04/10/103
Homeschoolers report:
All the tulips came up at the same time despite the squatting vole population that also arrived. All the tulips also bloomed the same day but did not fully open until the sun came out as we have had several days of cold weather and rain. Wow! Are they gorgeous!

Snowing on Alaska Tulips
Sterling Elementary in Sterling, AK 04/14/103
Spring has officially arrived! Our tulips came up over the weekend, then withstood snow flurries on Tuesday. We're hoping they are hardy enough to live through more cold weather, because there will still be nights below freezing.

Snow Day in Armada, MI 04/14/103
Armada Early Elementary School reported:
We were really hoping that the ice storm we had last week wasn't going to hurt the tulips. There was so much cold and ice we even had a snow day. So to our surprise, when we came back to school on Monday - there they were. We only have a few tulips that emerged and hopefully now that the warm weather is here, more will start. How exciting this is!!

Unseasonably Warm in Council Bluffs, IA 04/14/103
Walnut Grove School reports:
We came to school Monday morning and noticed that four of our Red Emperor Tulips were in full bloom, probably as a result of our extremely warm temperatures over the weekend. The students were excited to see the tulips.

Don’t Come Closer! How Plants Protect their own Space
Allelopathy:
the suppression of growth of one plant species by another due to the release of toxic substances
Have you ever felt like you needed your own space? Sometimes we all need to be alone. Plants and trees need to have their own space, too. How do you get your own space? You can walk away or shut your door, but what can plants do? They can't walk or run anywhere. Plants have a different way of getting their own space. They use allelopathy.
What’s that? Allelopathy is defined as, “the suppression of growth of one plant species by another due to the release of toxic substances.”

Try This!
Find out more and try some cool experiments to test plants in your neighborhood for these toxic substances.

Building Students Vocabulary with Journey North
Reading Writing SelectionVocabulary is essential to comprehension. Students need to apply strategies before, during, and after reading to understand texts. Journey North provides a wealth of informational texts to help students learn about words in meaningful contexts. Use the following ideas to help students build and extend vocabulary skills during your Journey North studies:
  • Try inviting students to collect words from the Allelopathy text, and the context-rich sentence(s) in which the words were found. Have students find definitions using dictionaries and other reference materials.

Or try:

Journal Entries Give Bud to Creative Writers
Sometimes your observations can be the springboard to creativity. Here is a group example from a class of student observations.
Read on:

"Ph 6.5
Soil temperauture 44º.
The soil was a lot darker then usual. AJ
It was misty outside. MC
It was windy. KM
The air was fresh. AM
It was cool out. SH
The sky was dark. SS
The soil was harder packed then in the fall. ES
The sky had clouds over clouds. CW
It was drizzling out and cloudy. CR
The dirt was cold and wet. SF
Since yesterday the weather changed from hot and sunny to cloudy and cold. KMac
The weather warmed up since this morning. EJ
Yesterday was really hot and today it was cold. NS
It was wet. JS
The tulips were sprouting!! SG"

It almost sounds like poetry, doesn't it.

Try This!

Go outside with your journals and take a tour of your tulip garden. Once you are out in the garden try making a quiet zone all around the garden space. In this quiet space pull out your pencils and jot down some of the attributes, or qualities of the surrounding area. Use your senses to define some of the things you see, smell, hear and feel.
When you return to the classroom take some time to share your journal entries. Make a list of them on the board.
Next, try your hand at creating some simple cinquain (SIN cane) poetry!
What is a cinquain?

Challenge Question #16:
"Can you turn your journal entries into poetry? Maybe your tulips are blooming, or emerging, or maybe they are still covered with snow. Can you creatively share the garden in a poem?" (Send some of your poetry to Journey North.)

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

Sappington School Examines Tulips
This report with pictures came in just past our last deadline:
“Our first tulip bloomed on Mon. Mar. 31st. By Wed. Ap.2, many more had bloomed. Our 3rd grade scientists spent an hour in the garden recording their observations, in writing and with labeled sketches, in their science journals.
Sappington School, Credit Laurie Johnston

They measured the plants- leaves, stalks and flower petals- and any other measurement they could think of. The air temp. in our garden was 86 degrees F, the soil temp. was 70 degrees F and the day was crystal clear and windy. Out of 36 bulbs planted, two didn't come up at all. We have 4 experiment bulbs, one sideways, 3 upside-down. All emerged, but no blooms yet.”

Colorado Altitude Experiment News Flash!
Tulips have emerged in Aspen! Denise Vetromile’s 2nd Grade class reported on 3/30/03:
“In spite of large spring snow storms, our tulips have made their presence known! We have made signs to let the school population know they are there so they don't get trampled. The next challenge that our tulips face deer - deer LOVE the taste of tulip flowers AND plants!”

How are your predictions about the advancement of spring? This year is it following Teal’s prediction that spring "ascends mountainsides at the rate of about a hundred feet a day?"

We have filled in the Pueblo and the Aspen tulip dates, now you can watch for the other Colorado gardens reporting in the data base and fill in the rest of the chart.

Challenge Question #17:
“When do you predict the tulips will emerge in Frazer (8,550 feet) and Crested Butte (8,909 feet) Co?”

(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.)

South Park Elementary in Pueblo, CO sends Springtime News:
“Out tulips bloomed on April 4th, at least a week later than previous years. We see that the tulips at Aspen Elementary bloomed about 4 days before our prediction. We eagerly await hearing from Fraser and Crested Butte.”

Pueblo blooms 04/04/03! Credit Kathleen Allen
Make Your Own: Tulip Models
Tulips made by students at Irwin Math/Science Magnet Elementary School in Fort Wayne, IN
Students at Irwin Math/Science Magnet Elementary School in Fort Wayne, IN made models of the entire tulip plant. They created them using materials they were able to find in local stores. They creatively used small balloons to represent the bulb, shredded gift packing material for roots (taped to the bulb), straws for the stem, green paper for the leaves, yellow pipe cleaners for the anthers and stigmas, and red paper folded into an Origami paper cup for the flower.
They wanted to share this fun project with all the rest of the Journey North Tulip Study participants.
Try it - You'll have fun!
New Bulbs vs. Old Bulbs Discussion of Challenge Question #13
Old and new gardens
Credit Gayle Kloewer
Ever wonder why tulip planting instructions insist gardens are planted with new tulips at the start of each season?

Take a look at the two gardens in York, NE. One was planted in fall of 2001, and one in the fall of 2002.
You’ll notice that although they are in the same location with the same conditions the older garden is blooming while the new one is just showing green leaves. This pattern was also true when the tulips emerged.
What factors might make this happen?

  1. Root structure: older bulbs may have more extensive root systems
  2. Older bulbs roots may have pushed the bulb closer to the surface where the soil warmed up faster so they emerged earlier

Can you think of more factors?

Peter Rabbit or Easter Bunny in York, NE? Challenge Question #15
Credit Gayle Kloewer
Gayle Kloewer’s class tulip plants have been damaged. What was your guess about what made those little nibbles out of the leaves?

They report “friendly” rabbits seen in the area. Hmmm, could this be one of those bunnies that we see carrying baskets about at this time of year?

 

How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:

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#16 (or #17).
3. In the body of EACH message, give your answer to ONE of the questions above.

The Next Tulip Garden Update Will Be Posted on April 25, 2003.

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