Tulip
Garden Update: March 5, 2004
This Week's Tulip Garden News It's not yet St. Patrick's Day, but already we are "seeing green" when we glance at today's tulip map. An incredible 39 more gardens have emerged in the past week! Why so many? Is this typical? Today we will look at some weather maps to help you answer these questions. What is a Typical Spring? Mapping Discoveries What is normal? Defining a normal or typical spring can be tricky. Lucky for us the U. S. Weather Service keeps all kinds of weather records each year so we can study them for clues. Let's compare this year's weather and tulip maps with last year's maps.
Take a good look - then try these questions:
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) Springtime Classroom Discussions Mrs. Monahan's 3rd Grade class wrote to share this, "We have been watching, with much excitement, as tulips are emerging all around the country. We have discussed the fact that other places have different climates and some people will see their tulips before we do. But, we have had several days of warmer weather and were crossing our fingers that our tulips would soon emerge, too. We've been checking every day...and it finally happened! We saw two of our tulips creep up through the ground. We are excitedly waiting for the rest." Teacher Tip: Start a Science Club Ever wonder how to fit the Tulip project or other Journey North projects into your busy school day? Maybe a Science Club is what your school needs. Teri Bickmore, a former teacher, is helping inquisitive minds expand over the lunch hour at a local elementary school. Teri uses JN activities almost exclusively. "We LOVE the tulip study and spend the most time on this. Every scientific/geographical concept we could ever want to cover can be done in this study." She started out with an idea but no money for any materials. "The beauty of Journey North," wrote Teri "is that I can so easily download activities and lessons from the Journey North site each week for free." Armed with a grant to buy tulip bulbs this fall she has built enthusiasm and fun into this optional science time at her school.
Thinking Outside the (Tulip) Box - In Uzbekistan! Every now and then we have the chance to think "outside the box." This is what scientists really like! Eager to apply some of the things you have learned about tulip plants and springtime? Read on to find out about an unusual tulip garden planted on the other side of the world. Then join us all in predicting its fate.
Why unofficial? The tulips were planted according to protocol, but they weren't planted at the right time. They were planted on February 8. Pam writes, "Yes, the tulips did get planted, but I am not sure they will do any good. They were planted February 8 in Tashkent. Since they were planted so late, I don't know what will happen. I guess we will see. Hope all is well with you and the other JNorthers." Locate Tashkent, Uzbekistan in your atlas (37.5053, 67.0614). To find it, look near the border of Kazakhstan in the eastern part of Uzbekistan.
(To respond to this question, please follow the instructions below.) The Days, They are A-changing: Learning to be Observers
Brainstorm what evidence a keen observer could look for. Go out and discover the small things that make for seasonal change in and out of the tulip garden. And then set up questions to help you make sense of the changes you notice. Try This!
Hobos In the Garden: Mystery Garden - Discussion CQ #4 Learning to "see a big picture" by studying a graph is a complex, but fun activity. Our temperature data from the last Update was sent to us from a mystery classroom. Did you figure out where the garden was? Here is what you told us about the graphs:
Snow has great insulation properties. You can see that when it was 25 degrees BELOW zero air temperature the temperature under the snow was 21 degrees ABOVE zero. Can you calculate how many degrees difference that is? Mystery
Revealed How to Respond to Today's Challenge Questions:
1. Address
an e-mail message to: jn-challenge-tulip@learner.org Copyright
1997-2004 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. |