November: Tucking in Discovery Garden for Winter

During the month of November, students, teachers, and parent volunteers were busy readying the Discovery Garden for its long winter's slumber.  As we pulled the final spent tomato plants from the raised beds, Junior Girl Scout Troop 173 volunteered their time and muscle to weather-treat the seven wooden raised bed frames and turn fresh new compost into our soil.  We are very thankful for their help.  Their efforts this fall have made the beds ready for planting again as soon as the ground thaws in March, and will ensure rich planting soil in the Discovery Garden next spring.



The International Journey North Tulip Project

For the third year in a row, our 1st graders are participating in the International Journey North Tulip Project.  Terra Centre 1st graders work with other schools across the Northern Hemisphere on a cooperative science experiment to track the emergence, growth, and bloom of the Red Emperor Tulip plant.  Journey North tulip bulbs are planted according to a specific scientific protocol in the fall at each of the participating schools.  Local emergence and bloom dates are recorded online as the seasons change from winter to spring in different regions of the Hemisphere.  These bright red tulips are early bloomers and are used as scientific tools for students to measure the arrival of spring in their hometown.  Emergence dates are plotted on an online map of North America, and students learn that spring arrives in different places at different times!  Our Terra Centre 1st graders have each made predictions for when "spring" will arrive in Burke.  We will see if any lucky student(s) picked the correct date of emergence for our Terra Centre Journey North tulips! 

Our careful observations about tulip emergence and bloom dates are also used by scientists to help track climate change patterns over time in the Northern Hemisphere.  How do differences in temperature, sunlight, geographic location, percipitation, and weather influence plant growth?  Will Spring 2011 arrive in Burke earlier or later than it did last year?

You can check out the Journey North Tulip map at:  http://www.learner.org/jnorth/maps/tulips_spring2011.html. 

Pansy Pattern Gardening
In November, our kindergarten classes worked cooperatively to design and plant their very own Pansy Pattern Garden.  Classes voted and chose an A-B-B-A math pattern of yellow and blue pansies.  They then divided the oval garden space into four separate areas (one per class), and each child had the experience of planting two pansies as part of the overall pattern.  The cold-tolerant pansies will survive the winter and continue to add beauty to the Discovery Garden throughout most of the spring.  Last year's Pansy Pattern Garden survived being buried under two feet of snow!

Earthworms Make America Great!
Every year, 1st graders at Terra Centre have the opportunity to study worms.  In November 2011, Mrs. Brinley's K-1 multi-age class took their learning to a new level by performing the off-beat musical, "Earthworms Make America Great".  Students sang 10 original songs about earthworms, including the blues-inspired "All My Worms Is Gone", the anatomically-oriented "Five Hearts", and the hoe down ditty, "My Compost Pile is Mighty High". The class also made Dirt Shirts for their costumes using soil from the Discovery Garden to naturally dye the shirts brown.