Seasons in the Soil: Activities
In this first set of activities for Seasons in the Soil, you will
first begin a journal, then establish your study sites, and begin monitoring
the weather conditions and the temperature of the air and soil on your
site. Finally, you will go on to the spring investigations
where you will do some physical and chemical tests and then and look
for life in your soil.
Later editions of Seasons in the Soil for fall and winter will
include activities for those seasons as well.
Click on the side to start activities. If this is your first
visit, please start with the journal activity and follow the rest in order.
(new page, spring investigations)
Investigations for the Season: Spring
Ahhh...the air temperature begins to creep up, the days are longer and
brighter, and it is starting to get pretty noisy outside. As both
the air and soil temperatures begin to warm, the activity levels above
and below the ground are on the rise. Migrating birds return from
their southern wintering grounds to look for mates, build nests and breed
offspring. Those trees which lost their leaves in the fall now begin
to leaf out with tiny new leaves and some with buds of early spring flowers.
As ice melts on streams and ponds, amphibians crawl out from their mud
chambers, look for mates and begin breeding. If you are near a pond
or a stream, listen for their calls in the evening and try and record when
you first begin to hear them in early spring.
As the soil begins to thaw and warm up, tiny seeds which were dormant
throughout the winter and protected by tough seed coats soften in the moist
soil environment and send their shoots to the soil surface. Burrowing
animals begin to wake up out of torpor and hibernation and emerge from
the soil environment in search of food and water. Some earthworms
return from their winter hideaways deep in the subsoil environment to the
topsoil. The decomposition cycle resumes at full speed as bacteria,
fungi and other microorganisms frozen in the cold, winter soils respond
to the warmer, moist soil environment of spring. You may notice the
difference in the feel of the soil under your boots, maybe kind of sloshy,
springy and wet. Can you see little green shoots coming up out of
the ground yet?
Spring will arrive gradually and happens at different times in different
communities. Many signs in the natural world, such as those we have
mentioned above, indicate the passing of the winter season and the entrance
of the spring season. What kinds of signs do you see in your community
that spring has arrived? When did you first notice the birds returning?
Late March, late April, or even late May? When do you think spring
might arrive in Minnesota, Arizona, or New York?
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