Journey North International Plant Study Spring 2004

Tulip Garden Update: April 16, 2004

Today's Report Includes:

This Week's Tulip Data
Reminder- Important Definitions
Holland's Fields Coming into Bloom
Challenge Question #9
Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
Microclimate Challenge: Some Results Are In
Teacher Tip: “My Name is Georgia” Book for Art Lesson
Journal Entries Give Bud to Creative Writers
Try This! Challenge Question #10

This Week's Tulip Garden Data
Each day this week we saw the same thing happen in the tulip reports: more Blooming Gardens reported than Emerging Gardens. Longer days and warmer temperatures are reflected on our map again this week. Wondering why the northern gardens still show only brown dots on the map? Study the Climate Prediction Center’s map of average temperatures; look for patterns to explain the pattern of spring shown on the tulip map.


Average Temperatures last week	Today's tulip map

Reminder- Important Definitions
Just a quick reminder to help you in determining when to report your tulip data:

Important Reminder
Emerging The first sign of the tulip leaves breaking the ground. (No matter how many tulips you plant, report the FIRST tulip to emerge.) (Photo: Jo Leland)	Blooming The first time the flower opens and you can see the pistils and stamens inside.

Holland's Fields Coming into Bloom
In the next couple of weeks, hundreds of acres will be blooming on Holland's farmlands, changing the countryside into a carpet of vibrant colors. Unfortunately, the farmers take the flower off of the tulip as soon as it starts blooming.

Challenge Question #9:
"Why do you suppose Dutch farmers do this? Why remove the blooms!?"

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

Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

Taking a closer look underground
Credit C Margolis

Ever wonder what is happening to your tulip bulb under the ground? Let's take a closer look.
Most people will walk right past a bed of green leaved tulips after they have bloomed and ignore them. Little do they know that this is a really important time in the life of this little bulb plant!

What Happens Underground?

Microclimate Challenge: Some Results Are In
Tremont Junior High School, Tremont, IL
The tulips in our control garden bloomed on April 6th. The tulips needed 256 growing degree units and the soil temperature was 43 degrees. Our tulips that were planted next to the building on the southeast corner had bloomed on March 29th and the tulips on a north facing hill bloomed on April 9th.

Lakota Elementary, Lakota, ND
Although the tulips we planted on the south side of our school emerged over a month ago, we waited until today when our test plot (4 blocks from our school) showed emerging tulips. We are soooo excited! And we are anxiously waiting the day that they bloom!

And at Brattleboro Academy School, Brattleboro, VT
We are so excited that all six classes have emerging tulips! They are between 1 and 3 inches at this point, depending on where they were planted. The first to emerge were the ones planted in the sheltered court yard of our school by our Primary Green Team classes. The next to emerge were the ones planted on the south side of the building are up now too. Even some red emperor tulips planted 4 years ago have come up!

Teacher Tip: “My Name is Georgia” Book for Art Lesson

In Hopkins, MN students at Katherine Curren Elementary enriched their spring tulip studies using the book, MY NAME IS GEORGIA, by Jeanette Winter.

Teacher Sue DeWit sent in tulip photographs that were inspirational for their work with the O’Keefe book, and these words, “We used the book MY NAME IS GEORGIA by Jeanette Winter. It was a wonderful way to integrate art, geography and science. A great finish to our tulip project. The arboretum is now working with second grade now on plants. Journey North is wonderful; a great fit with our curriculum, and it creates many “ahahs.”

Journal Entries Give Bud to Creative Writers
Sometimes sighting reports can be the springboard to creativity. Third Graders at Beall Elementary in Rockville, MD sent such a detailed report we feel they brought us along for the tour of their tulips!
Read on:

“We have been away from our garden for 8 days because of spring break. When we came back, we noticed that:

8 tulips were almost in bloom
we saw three buds
some of the plants had more than one bud on its stem
one of the tulips doesn't seem to be growing properly
the rest of the plants appeared to be taller
we were unable to measure them today - it was drizzling
it's been raining for about three days
the soil is really wet
there are no noticeable cracks
the rain gauge collected 1/2 inch of rain"

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. 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 #10:
"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.)

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 #9 (or #10).
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 23, 2004.