Journey North International Plant Study Spring 2005

Tulip Garden Update: March 4, 2005

Today's Report Includes:

This Week’s Map and Data
Color-coded Bands Give us Clues
Challenge Question #5
Mystery Tracks: Critters in the Garden
Try This! Challenge Question #6
When it’s Springtime in Alaska…

This Week’s Map and Data

Wow! A pattern is emerging with this week’s tulip garden map. Do you see it? Let’s explore further this week.
Students from Kidron Elementary School and lots of other places were surprised to welcome in an early spring this year. Happy gardeners were rewarded for keeping a close eye on spring this week. “Yippee! Our tulips have started to emerge.”
And from Washington, IA, in the center of the continent, we are hearing this, “Our first tulips are emerging! This is the earliest we've ever had them, but we've had really mild temperatures this winter.”
What were your predictions? Are you right on target?

Color-coded Bands Give us Clues

Average temperatures Feb. 20-26, 2005

Just for fun, this week we are asking you to EXPLORE a map full of colored bands. This beautiful map shows us average temperatures last week using a different colored band for each range of temperatures. It is called an “isotherm” map. Isotherm means “same temperature.” The isotherm is an imaginary line that connects places having the same average temperatures.

First, study the isotherm color bands to understand what the average temperatures were. Next, study the pattern of tulip gardens that have emerged and bloomed so far using the Journey North tulip map. Then answer this:

Challenge Question #5:
“What are the average temperatures (and color bands) for all the areas where tulip gardens are growing? Summarize what you learned from comparing these maps.”

(To respond to these questions, please follow the instructions below.)

Mystery Tracks: Critters in the Garden
In Decatur, GA, students weren’t interested in sharing their tulips – not with critters, that is. Here’s what they wrote, “…Tulips must have come up over the week-end. This afternoon when the rain stopped I took up the [SCREEN] and there were five emerged about two inches.” Why put a screen over their bulbs? A screen can protect the garden to keep hungry critters from digging up and eating tasty tulip bulbs and shoots.

Don’t peek until you’ve done some research!

Try This!
Pull out your tracking books to learn to identify some common animal tracks. Can you identify what animal the Decatur students are protecting their tulips from? Click for larger view.

More practice and a challenge - This month Holly Cerullo had a visitor in her garden in MA. She photographed the evidence left behind. Can you identify the critter?


Can you solve the critter track mystery?

Pull out your magnifying glass and use her photographs to solve this:

Challenge Question #6:
“Can you identify the animal that made these prints in the snow? If you saw these tracks in your tulip garden, would you be worried about your spring tulips? (Hint: This animal walked back and forth over its tracks.)”

(To respond to these questions, please follow the instructions below.)

When it’s Springtime in Alaska…

Students share from Soldotna, AK

Is it true that, like the old song, it is springtime in Alaska when it’s 42 below? We asked students at Redoubt Elementary in Soldotna, AK to describe what spring means in Alaska. Read what they shared, then write your own list of what spring means to you. How many things do you share in common with Alaskan students?

Springtime in Alaska

Open the Journey North MapServer. Find Soldotna, AK. What is their latitude and longitude? What is YOUR garden’s latitude and longitude?

Journey North MapServer

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 #5 (or #6).
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 March 11, 2005.