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Supplemental Activities

This spring, as students were exploring the study of spring, they also examined the effect that climate change has on the coming of spring. Below are some activities that help explore more about the species featured in the spring watch and illustrate concepts of climate change. Registered classes also received additional activities and information in the mail upon registration.

Additional Learning Opportunities for the Jeepers Peepers Data

Phenologists study the relationship between seasonal changes and climate change. As we record the sightings of these species this spring, we are all phenologists! You may wish each student to keep his or her own journal of spring: recording robins, frogs, tulips and forsythia blooming, the ice out of a local pond, the temperature at their house when they get up, when they first mow the lawn, or the daytime high temperature picked out of a local newspaper or the nightly news. They may also wish to record any activities they see happening around town that have a positive or negative impact on frogs and robins (i.e. new development, roads, filling wetlands, clearing of trees).

Other suggested learning opportunities for the data include

(1) Graph weekly temperatures from your school or other schools around the state.   Figure the average daily temperature for the state for each week and graph it.

(2) Graph weekly snow depths from your school or other schools around the state. 

(3) Review the data maps on DEP's web site and discuss the differences around the state.   How many weeks 'ahead' or 'behind' is your school in relation to other schools around the state?  Why might this be?  (elevation, ocean influences, latitudinal differences ...)

(4) While you are studying how spring is springing in Maine, why not submit your data to the national monitoring site, Journey North. This way, you can see what happens both here in Maine and across the country.
Go to: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/spring2004/index.html

Weather

Weather: Temperature, Snow and Ice-out, a Jeepers Peepers Activity

Project Learning Tree (off-site)

If you are interested in receiving the activity that was featured here during the project, please contact Tamara Whitmore at Tamara.A.Whitmore@maine.gov or (207) 287-7663 or write to Tamara Whitmore, 17 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0017.

For more information on Project Learning Tree Activities, please visit the Project Learning Tree website at www.plt.org. For Project Learning Tree activities and correlation to Maine State Learning Results, visit www.mainetreefoundation.org.

ARM Education Program Lessons (off-site)

Arctic Microclimates (off-site) Students will discover the variation in microclimates and how scientists determine average global temperatures to study climate change. This activity can be done indoors or out. Maine learning results information.