If you have planted a garden but you are NOT on this list, please report to Journey North. We're now approaching the deepest, darkest time of winter. Students can find out using a very simple soil thermometer. Plan to use this cool tool once each month to find out how soil temperatures change over time. Students are always surprised each spring to see how early their tulips emerge.
Activity Begin with a class discussion.
Show students the soil temperature thermometer so they can picture how you will measure underground temperatures. Have them predict what the soil and air temperatures will be each month, from January through June. For prediction purposes, they can simply guess what they think the average temperature on a typical day would be. Then divide by two. Plan to measure the soil temperature and average air temperature once each month.