Journey North International Plant Study Spring 2007

First Grade, Terry A. Taylor Elementary, Spencerport, NY

I'm sending a picture of us planting our garden in the fall along with two pictures of our map that we have been using to chart the arrival of spring. I have also included a few pictures of us doing indoor
experiments with some tulip bulbs. We are also working on a science fair project that will display our hypothesis of the arrival of spring and document our observations so far throughout the school year.


October planting	...and here's the map!	Our class and our map
	Indoor Experiment: We wondered if a bulb really needed soil to grow. We took 2 bulbs and planted them in jars. One jar had soil and one a wet paper towel.

We have been checking the Journey North site everyday to update our reporting map. We add green triangles for areas that are observing emerging tulips and we are using red circles for the areas that have blooming tulips. We have the Journey North site as a link on our class web-page so that the students and their parents can check the site to see the updates. This has been a great way to keep parents involved with our learning. The children go home and have the opportunity to share wonderful learning experiences with their family.
In addition to planting our outdoor garden, we decided to have two different indoor experiments. We planted a bulb in a jar with soil so that we could see if the indoor tulip would grow faster than the outdoor bulb. We also planted a bulb inside of a jar with just wet paper towel. We wondered if the bulb really needed soil to grow. Our indoor bulb with soil emerged in December and has continued to grow at an extremely slow rate. Our bulb without soil began to sprout around January, but seems to have stopped growing now.

We have loved being involved with Journey North and we are eagerly watching to see our greenish-brown shoots grow into beautiful blooming tulips! That is of course when our newly fallen snow finally melts to reveal the beautiful results we have been waiting for!
- Renee Jock