Tulip Test Gardens
Update: April 10, 2008 
"This is the best art project we've done all year."

Today's Report Includes:

  • Data, Maps, and Highlights >>
    • Try This: Attributes >>
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  • Spotlight on Technology
    • Using VoiceThread Technology >>
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  • Focus: Art and the Unexpected Beauty of Nature >>
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  • Explore: Mystery in the Garden >>
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  • Links: This Week's Tulip Garden
    Resources     >>

Data, Maps, and Highlights: Attributes of a Tulip

Highlights: Attributes of a Tulip
The following students' comments win high awards for describing the tulips emerging in their Journey North gardens. Read their reports, and then find all the attributes they used to give us a scientific picture of what they observed.

"One looked like a little green stem. It was skinny. The red ones were fat. They felt like they were rubber. Most poked out of the ground. They are pointy. Some were big and some were little and some were tiny. Some were brownish red. Some were poking through the snow. One was broken."
- Barre Town Middle and Elementary School, Barre, VT 04/08/08

"Our tulips started to emerge as buds, some being larger than others. Some were green or red in colour. The earth was damp, spongy and moist. The earth smelled liked composted leaves. The beds that received more sun had larger buds. There were still small mounds of snow in areas. The grass was brown but starting to turn green."
- West Preparatory School, Toronto, ON 04/07/08

Try This! Attributes
Look carefully at these emerging tulips. (click image) Make notes about all the details you see. Then write a paragraph including many attributes that describe the tulips.

  • This Week's Map >>
  • Data (for your map) >>
  • Handout: Making Sense of Tulip Garden Maps >>

This Week's Map >>
 This Week's Map Question Handout >>
Spotlight on Technology

Benjamin Franklin Middle School
In Rocky Mount, VA, students used VoiceThread technology to record and detail their tulip garden experiment. Now they can share their project through the internet.

Incorporating Journey North and VoiceThread, which is an online media album, provided an opportunity for the students to participate in group conversations which can be viewed, commented on, and even edited.

Check out their VoiceThread and learn more >>


"Two of our 120 tulip bulbs bloomed today! Many are ready to burst open but I am afraid we are expecting sleet tomorrow morning! Check out our Journey North Tulip VoiceThread Project!"


Check out their project >>

Focus: Art and the Unexpected Beauty of Nature

Each year as spring advances, we are drawn to its wonder and beauty.

Take some clues from Georgia O'Keeffe's art for a lesson in the tulip garden. Use this technique to focus and capture the beauty of a tulip flower, or any other wonder of spring.

  • Art Lesson >>
  • Lessons from Judy Huter's classroom >>

Judy Huter's Classroom Art
Explore: Mystery in the Garden
Robeson Elementary Center
Birdsboro, PA
"Our school purchased 100 bulbs for the tulip experiment. Half of the bulbs are thriving and some even have buds. The other half have not even emerged.
"We now remember that the bulbs came in two mesh bags. The bulbs that are growing were in one bag and the bulbs that aren't growing were in the other bag. Could they be faulty bulbs? "

What's happening underground?

"I dug one out today and it is rotten and the outer skin is very thick."

Lesson?
In the fall check your bulbs carefully when you receive them, then store in a cool, safe place until planting.
Resources: This Week's Tulip Garden Resources
  • How Does Your Garden Grow?: Tulip Garden Growth Chart >>
  • Activity: Making Blooming Tulips in the Classroom >>
  • Global Garden Partners: How Do We Compare? >>
  • Helpful Weather Links: Climate Weather and Seasons >>
  • Tulip Garden Journals (click-and-print) >>
More Journey North Lessons and Teaching Ideas!

The Next Tulip Garden Update Will Be Posted on April 17, 2008

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