As you may recall from our March 16th report, Texas teacher Mrs. Leland explained that freezing temperatures hit when their tulips were within days of blooming. She couldn't bear the thought of letting the frost destroy them, after getting so close to the end. So, she got out of bed and went up to school and covered the tulips. "I hope I made the right decision." she said.
We asked students to discuss these questions as a class:
* How should Journey North's tulip experiment work?
* Should we let nature take its course?
* In what way can Journey North gardeners help their plants grow?
* What are we trying to test with this experiment?
Here are the opinions of students in New Jersey, New York, Maine and Pennnsylvania. When you tulips are come up, what will you do if freezing temperatures return?
From MAINE:
To Journey North,
Our class voted 14 yes and 3 no for covering the tulips. The
reasons to cover them are:
1.You cannot learn very much if the tulips die.
2. Even the tulips that survived would be poor quality.
Sincerely,
Shana, Brittany, and Jackie, Grade 5, Mount Desert Island, Maine
From NEW YORK:
We're the Journey North research team from Fyle Elementary School in
Rochester, NY. We took a vote and we decided that the tulips shouldn't
be covered because it would interfere with the natural growth process.
But, one person (out of five) disagreed. Amber felt that the tulips
would die. Bye! Librariangpetri@mail.monroe.edu
From NEW JERSEY:
When we talked about whether Ms. Leland should cover her tulips we decided
that she should leave them because she would be interfering with the
natural process we are trying to study.
Miss Schaum's 5th grade Thursday class, Oradell New Jersey
t2busy@aol.com
From PENNSYLVANIA:
March 5, 1996
Dear Ms. Leland and class,
Hi! I'm Meghan McManus, and I'm working on this tulip project
alone with a friend, Colleen Knarr. We're both twelve and are in the 7th
grade at Lock Haven High School, Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. We've come up
with our decision, we think that it's okay to have covered the tulips to
prevent frost bite, however, since the question asked if we thought
whether or not nature should take its course, we've concluded that nature
could destroy the garden more than it could help it at this point. Help
it as much as nature asks. I guess we should kind of tell you our tulips
aren't being grown outside, and we didn't plant them, and they are doing
well, we expect a bloom any time now. Presently, the snow has melted and
the tulips in our home gardens are beginning to pop up.
Please write to:
NHeilman@oak.Kcsd.K12.pa.us.
Meghan McManus and Colleen Knarr
 |
|
|---|
