October 2003 Week 4 Observations

Participants are listed by latitude and longitide, starting from the northernmost latitude. 54:52N-40:00N | 39:59N-29:27N | Firsts | Map | Quest [54:52N 6:17W] UNITED KINGDOM Northern Ireland, Ballymena P6/7KS Ballymena Primary School, Ms. Simpson & Ms. Lee's fourth graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: The weather this week has been very cold and wet and windy. We have had our first frost. On Tuesday and Wednesday we have had some heavy hailstone showers. The days are getting much shorter too. This makes us realise that winter in on the way. LAND & WATER: The roads have been very icy and the windscreens on peoples' cars are frozen too. It's getting quite dangerous to come to school because the slippy paths make us fall. When the playground is frozen, we cannot get out to play which we do not like. However our school has just bought loads of indoor games for us to use when we have to stay inside. PLANTS: Some flowers are dead because they are not used to the cold - the frost has made their leaves go all limp. Now nearly all the trees have lost their leaves. There are dead leaves everywhere on the ground and the rain has made them very messy and even slippy. ANIMALS: In the country we have seen some bunnies hopping about in the grass.We have seen some crows which are large black birds trying to find some food. PEOPLE: People have been getting the cold and sneezing and coughing. Mums and dads don't like having to wait in the cold and rain for us to come out of school. OTHER: There has been a few power cuts in the past few days. It is quite creepy coming up to Hallowe'en. The pupils in the other 4th grade class have been doing some work on trees. We have included some photos of their work. [53:31N 113:19W] CANADA Alberta, Sherwood Park New Horizons School, Ms. Mouallem's first graders , WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: It has continued to be mild here in central Alberta. The skies have been mainly clear with a few rainy days. Temperatures are above average! LAND & WATER: The land is beginning to look very brown. Water remains open and is FULL of geese on the migratory journeys. PLANTS: Most of the leaves have already fallen and the lawns are fading to brown. Most annuals and perennials have been touched by a few nightly frosts. ANIMALS: The birds are migrating, squirrels are stocking up on food. Most people are preparing their winter bird feeders. This is crucial for many birds' survival in the very coldest part of winter. PEOPLE: People are so happy with the weather. Many wear shorts in the afternoons! Very unusual for this time of year! We hope it stays this nice until Halloween! [53:00N 00:00W] UNITED KINGDOM England, Waltham The Leas Infants School, Ms. Smith's second graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: During the night of 19th October it rained heavily for the first time in a long time. The temperature in the morning was 7C and at dinnertime it was 10C. One morning when we came to school it was 3C but by dinnertime it was 7C. We are having some sunshine as well, but we see lots more big grey clouds in the sky. Charlotte wrote "Today for the first time it has rained. This morning it was only 7C. In the night it rained heavily." Some places in Scotland have had snow this week. LAND & WATER: Oliver said that there were lots of puddles in the morning and the playground was soaking wet. The heavy rain made big puddles along the sides of the roads. PLANTS: In the night it rained heavily and the rain made the leaves fall to the ground. As the summer and the autumn have been so dry in England the trees are giving a very good display of autumn colours this year. Oliver wrote " All the leaves are fallen down. Trees now have bare branches." ANIMALS: Matthew R wrote " Seagulls are flying around the Jubilee Garden The birds have already started to eat their winter food. There are lots of birds around." Charlotte wrote "Today we saw a squirrel running around in the playground. The seagulls are eating the seeds." PEOPLE: We have been wearing our wellington boots and have brought umbrellas to school. We have the heating on in school and people are using their central heating at home. We have had fun crunching through the leaves in our playground. OTHER: Next week we have our half term holiday. We will be telling you about some of the things we will be doing. We hope it won't rain too much especially on Halloween! Some of us will be collecting conkers. We are lucky as we have some very big, old horse chestnut trees in our gardens. [45:19N 75:40W] CANADA Ontario, Ottawa Elizabeth Park Public School, Ms. Chartrand's first graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: The weather this week has been typical of fall here in Ottawa although the temperature has been 5 - 6 degrees lower than normal. We have had alot of rain and wind. It rained so much on Tuesday that the windows leaked! The sun has not been out very much - just grey sky and clouds. In the mornings, the temperature is below zero degrees Celcius. The weatherman has been predicting the possiblity of snow but so far that has not happened. LAND & WATER: Things are not frozen yet but the ground sure is wet. Most of us drag lots of wet sand in with us after recess. PLANTS: Most of the leaves are off the trees now. Some people have already covered some of the shrubs in their yards. The burlap coverings will help shield the plants from the wind and snow. ANIMALS: We are getting our bird feeders ready for our feathery friends that stay here throughout the winter. We have seen lots of big blue jays as well as a few cardinals. We no longer see geese - they have already made their way south. The squirrels are very busy gathering any nuts and seeds that they can find. Our dogs and cats have all started to grow thicker fur so they will be warm during the cold months. PEOPLE: We are all bundled up when we come to school in the morning. It is cold enough that we can see our breath when we breathe. In the stores, there are lots of shovels and snow blowers for sale. And lots of people are getting out their ski equipment to make sure it is still in good condition. There are Halloween decorations up on homes and pumpkins have been turned into jack-o-lanterns. We hope that the weather won't be too cold when we go trick or treating! [43:07N 79:01W] USA New York, Grand Island Kaegebein Elementary School, Ms. Hartman's third graders What activity have many of Grand Island's children enjoyed doing this week? ANSWER: Raking leaves into piles and jumping into them. WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: Grand Island has had roller coaster weather this week. The temperatures have ranged from 68f to 36f during the day and 63f and 32f at night. There have been many days of gray skies with drizzle. Other days have been sunny with blue skies and white puffy clouds. LAND & WATER: Many leaves are on the ground and are flying around our yards. The grass under the leaf piles is still green and still seems to be growing. PLANTS: The mums are still blooming in many of our gardens. One third of our trees are bare, one third have leaves that are changing colors, and the other third are still green. ANIMALS: We haven't seen any more bees or other insects. PEOPLE: Many of us visited farms or pumpkin patches over the weekend where they went on hay rides, drank apple cider and purchased pumpkins for Halloween. We enjoy raking the leaves into big piles and jumping into them. Some of our dads and moms use leaf blowers to clear their yards of leaves. [42:54N 90:56W] USA Wisconsin, Bloomington River Ridge Middle School, Ms. Miller's students WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: The sunsets are of brilliant purples, reds, oranges, and blues. There has been cumulous clouds and a light blue sky. LAND & WATER: The landscape is beautiful this time of year. The fields have been harvested, leaving behind some very gorgeous colors and designs on the ground. PLANTS: Fields are all harvested. People are raking leaves that have fallen from the trees. The trees which have leaves remaining stand out from the bare hillsides and are even more beautiful in contrast. ANIMALS: The Asian lady beetles have stayed to be an anonymous to all. Birds are heard to herald the morning in. Kittens mingle and play. Cows are let out into harvested fields, where they were not allowed before. PEOPLE: With cooler temperatures, comes warmer clothes. People have continued to swat bugs away and vacuum their ceilings at night. Basketball season has started so students are practicing hard for the long hard drive to victory. Eighth graders have started preparing for their Wisconsin test. [42:44N 73:41W] USA New York, Green Island Heatly School, Ms. Kirch's second graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: The sun was shining only 2 days this week. Monday was a warm day. The high temperature was 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Each day it got colder. It snowed on Wednesday and Thursday! There were 2-3 inches of snow in the hills. We saw flurries at lunch and after school. LAND & WATER: The Hudson River is very gray. We have seen more boats on the river. They are traveling south. PLANTS: Our garden plants look dead. Only the sunflowers are green. We will have to start cleaning out all the plants. ANIMALS: There are so many black crows roosting in the trees on the Hudson River. They travel from Albany to Green Island every day now. They make a lot of noise! PEOPLE: Some of us are now bringing mittens to school! It is very cold in the mornings. We need to wear heavy coats. OTHER: Tuesday morning we had a thunder storm on our way to school! The lightning was very bright in the dark sky over the river. We were a little scared. [42:43N 71:11W] USA Massachusetts, Methuen Marsh Grammar School, Mr. Lawton & Mrs. Beauchesne's third graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: We had our first snowfall this week! The weather forecasters have assured us that having snow this early is not a sign that we will have a snowy winter. Nonetheless it was a huge surprise to see snow falling. PLANTS: Many of our trees have lost a considerable amount of leaves with the remaining trees now in full autumn hues. ANIMALS: It has been interesting to watch the birds begin to organize themselves into their familiar V patterns and begin their long trek to warmer climes. OTHER: The days are getting much shorter and this weekend Daylight Savings Time ends. Time for us to "Fall Back" and get an extra hour of sleep. [42:32N 71:31W] USA Massachusetts, Littleton Shaker Lane School, Ms. Smith's kindergartners , WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: Our weather has changed. We had our first snow this week! On Thursday, October 23rd, we woke up to snow on the ground! It flurried all day. By the time we left school, the sun was out. LAND & WATER: On Monday, we noticed ice had formed over a puddle on the playground. We were so excited to see ice that we took a picture of it! PLANTS: Our trees have lost much of their leaves. Pretty soon, they will not have any left! We are still finding many acorns on the ground. ANIMALS: We did not spy any animals this week. We are sure that they are getting ready for a long winter. PEOPLE: We had to wear our coats this week. When we saw snow on Thursday, we decided to go outside and build a snowman! It was fun building a snowman for the first time this season! OTHER: See more pictures of our weekly observations, please go to :http://www.littletonps.org/schools/shakerlane/transitional/signs_of_fall/index.html [42:07N 88:16W] USA Illinois, Carpentersville Sunny Hill School, Ms. Grande's third graders What We Like About Fall Raking crisp leaves The chill in the autumn air Getting ready for a spooky Halloween Picking out costumes for the Sunny Hill parade Colorful Leaves falling everywhere After school fall fun The air smells clean The crunch of leaves under our feet A pretty time of year Seeing our breaths Brisk breezes at recess Apple picking activities The yellow, gold and red colors Fun with family, friends and pets Eating pumpkin pie Wearing warmer clothes Jumping in the piles of leaves [42:02N 88:17W] USA Illinois, Elgin St. Mary School, Ms. Gilbert's third graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: This week we had a return of Indian Summer. On Monday we had a high of 80 F.The temperatures were back to the 50's by the end of the week. PLANTS: The leaves are falling from the trees, and there are many seeds on the ground from walnut and oak trees. ANIMALS: Squirrels and other animals are busy gathering food for the winter. PEOPLE: This week-end we set our clocks back again. We will have less time to play outside. People are still busy raking leaves. We are enjoying the last few days of playing outside with only sweaters or light jackets. [41:42N 74:22W] USA New York, Ellenville Ellenville Elementary School, Ms. Sharoff's second graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: We have had a very cold week. The highs on Wednesday only reached to the mid 40s (brrrr!). Out of the five days, only one of those days was rainy. We had snow flurries on Friday morning!!! LAND & WATER: PLANTS: More and more leaves are falling off of the trees. Some of us are raking up the leaves into piles. The tree which we chose to observe has lost a lot of its leaves. ANIMALS: The squirrel which was hanging around the front of the school has not been seen all week. We think the weather has gotten too cold for it. We keep looking to see if we can find the tree in which it is staying in. We are not seeing as many turkeys this week, but we are seeing a lot of deer. PEOPLE: People are definitely getting ready for the cold season ahead. Some of us are starting to wear winter jackets to school in the morning. We haven't worn our hats and gloves yet though. In the morning while we wait for the bus we can see our breaths. OTHER: In the morning the cars are covered with frost and the windows have to be scraped. [41:14N 84:07W] USA Ohio, Holgate Holgate Elementary School, Ms. Wagner & Ms. Burkhart's second graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: This past weekend brought sunshine to our area, followed by cloudy days. Today is Friday and it is a beautiful sunny day. Our evenings and nights are beginning to really get cold. Several of our homes have furnaces running by now. Yesterday was sunny with a 3pm temperature of 54F degrees. The neighboring town reported snow flurries in the early morning, but we did not see any. LAND & WATER: When we play outside and lay on the ground, it is cold and damp feeling. The ground has not frozen yet and will not for at least another month. PLANTS: The red bush we talked about last week still has leaves on it, but the rose bushes in our area are now dead. Soybean harvest is almost over, now the farmers are busy harvesting corn. Some of this corn will be used to feed animals. A place for kids to go this time of year is the Haunted Corn Field, which is a maze cut into a corn field for you to walk through. They can be very scary! Some of the trees have lost almost all their leaves, others still have most of their leaves, and some are now bare as you can see in our picture. ANIMALS: The deer in our area sleep and eat in the fields during the summer months. Now that the farmers are taking the crops out of the fields, the deer must run to find a new place to live and eat for the winter. They have never been taught to "Stop, Look, and Listen" so many are hit by vehicles when running this time of year. The squirrels are busy gathering nuts now. PEOPLE: We all are wearing our heavy jackets with hoods up in the morning. By afternoon we usually only need our jackets on and not zipped. Evenings are spent at football games, raking and bagging leaves, and homework. We don't burn leaves in Holgate, itās not good for the environment. OTHER: Notice in our picture how some trees are almost bare while others are still filled with leaves. It looks like we will be raking leaves for another month! [41:01N 73:45W] USA New York, White Plains George Washington Elementary School, Ms. McPartlin's third graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: We can really tell it is fall. The days only reach in the 50s and the nighttime temperatures are in the 30s & 40s. We even had very light snow flurries yesterday in some areas. LAND/WATER: Land and water are still looking the same. The temperature of the water is much cooler. The grass is getting browner. PLANTS: The plants are still growing. Many trees have changed colors. A few trees have lost their leaves completely. ANIMALS: Squirrels were seen playing on the wires. Some are seen collecting nuts, acorns, etc. We noticed that at sunrise many birds would leave their roosting spots and fly north. They are continuing to fly in great numbers. PEOPLE: More people are wearing heavier coats, as well as sweaters. Many people stay bundled up. We have even seen people with mittens and scarves. [40:40N 73:57W] USA New York, New York Trevor Day School, Ms. Guarnieri's first graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: Observations by Xavier, Anna and Claire: Today was very, very cold and breezy. The sky looked sunny in some parts but the clouds were grey. They were moving fast. It is much colder than last week. LAND & WATER: Observations by Dan, Matt, Ryan and ALvin: Today we noticed that there were a LOT of leaves covering the ground. The grass looked like it was getting brownish and there were a lot of brown pine needles on the dirt. The wind made a huge sandstorm on the baseball field. The ground was dry and cold and the rocks felt cold and rough. PLANTS: Observations by Alex, Catherine and Giacomo: Today we noticed that a lot of the pine needles had turned brown and fallen to the ground. The leaves are now yellow, green and red and there are a few trees that have orange leaves. The leavs are dry and they feel rough. The trees are dropping a lot of pine cones on the ground. ANIMALS: Observations by Liam, Beth, Madison and Emilio: Today the only animals we saw were dogs with dogwalkers and a lot of squirrels. The squirrels were running all around and eating nuts. We saw some squirrels digging in the dirt and we think they were drobbing acorns in the holes. PEOPLE: Observations by Kaily, Eli, Eddie and Annabel: There aren't as many people outside today as there were last week. There are people playing soccer ‡nd tehy're wearing pants today. We see people running and biking and raking leaves and walking dogs and they are wearing pants and gloves and jackets and everyone looks COLD. OTHER: We can't believe how cold it's gotten! The temperature is dropping quickly. This week we did a community service stewardship in Central Park. We raked leaves! There were SO MANY LEAVES to be raked! And today there are even more on the ground. We are all noticing signs of autumn everywhere we turn. [40:28N 80:03W] USA Pennsylvania, McKees Rocks Sto-Rox Elementary School, Ms. Raymond's first graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: The scientists observed mixed weather. It was cloudy, rainy then sunny. The temperature went from 36 degrees to 64 dregrees. The sky was dark and cloudy and blue and sunny. LAND & WATER: The ground was soggy reported scientists. PLANTS: Plant scientists observed more dying plants. The sunflowers were still alive and so were minature mums. Grass is still green. Tree scientists observed red berries and crispy fallen leaves. ANIMALS: Scientists reported seeing lots of ladybugs and grasshoppers. PEOPLE: Students wore coats and brought umbrellas. Later in the week jackets were on the benches at recess. OTHER: Weekly scientists were Milan, Devin, Eric, Megan and Andy. This si the collection of Fall items: crispy leaves, red berries, fuzzy "caterpillar" plants, a sunflower and the mini mums. [40:24N 80:11W] USA Pennsylvania, Oakdale Donaldson Elementary School, Ms. Huling's first graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: The weather has been dry, but cool to cold this week. The highest temperature was 68 degrees and the lowest was 33 degrees. There have been lots of clouds this week, again. LAND & WATER: The trees and hillsides are looking more brown as we move through the fall. PLANTS: Some trees still have fall colored leaves, but many are completely bare. ANIMALS: The ladybugs are back again this week. We saw many that got into the stairwells and couldn't get back out. We have also seen some crows flying around. Our teacher sees the killdeers when she leaves school. PEOPLE: We know that we always need to take our jackets with us to lunch so that we can go out at recess time. OTHER: We have been recording the temperatures this week for another of our Internet projects. It is called "Seasonal Changes Through Our Eyes and Yours". We will be adding a link soon to our homepage. [40:17N 74:03W] USA New Jersey, Eatontown Harbor School, Ms. Greebel's & Mr. Butera's students WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: Tuesday the temperature was 70 degrees F, however the rest of the week has been chilly. There was even a freeze warning on Thursday night. LAND & WATER: We are still waiting for the first signs of frost. PLANTS: Leaves are still changing colors and falling to the ground. ANIMALS: Squirrels continue to collect food and birds are flying south. PEOPLE: People are wearing warmer clothing. Sweatshirs and long pants have taken the place of shorts and tee shirts. Jackets and coats are starting to be worn. [40:07N 75:20W] USA Pennsylvania, Norristown Paul Fly Elementary, Ms. Foedisch's first graders WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: We went outside this week on a very chilly and cloudy day. The temperature was 38 degrees. LAND & WATER:As you can see in our picture many leaves have fallen and there are many different colors. PLANTS: Some of our trees have lost many of their leaves. The frost this week made many of our plants droop. ANIMALS: We are still watching squirrels look for their winter supply of nuts. PEOPLE: When we came back inside from investigating our cheeks were red and our hands were very cold. Everyone wanted hot chocolate. Everyone had jackets on today. Some children had hats and GLOVES! [40:04N 74:12W] USA New Jersey, Brick Brick Community Primary Learning Center, Ms. MacDougall's students WEATHER/SKY/TEMPERATURE: We had lots of sunny, windy weather this week. The temperature is finally dropping into the 40's and 50's F. Today there were lots of great clouds with interesting shapes. PLANTS: We thought the burning bushes would be all red by now, but only the ones in the back of the school are red. The ones in the garden are still green. We don't know why. They are all in full sun. More and more plants are being effected by the frost and cold temperatures at night. It is time to dig up the dahlias and cannas. ANIMALS: We had four swallowtail caterpillars escape in the science room. Three others made their chrysalises. We are still looking for the other 4. They will probably emerge in April as butterflies. A squirrel ran into Room 8 this week and the custodians had to chase it out. Do you think it was cold or just looking for food? PEOPLE: Just about everyone is wearing long sleeves, long pants, and coats to school. We are not happy that we have to change the clocks back before Halloween. It will be colder and darker earlier. 54:52N-40:00N | 39:59N-29:27N | Firsts | Map | Quest