Is this spring the warmest in recorded history? Or is it the coolest? We often hear weather announcers discuss these things. How could you compare spring's arrival from year to year? What could you measure?
In northern regions of North America, the melting of ice cover on lakes, rivers, ponds and oceans is a welcome sign of spring. This event is known as "ice-out" and ice-out dates can be used to compare spring's pace from year to year.
To begin, students will adopt a local body of water and report whether or not it's frozen. Using this information they can construct a mid-winter map to show the extent of winter's icy grip. As spring advances across the continent each site will report back when the ice has finally melted.
How would spring be different if water never froze? Why does this fact affect all living things? Through a full range of activities, students will explore the connections between water, ice, temperature, and springtime. In addition to the "Spring Fever" lesson on page 113, on-line classroom experiments will be woven into this study. On the Spring Equinox we'll hold the second annual Internet Ice-Out Contest for Walden Pond. Students will be challenged to predict ice-out at Thoreau's famous pond by comparing records he kept in the mid-1800's against this spring's temperature records.
© Journey North 1996