Journey North International Plant Study Spring 2005

FINAL Tulip Garden Update: May 13, 2005

Today's Report Includes:

This Week's Map
Spring's Arrival Animation: Week-by-week Slide Show
Teacher Tip
Close Up with Georgia O'Keeffe’s Art
Skills Practiced Early: Looking for Tulip Parts
Wrapping it Up: Portfolios Unfold in Ithaca
NY Capital has Blooming Success
Electrified and Red
Heads Up, Teachers! Science Standards and the Tulip Study
Year-End Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts!

This Week's Map and Data

This week’s final map still shows some gardens yet to show red. As nature often teaches us, factors beyond our control can change the outcome of an experiment. We know your stories about hungry rabbits and deer that put an early end to the tulip study. We heard about unexpected construction that tossed tulip bulbs under loads of soil, and snow plows that moved and covered gardens with mountains of snow. All good scientists chalk these things up to experience. We hope to see you try again next season!

Spring's Arrival Animation: Week-by-week Slide Show
For almost 4 months you have watched the ever-changing Journey North tulip maps. You were challenged to think and act like scientists as you made predictions and puzzled out the mysteries of seasonal change. Now you can see an instant replay! Play this slide show several times and watch how the spring advanced each week across North America.

Slide Show (Click on map to start)

Try This!
As you viewed the slide show, do you see changes you did not notice before? Make a general statement to describe what happened as the season went on. Try to explain the underlying reasons for this pattern. How did the "pace" of spring change from one week to the next? What factors might have influenced this?

Teacher Tip
As students look at ever-changing Journey North maps, they will be challenged to think and act like scientists as they make predictions and puzzle out the mysteries of migrations and other seasonal changes. A quick review of this "teacher's lesson," will give you guidance for helping students analyze what's happening and interpret why it's happening.

Analyzing Journey North Maps

Close Up with Georgia O'Keeffe’s Art
Teacher Helen Pappas and Jenni Johns were so enchanted with the Journey North activity, "Focusing on the Details with O'Keeffe," that they planned a special field trip and art project in conjunction with the blossoming of our Emperor tulips.
They share their project and some amazing artwork!

Tulips and Georgia O'Keeffe: Focusing on the Details

Skills Practiced Early: Looking for Tulip Parts
At the turn of the century students of biology were taught how to identify plants by sorting them into plant families. Careful examining and detailed drawings were expected from each child. As they focused on describing each plant's flowers they began to see how structure could determine which plants were related. Training to look closely was a skill to be learned early and used often.

In Marquette, MI enthusiastic tulip gardeners monitored the coming of spring and shared the news with their local paper. Students visited their school garden daily to measure, describe and sketch the progress of their tulip. Using scientific inquiry in a real-life experiment exactly fulfilled MI science, math and literacy standards.

CQ #10 gave you a challenge to look closely at your beautiful tulip flowers to see how it belonged to the Lily family.

2nd Grader Mikey said, "My favorite part was observing because you got to see all the new stuff come out like the pistol and the stamen."

Wrapping it Up: Portfolios Unfold in Ithaca
How did your tulip experiments unfold this year? What did you learn from your tulip investigations this year? Did you plant bulbs upside down? Did you vary the depth when you planted your bulbs? What about the Microclimate Challenge?

credit Pat Gaines

Here at the Journey North headquarters we were amazed at the creative experiments you wrote about. As we look at a map covered with red dots of blooming tulips this time of year we wonder what you found out through all your studies.

Visit a gallery showing how students in Ithaca, NY made graphic organizers to tell what they learned in a season as they tracked the coming of spring across North America.

Visit a Gallery of Portfolio Pictures

NY Capital has Blooming Success

Credit Carol Ann Margolis

Our after-school program with the Boys & Girls Club of Albany enjoyed some April showers in front of the Visitors Center's Journey North Tulip Garden. Luckily, the cool weather allowed the Albany school children to see their tulips blooming upon their return from spring break.

This year 11 schools participated in the Journey North tulip study. What a significant contribution to this scientific study!

Electrified and Red
Their 1st Red Emperor bloomed the morning of 05/04/05. These pictures came later.

Where is this garden? How many things can you identify in the picture to help determine where the garden might be? Can you see the portable electric fence? What might that keep out of the garden?

Greetings from Eagle View Elementary in Breezy Point, MN!

Heads Up, Teachers! Science Standards and the Tulip Study
Are you thinking ahead to science plans for the next school year? Don't miss our new Standards Chart for the Journey North Tulip Study:

Standards Chart for the Tulip Study

Year-End Evaluation: Please Share Your Thoughts!
Please take a few minutes to share your suggestions and comments in our Year-End Evaluation. The information readers provide is critical for planning new initiatives and for improving Journey North. We'd appreciate your help. THANK YOU!

Journey North
Year End Evaluation
Please share your thoughts

This is the FINAL Tulip Garden Update for Spring 2005.
We've had a lot of fun learning about plants and the seasons this year! Thanks to everyone who participated in this huge scientific experiment with Journey North. See you in the fall!