Students explore the meaning of physical and behavioral adaptation, consider how migration fits in, and identify adaptations that help the Journey North species they track survive.

Students explore how to chose random samples as they map Journey North data.

Observation is the first step in the scientific process. To extend your students' "backyard" observations, Journey North features a wealth of stunning photos and video clips. You can use them to engage students, build observation skills, inspire scientific thinking, and create fertile ground for discussions and new questions!

Students practice taking different perspectives when debating environmental issues. Then they take these into account when proposing solutions.

Students categorize questions they generate in preparation for pursuing answers that expand their existing knowledge.

Rather than track each individual migration, you may choose to follow the wave of spring itself.

Follow the progression of Spring using nature's clues.

Several factors affect a region's climate and the number and types of seasons it experiences. Here students explore colorful animations of annual changes in temperature and precipitation.

Students think about the signs that tell them spring has arrived in their region. Next, they survey others, organize their data, and try to interpret it.

As students gather and review migration data, they calculate how fast and far a migration travels and ponder what influences its progression.

Students practice using and explaining analogies that reveal their understanding of new concepts.

When people travel, a great deal of planning and preparation take place. Explore the similarities and difference between human and animal journeys.

Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students become involved in citizen science and share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of the seasons through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles— and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. Find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context.

This teachers' lesson offers tips on using Journey North journals to inspire learning and assessment. When students use journals to capture and reflect on observations, experiences, and data — and put forth opinions, predictions, and theories — learning blossoms. These records can also be great assessment tools because they offer you and your students windows into their thinking, understanding, and knowledge gaps. Finally, they can help you address pressures to integrate writing into subject areas.

This teacher's lesson explains how to access and use updated Journey North maps and related data.

Why do animals migrate? By studying an animal's life cycle and everyday behavior closely, students can form hypotheses about the reasons for migration, and predict when migration will occur.

Here you'll find guidance for helping students focus on what's happening and interpret why it's happening as the season progresses.

This page of questions and links to resources will help you and your students try to "puzzle out" unusual reports and map events that contradict what we (and scientists) might otherwise expect.

Children explore plant growth in their own gardens, running an experiment that tracks the arrival of Spring. Through these interrelated investigations, students discover that sunlight drives all living systems and they learn about the dynamic ecosystem that surrounds and connects them. Fall: Students plant gardens. Monthly updates: Fridays, September-December. Spring: Students report when tulips emerge and bloom and map Spring's northward journey. Weekly updates: Fridays, February-May. Guidelines, lessons, activities, reading connections, and interactive maps are included for each study.