Our preschool class in NE New Jersey (in the USA) and
our pen-pal third grade class in rural Malatya, Turkey are collaborating on the Signs of Spring project from Journey North.
Photos from teacher Duygu Ergen in Malatya,Turkey.
March 13th,2009
Click to enlarge
Photos from teacher Duygu Ergen in Malatya,Turkey.
April 4th,2009
Click to enlarge
Photos taken by Duygu Ergen on April 7th...Click to enlarge!
What our four year old class noticed on March 25th in Paramus, New Jersey( Click
to enlarge):
"Grass is growing. I smell it. It smells like onions."
~Armaan
"I see a flower. A yellow flower and green leaves."
~Mya
"I feel warm. I wanted to take my coat off."
~Bella
"I hear birds. Birds are singing!"
~Dylan
Our four year old class in Paramus,NJ took a walk in the rain on April 6,2009.Here is
what we noticed :
Bella: "We saw a Robin and we heared thunder."
Mya: "We felt the dirt and the rain and everything wet. The dirt was soft. We saw shiny raindrops on the branch."
Adam: "We saw the rain make circles and bubbles in the river. I think a waterfall was ahead because the water was flowing
that way. Then the waterfall goes down. The water...it goes down but it doesn't go back up. You know? Maybe a bulldozer pushes
water down the waterfall."
Furkan: "Wearing shoes because it was wet here. And mud."
Dylan: "I saw a tree. Maybe there was a bug in that tree. We smelled a skunk. Phew! And we heard Geese honking."
"Rain Goes Down"
A chant by,
Dylan,Mya,Adam,Amy,Furkan and Bella
(Children created the chant after our walk in the rain.We passed around a rain -stick while
sitting in a circle.)
Rainbow Red
Rainbow Blue
Yellow Sun
Rainbow
Raining
Rainbow
Rain goes down
Drip
Drop
Drip
Drop
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!
Blink
Blink
CLAP!!!!
Check back soon for more from Malatya, Turkey and Paramus, New Jersey USA...
Hi Miss Hope,
We have been observing the signs of spring so far.
I asked the signs of spring in this village to my students and they gave me very interesting answers that I have
heard for the first time in my life. For example they say in spring sheep begin to give birth, especially in March. No other
month is available for birth because sheep are supposed to go to meadow to eat grass in April. Otherwise, if there is a born
in another month they will come to face the lack of grass. For my students the birth of sheep is the most specific sign of
spring. Today one of my students' sheep has given a birth. You can see the twins have still has the umbilical cord. Another
sign is that there is a flower named linaria and it grows only in the beginning of spring. I took its photo and sent to you.
My students add that there is no snow, no ice but grass. That's all my students have got to say so far. We will go on observing
the signs.
My students listed some more signs of spring and I sent some pictures
about the signs.
1 ) The villagers inoculate the trees in order to have delicious fruits. Also when they want
to have two kinds of fruit in one tree they inoculate the trees. For example, they take plum tree and inoculate it with apricot
tree and at the end they will have plum and apricot in one single tree. It is a kind of artificial semination. I sent
the inoculated trees photo to you.
2) Some animals come back such as earthworms, moles, owls,cuckoo, ants,
bees, snakes, scorpions.
3) Chickens are hatching.
4) Snow melts and the water in brook rises.
5)
Partridges start to mate.
6) The colour of the soil changes.
7) Villagers start agricultural spraying
in order to protect trees from insects.
8) Villagers plough the soil so that crabgrasses can not grow.
After ploughing soil will be more fertile.
9) Trees will be in blossom.
10) Villagers plant barley,
avena, rye, tomatoes, spinach, apricot trees,pine trees. They make a special area to plant them. I took the photo of it.
11)
People celebrate Hıdrellez (old Turkish celebration of spring )
The children in Miss Hope's Class are "Habitat Helpers". Read the photo-journal below. Click on each picture individually
to enlarge it and read the captions.Then click the tab buttons to turn the page.
