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Xpedition Journal	Welcome Letter	Make a Difference

- Participating Schools -

A Seasons & Biomes Project

Put your School on the Map: Teachers, share what you have been doing in the classroom, and locate other Xpedition Schools in your country. Join the Xpedition and Post your school's Biome; Xpedition Form

While our Team of Students, Educators and Scientist are climbing the largest freestanding mountain in the world to gather environmental data within the distinct biomes of Kilimanjaro we invite you to take a look at the biomes of the participating schools below.

Click on the Schools below to view a description of their local biome

School	Teacher / Grade	Location	Country
Artion School	Tina Garst, 5th grade	Alabama	USA
Barberton High School	Russ Calvert	Ohio	USA
Brandenburg International School	Dr. Coverdale	Kleinmachnow	Germany
Brooklyn College	Jessica Scala	New York, New York	USA
CEG Avrankou Grade Level: 4-13	Bolariva Seidou (Principal GLOBE Teacher) Ylliass Lawani (GLOBE Alumni) Mansa G. Félix (geography teacher) Innocent d'Oliveria (Biology teacher and GLOBE Alumni) Principal: Emmanuel Souleimane	City: Avrankout	Benin Republic (West Africa)
Chamisa Elementary School	Adelaide Jacobson	White Rock, New Mexico	USA
Cherry Creek Elementary	Jim Kovach	Lowell, Michigan	USA
Chinook Middle School	Nancy Little	Seatac, Washington	USA
Christensen Middle School	Regina Brinker	Livermore, California	USA
Conville Primary School		George	South Africa
Crow Village Sam School	Linda Casassa, 4th-8th grade class	Chuathbaluk, Alaska	USA
Cullman High School	Bobby Meyer	Cullman, Alabama	USA
Curington Elementary School	Joan Labay-Marquez	Boeme, Texas	USA
Eitou Middle School			Japan
Elsie Collier Elementary	Laniese Howard, grades 3-5	Mobile, Alabama	USA
Era Elementary	Leann Spears, 5th grade	Era, Texas	USA
Fairbanks Alaska Elementary	Leslie Dolan, 6th grade	Fairbanks, Alaska	USA
Forest Brook Middle School	Esther Dykes, 7th Grade	Houston, Texas	USA
Fort Concho Elementary	Debbie Lisoski, 3rd grade	San Angelo, Texas	USA
Fritz karsen schule		Berlin	Germany
Fuusouhokubu Elementary School			Japan
Gimnazjum nr 2 w Zabrzu	Katarzyna Kwiatek-Grabarska, Joanna Imiołek	Zabrze	Poland
Goliad Intermediate School	Mrs. Podschelne's	Goliad, Tx	USA
G.P. Babb Middle School	Mildred Chamblee	Forest Park, Georgia	USA
Gray's Creek Elementary School	Mr. Bolley, Ms. Fourie & Ms. Merkle	Hope Mills, North Carolina	USA
Gulfport Central Middle School	Susan Lewis	Gulfport, Mississippi	USA
Happy Valley Elementary School	Steve Seffinger, 3rd grade	Santa Cruz, California	USA
Hayagu Elementary School		Forest Park, Georgia	USA
Hibernia Primary School		George	South Africa
Heidedal Primary School		George	South Africa
Hill Elementary School	Sherri Day	Lincoln, Nebraska	USA
Hokkaido Kamikawa High School			Japan
Hokkaido Ranetsu High School			Japan
Hokkaido Touya High School			Japan
Holy Family School	Mr. Morris, 6th Grade	Louisville, Ky	USA
Horvati Elementary School	Ivan Sarjanovic	Zagreb	Croatia
Ilinniarfissuaq School	Britta Lohmann	Nuuk	Greenland
Indwe Secondary School		Mossel Bay	South Africa
Innoko River School	Joyanne Hamilton	Shageluk, Alaska	USA
I.S. 123	Tabitha Hargrove, 8th grade	Bronx, NY	USA
Jiyuunomori Gakuen School			Japan
James Monroe Elementary	Barney Peterson	Everett, Washington	USA
Jones Middle School	Larry O’Flynn	Upper Arlington, OH	USA
Joy School/ Nordale School	Sandra O'Connor Melanie Hinzman	Fairbanks, Alaska	USA
Kenai Middle School	Allan Miller, 7th grade science	Kenai, Alaska	USA
Komatsu Kogyo High School			Japan
Kotzebue Middle School	Robbie Everett	Kotezebue, Alaska	USA
Kretzenshoop Primary School		George	South Africa
Kurokawa High School			Japan
Little Angels High School		Gwalior M.P.	India
Lucy Academy KG-Prep School	Anteneh Habtesilassie	Addis Ababa	Ethiopia
Mount View Academy	April Thompson	Denver, Colorado	USA
Morioka-Tyuuou High School			Japan
Mount Vernon, TAG	DeAnn Scearce, grades 3-7	Mount Vernon, Iowa	USA
Nanzan Middle School			Japan
Nihama Kogyo High School			Japan
Northern Michigan University	Dr. Greg Coverdale	Marquette, Michigan	USA
Neskowin Valley School	Jackie Farah, NVS Grades 3-4	Neskowin Valley, Oregon	USA
Nottingham Country Elementary	Jerri Sedelmeier	Katy, Texas	USA
Notre Dame School	Maria Lorraine De Ruiz-Alma	Santo Domingo	Dominican Republic
Okayama Ryukoku High School			Japan
Pecos-Barstow-Toyah ISD	Debbie Flores, 5th grade	Pecos, Texas	USA
Roswell Kent Middle School	Steven Frantz	Akron, Ohio	USA
Ramlieh School	Siham Salman	Ramlieh, Beirut	Lebanon
Rosemore Primary School		George	South Africa
Randy Smith Middle School	Mike Geil, 7th grade	Fairbanks, Alaska	USA
San Ignacio De Recalde School	Juan Diego Calvo-Perez Rodo	Lima	Peru
Sejiri Elementary School			Japan
Sekundarschule Schöntalstrasse	Markus / class 1d Sek Uzwil	Uzwil	Switzerland
Shimokyouhosei Elementary School			Japan
Sonoran Science Academy	Mrs. Barb Cushing,  4th & 5th grade	Tucson, Arizona	USA
Steeple Run Elementary School	Maureen Nolan	Naperville, Illinois	USA
Suratthani Rajabhat University	Watcharee Ruairuen	Suratthani,	Thailand
Szkoła Podstawowa	Jolanta Tworek	Tarnobrzeg	Poland
Tääksi 8 School	Tiiu Ehrenpreis, 9th grade	Tääksi 8	Estonia
Tabuse Nougyo High School			Japan
Touno High School			Japan
Tri-Valley School	Ms. Green	Healy, Alaska	USA
Trinity Catholic School	Susan W. Haninger	Columbus, Ohio	USA
United Elementary School	Kathy Whitcomb	Armagh, Pennsylvania	USA
University of North Texas	David Wojnowski, Ph.D.	Denton, Texas	USA
Uwajima Suisan High School			Japan
Valdez Jr High School	Mary	Valdez, Alaska	USA
Valdez High School	Jenny Heckathorn	Valdez, Alaska	USA
Windermere Primary School	Genia Klein, 2nd grade	Pflugerville, Texas	USA
Woodriver Elementary School	Leslie Dolan, 5th & 6th grade	Fairbanks, Alaska	USA
Yahata Kogyo High School			Japan
Yanagi Gakuen School			Japan

 

Mt. Kilimanjaro Biome

Click on Orbie to learn about the ecological zones on Kilimanjaro	Click on the Link Above to View a Short Video on Kilimanjaro

Terrestrial Biome Classifications

The GLOBE Seasons and Biomes ESSP has decided to adopt the Biome Classification System developed by The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). This classification is also being used by the National Geographic Society and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. This biome classification resulted from extensive collaboration with over 1,000 biogeographers, ecologists, taxonomists, and conservation biologists. Download the Getting to Know you Terrestrial Biome Activity to help with your own biome and learn about the other biomes around the world. Getting To Know Your Terrestrial Biomes

 

 

Sonoran Science Academy Elementary School - Tucson, Arizona

Biome Descriptions from Mrs. Cushing’s 4th grade class

Kelynn:  Our desert biome is very hot.  We get little rain and we have dry land.  We have many desert animals such as the Gila Monster, desert lizard, diamondback rattlesnakes, coyotes, scorpions, etc.  We have different plants like the Teddy Bear cactus, Saguaro and Sonoran cactus.

Noah: Our desert biome is very hot and dry, but it gets cool during the winter.  There are many types of wildlife such as lizards, mountain lions, scorpions, turtles and javalinas.  There are lots of plants too, such as saguaros, Palo Verde trees, prickly pear cactus, and barrel cactus.  A few animals I didn’t mention are birds like the woodpecker and the hawk.  The desert is a very interesting place that I hope to explore more when I am older.

RJ: Our desert biome is hot and dry.  We live in the Sonoran Desert.  Our animals are coyotes, javalena, tarantulas, scorpions, and many more.  Our plants are Giant Saguaros, barrel cactus, ocotillos, etc.  Our water sources are few.  Our climate is hot and normally reaches above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer months.  It gets hot around 8:00am and starts to cool off around 4:00pm.

Hanna:  It is very hot here.  The desert biome has very little water.  Saguaros are very popular here.
 
Calyssa:  Our desert biome is very hot and dry.  There are many cacti and lots of animals.

Payson:  Our desert biome is very warm, dry, and it does not get a lot of water.  Our biome has cacti, some trees, and animals.

Radu:  Our biome is a desert in Arizona with saguaros and tortoises and cacti and tarantulas, and very little water.
 
Nikhil:  Our desert biome is very hot and dry.  There are lots of mountains and many desert animals in our biome.

Ruturaj:  Our desert biome is very hot in the day and cools off at night.  We have air conditioning in our homes.

Seth:  In our desert biome it is very dry.  It is also very hot during the spring, summer and early fall.  There is also lots of wildlife and vegetation designed for life in the desert.  When we get rains we sometimes have flash floods.
 
Colin:  Our place is very hot during the day and cool at night.  We get very little rain, however, we have two rainy seasons in the summer and winter.
 
Sonny: Our desert biome is hot and dry with a lot of animals and not much precipitation.

Briana:  Our desert biome has a dry rocky surface and has lots of desert animals.  The desert we live in is the Sonoran Desert and it is very hot.

Lindsey:  We have saguaros and coyotes here.  It is very hot and there is very little water.  Saguaros are very populous here.
 
Jada: Our desert biome is dry, hot and has little water.

AJ: Our desert biome is very hot in Tucson, Arizona.  There are fascinating animals, like snakes, coyotes, Gila Monsters, scorpions, tarantulas, ants, prairie dogs, gophers, bunnies, toads, frogs, owls, doves, woodpeckers, finches, hummingbirds, horny toads, lizards, bats, and many others.

Victoria: Our desert biome is very dry and has little trees.  It doesn’t get a lot of rain so it is almost always hot. Our desert has lots of cactus and desert plants. In fact, our desert, the Sonoran Desert, is the only place in the world that has the Sonoran Cactus.  The animals that we have are the coyote, jackrabbits, different kinds of lizards, and scorpions.
 
Calvin:  Our desert is very hot.  If a Californian comes here, he’ll think our trees are just big bushes. We get very little water.

 

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Elsie Collier Elementary
Mobile, Alabama

Mobile, Alabama: United States: North American Continent.

Mobile is located in a biome called the Temperate Coniferous Forest.  You can find many forests containing pine tress, fir trees, cedar trees, and some broadleaf plants and trees in Mobile and the surrounding areas.  We are considered to be in an area that is humid to semi humid year round.  We experience mild winters and hot summers, along with periods of heavy rainfall.  We are located along the coastline of the Gulf of Mexico which provides us with sea breezes and many pop up afternoon thunderstorms.  Mobile is also located in an area where Hurricanes and other tropical systems are a concern.  These systems can damage man made structures along with our many habitats, wetlands, and other coastal biomes.  Our biome provides a unique home to hundreds of species of plants and animals who prefer the temperate climate along a coastal region.

 

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Neskowin Valley School, Oregon
The NVS Middles (Grades 3-4)

Hello Xpedition members and fellow followers,
We are writing to you from our school on the west coast of Oregon state in the United States. We are in the Central Pacific coastal forest biome. The description of it at the National Geographic website sounds very much like where we live. You can see a picture here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/na/na0510.html

We live where it is green, rainy and wet most of the time. It is cold a lot with a few days of light snow and a little ice in late December and January. We live where there are conifer trees and where there are many animals that are carnivores, such as fox, bear, cougar, and coyote. We also have deer and elk. There are creeks and rivers near us, and we live very close to the Pacific Ocean. We have lots of fish like trout, salmon, tuna, rockfish, and halibut. We have many types of broadleaf plants like vine maple, willow, and wild berries. We have bald eagles, crows, ravens, stellar joys, and sea gulls. We have lots of kinds of salmon: Chinook, Coho, chum, pink, sockeye, and steelhead. There are other ocean fish: plus a lot of shell fish and crab. Most people here eat fish and shell fish often.
You can see a picture of our rural school at our website: neskowinvalleyschool.com. Tim Gordon, who is with you on the Xpedition, is a good friend of our school. He will be visiting with us in person when he returns from Africa.
Good luck on your trip. Have a good time.

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Goliad Intermediate School, Goliad, Tx

Our school is located in Goliad, Tx. We are located in South Texas between Houston and Corpus Christi about 60 miles inland. We are in a Tropical region/Subtropical region.  We do have live oak and post oak trees as well as shrublands. There are grasslands but we think this is due to clearing land by farmers and ranchers. Our temperatures range from in the 100"s during the summer to occasionally around freezing in the winters.  We normally have high humidity. 

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Crow Village Sam School
Chuathbaluk, Alaska

Chuathbaluk is in the Taiga / Boreal forest Biome, on the Kuskokwim River in Southwest Alaska.  We are on the edge of the tundra just upriver from the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta.  
We are mostly Yupik Eskimos. We subsistence hunt and fish. We go camping on hunting trips.  We hunt for moose, bear, wolves, geese, caribou, beavers, ptarmigan, rabbits, ducks, swans, foxes, and porcupines.  We use the furs for hats, mukluks (boots), guspuks  (Eskimo jackets), mulihuks (hats), and dance hats and fans. We fish for salmon all summer long, and ice fish during the winter.  We love to pick berries for akutaq (Eskimo ice cream).
Winter is coming.  We had our first frost on August 27th. Our birch trees are turning yellow now. Most of our other trees are spruce.  It usually starts snowing in October.
We usually have snow for Halloween, October 31.  It gets down to -40 degrees Celsius in the winter. Our river usually freezes in November, and usually breaks up late April to early May.

Winter is our longest season. We love to play in the snow.  We make snow angels, snowmen, igloos, tunnels, dens, and snow forts. Our favorite is having monstrous snowball fights in deep snow with our friends and family. We slide down hills, and drag each other on sleds with Honda ATV’s and snowmachines. The ice on our river gets thick enough for us to travel on with snowmachines, trucks, and dog sleds to other places.  The most beautiful thing about Chuathbaluk is that we get to see the colors of the northern lights dancing in the sky above our snow-covered mountains.

The Students of Crow Village Sam School, Chuathbaluk, Alaska

.........Alisson Phillips.....Cynthia Nesbit........Anya Michael........Crimson Phillips
.........Joseph Phillips.....Tori Simeon...........Tierra Wolf.........Agnes Avakumoff
.........Philip Phillips.......Josephine Phillips

 

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Chinook Middle School in Seatac, Washington

 

Our latitude and longitude is 47 degrees north and 122 degrees west.  Our major biome is temperate coniferous forest.  We have a marine climate with cool summers, mild winters and most of the rain in the winter. Some plants in our biome are Red Alder, Bigleaf Maple, Lodgepole Pine, Douglas Fir, Sitka Spruce, and Western Hemlock. Some birds in our biome are the Common Loon, Western Grebe, Steller’s Jay, Golden Eagle, Burrowing Owls and the American Crow.  Some mammals are White-tailed Deer, Gray Wolf, bobcat, Red Fox, and the Orca.

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Class 1d Sek Uzwil, Northeast Switzerland

Brief description of our biome (Northeast Switzerland)

We live in a zone with temperate deciduous forest. From the lowlands to the alpine regions they change into temperate mixed forests and finally, at even higher altitudes, the deciduous trees disappear.

But of course we have a lot of rural, suburban and urban areas because Switzerland is small and most of our population lives in the lowlands between the Alps and the Jura, so there is a high density of population and little natural environment.

As we live about between the pole and the equator and in the interior of our continent we have four seasons with warm summers and sometimes cold winters. When the clouds are dammed up at the Alps we get a lot of rain or snow.

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Steeple Run Elementary School, Naperville, Illinois

 

We live in Temperate / grasslands biome. However, our weather is directed affected by our area’s proximity to Lake Michigan. Our school is on the DuPage River watershed, which is part of the Illinois River Watershed. We think our school was named after a creek that used to flow into the DuPage.  As with many school properties, ours was probably built on former wetlands.  In fact the creek probably went right under our school, as evidenced by the flooding that happens in our parking lot.

Our area has mostly deciduous trees; the native ones we treasure the most are the oaks.  This area was probably an oak savanna because there are still quite a few native oaks in the area.  We are located very close to the world famous Morton Arboretum, which has established a goal to recreate some of the oak savannas (by burning underbrush) and have created a beautiful tall grass prairie.

The prairie has all but disappeared from Illinois  ( named, the Prairie State!)

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Randy Smith Middle School
Fairbanks, Alaska

 

In the Fairbanks area there is mostly taiga (Fairbanks is surrounded by the Boreal forest). Dominant tree types include white and black spruce, tamarack, Alaska paper birch, quaking aspen and balsam poplar. Larger shrubs include alder and numerous species of willow. Common low shrubs in the boreal forest include wild rose, Labrador tea, highbush cranberry, and low bush cranberry. In higher elevations there is mostly tundra with lots of ground cover such as: high and low bush cranberries, Labrador tea, dwarf birch, blueberries, crowberries, cloudberries, and multiple types of lichen and moss.

Fairbanks is located at 64 degrees North latitude and 147 degrees West longitude. We have an interior, sub-arctic climate. Which means we have warm, short summers with temperatures ranging from 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius) to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) and long, cold winters with temperatures reaching minus 65 degrees Fahrenheit (-53 degrees Celsius).  Our average January temperature is minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 degrees Celsius). Hours of daylight vary greatly throughout the year. The longest days come around the summer solstice, June 21st. On the solstice Fairbanks receives just over 21 hours of daylight. While on the winter solstice, December 21st, we receive just over 3 hours of daylight. We are in a semi-arid region averaging just over 10 inches (25 centimeters) of precipitation per year. Our average snowfall is 65 inches (165 centimeters). Snowfalls are generally light and powdery.

Fairbanks is surrounded on three sides by hills. Much of the top layer of soil is wind-blown silt called loess. We are located in an area of discontinuous permafrost which means that some area have permafrost and some don't. By definition permafrost is any ground that has been continually frozen for two or more years. Permafrost around Fairbanks may be only a few feet (90 centimeters) thick to up to 200 feet (61 meters) thick.
 
Some of the animals that live around Fairbanks include the following: black bear, grizzly bear, moose, wolves, lynx, snowshoe hares, porcupine, shrews, voles, red fox, red squirrel, weasels, black-capped chickadees, raven, bald eagles, boreal chickadee, junco, ptarmigan, grouse, martin, mink, river otter, beaver, muskrat, and arctic ground squirrels. These are a few of the animals that live around Fairbanks. We sometimes see moose in our yards and on the road. Shrews get our garages and cats bring in voles from outside. Red squirrels live in the trees around our homes and black-capped chickadees visit our bird feeders throughout the year. Red fox often cross our path on the way to school. We are lucky to live in an area with so much wildlife.

For those interested in finding out more information about the trees around Fairbanks, here is some more information:
            
..............Paper Birch –
            Common names: white birch, canoe birch, silver birch
            Genus and species: Betula papyrifera

            White Spruce –
            Common names: Canada spruce, cat spruce, single spruce
            Genus and species: Picea glauca

            Tamarack –
            Common names: Alaska larch, larch, hackmatack
            Genus and species: Larix laricina

            Black Spruce –
            Common names: bog spruce, swamp spruce
            Genus and species: Picea mariana

            Quaking Aspen –
            Common names: trembling aspen, popple, squastongue
            Genus and species: Populus tremuloides

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Barberton High School, Ohio

Our Biome is Temperate with precipitation from every other day to once a week at N 41 degrees 01'991" and W 081 degrees 36'191" and 981ft elevation near the Great Lakes.  We have analyzed our wetland soil and water for nitrates, phosphates, potassium, pH, and dissolved oxygen. 

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Trinity Catholic School, Columbus, Ohio

Ohio Biome-Deciduous Forest
In Ohio our animals are birds, deer, foxes, raccoons, chipmunks, squirrels, turtles, skunks and opossums.  Our climate has four seasons.  It is cold in winter, warm in spring, hot in summer and cool in the fall.  Our plants include flowers, bushes, trees and grass.  Some non-living materials in our biome are rocks, dirt and water.  An interesting fact about our biome is that tree leaves change color and fall off in the fall.
Written by Jessie, Trinity Catholic School Fourth Grader

 

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I.S. 123 - Bronx, New York

We live in Bronx, NY and it is very city like with lots of tall buildings and few trees, shrubs, and grass. A lot of our trees have been planted around the school in select areas and they are either pine or a variation of maple trees. Our soil around the school is mostly silt soil but there are areas with equal amounts of clay and sand soil along with the silt soil. (This is what we tested and experimented last year using the GLOBE lessons.) We live in a Urban/Suburban (dense settlement).

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Surat Thani Province, Thailand

We are come from Surat Thani province where is located at the southern part of Thailand. Geographically the center of the province is the coastal plain of the Tapi river, mostly grassland interchanged with rubber tree and coconut plantings. In the west are limestone mountains and mostly covered with tropical rain forests. To the east also have the hills of the mountain. There are high rainfall and the tree is extending from 50 to 80 meters above the forest floor. Their also have a lot of organic matter that falls to the forest floor, plenty of nutrient and mineral for trees and animal. There are high biodiversity of the living things.  There are many islands in the Gulf of Thailand belong to the district, including the tourist islandsKo Samui, Ko-Pha-ngan, as well as the Ko Ang Thong marine national park. Then we have Mangrove forest on the sea side as well.

Temperature has ranging between 22 -35 degree celcius. We do not have winter season. We will get low temperature when there are clouded or the rain fall for a long time or in some area which highly area it result to get temperature below than 22 degree celcius.
In fact, students have more questions I will send it to you later.

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Notre Dame School - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo City In the Dominican Republic is an urban biome in a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests (tropical and subtropical, humid). The average temperature is 34 degrees Celsius, the most frequent clouds are cumulus and nimbo cumulus, the soil has a lot of sand and clay, the "Roca Caliza" (Lime Stone) is found every where, specially when they are building  towers our students stop by and collect some samples. The troposphere ozone average is 43 parts per million, around the city there are lots of Sweietenia Mahagony trees and at the beach that faces the Caribbean Sea the "Palma Real" is everywhere. Two years ago we noticed that our average temperature raised 1.3 grades Celsious and the low temperature season is longer it usually ended in February and now it goes till March. The Mahogany trees also experience the green up season at the end of March and not in January or February as it was the normal pattern.

( Students from the Notre Dame School )

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Szkoła Podstawowa nr 10 - Tarnobrzeg, Poland

Our school is set in the middle of a town with the population of about 50 000.
Our town is in the south-easter part of Poland on the bank of the longest Polish river- Vistula. Although our climate has four seasons we can notice that summers have been hotter and winters milder for the last few years. In the neighbourhood of the town there are deciduos forests with: oaks, birches, maples, rowans and same spruces and pines. In the forests you can meet foxes, deers, hedgehoges, wild boars, lizards and grass-snakes. Temperatures range from 35 to -20 centigrade. More and more often we experience severe storms and winds. The soil is mostly sand and clay soil.

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Christensen Middle School - Livermore, California

We are in Livermore, California.  The San Francisco bay area is experiencing an
unseasonal heat wave. We may get to 103 F on Tuesday.  Seeing pictures of the Kilimanjaro glaciers was a cooling site!

Our area's overall habitats are oak woodland and chaparral.  However, the soil near our school is highly alkaline.  The Springtown Nature Preserve boarders our school's neighborhood. Several rare and listed plants and animals are found there, including the Livermore tar plant, downingea, salt bush, and bird's beak, the red legged frog and fairy shrimp.

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Happy Valley Elementary School - Santa Cruz, California

Happy Valley Elementary School is located in a rural area 3 miles east of Santa Cruz, California. We are in the Santa Cruz Mountains and enjoy a variety of animal and plant life. Trees include redwoods, fir, pine, maple, and several planted fruit trees. We have a wide variety of birds as well. They include crows, red tailed hawks, finches, herons, quail, and blue jays. The animal life includes lizards, snakes, spiders, squirrels, gophers, coyotes, deer, bobcats, and stray cats. There used to be salmon in Branciforte Creek which runs through our school, but they have not been seen in quite a few years.

Our weather is considered Mediterranean and is quite mild. Rainfall averages around 100 cm per year with a temperature range from -2 degrees C to 39 degrees C.

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Roswell Kent Middle School - Akron, Ohio

We have four seasons throughout the year. During the winter it is cold, warm
and rainy in the spring, hot and dry in the summer, and cool in the fall.
This makes our biome temperate and also deciuous becacuse our trees loose
their leaves during the fall and winter. Our soil is low lime glacial drift
Wisconsinian age. Our coordinates are north 41.03781, west 081.50113 and our
elevation is 337m.

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Forest Brook Middle School - Houston, Texas

Houston is in the Gulf Coastal Plains Biome and its vegetation is temperate grassland. Much of the city is built on forestland, marshes,swamps or prairies. Surrounding areas still exhibit these features. Much of Houston is flat, making flooding a recurring problem. It stands about 50 feet above sea level. The city once relied on groundwater for its needs, but land subsidence forced the city to turn to ground level sources such as, Lake Houston. Houston has four major Bayous passing through the city. Bufalo Bayou,which runs into downtown and the Houston Ship Channel; and three of its tributaries: Brays Bayou runs along the Texas Medical Center; White Oak Bayou runs through the Heights and near northwest area  Sims Bayou runs through the Southof Houston and downtown Houston. The Ship Channel goes past Galveston and into the Gulf of Mexico.

We have mild winters and hot summers.

Houston's land surfaces are unconsolidated clays, clay shales and poorly cemented sands up to several miles deep. The region's geology developed from stream deposits from the erosion of the Rocky Mountains. The sediments consist of sands and clays deposited on decay in organic matter that transformed over time into oil and natural gas. Beneath these tiers is a water deposited layer of halite, a rock salt. The porous layers were compressed over time and forced upward. As it pushed upward, the salt dragged surrounding sediment into domed shapes, often trapping oil and gas that seeped from the surrounding porous sands. The thick rich soil also provides a good environment for rice farming in suburban outskirts that the city continues to grow into near Katy. Evidence of past rice farming is still apparent in developed areas as there is an abundant amount of rich dark loamy top soil. The Houston region is usually earthquake-free. The city contains 86 mapped and historically active surface faults with an aggregate length of 149 miles(240km). The clay below the surface precludes ground shaking in earthquakes. These faults generally move at a smooth rate in which is termed "fault creep".

Here are some snapshots of our biome. Click on each picture for a larger version.

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Joy Middle School - Fairbanks, Alaska, USA

Local biome: boreal forest

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Mount Vernon, TAG School - Mount Vernon, Iowa, USA

Mount Vernon is located in East Central Iowa in the Temperate Grassland Biome.  We experience all of the seasons and have cold winters and warm summers.  However, the weather has not been typical lately.  The last two years we have experienced a lot of rain which led to severe flooding and our summer was a lot colder this year than normal.  In addition, our winter two years ago we had a record amount of snow and last year we didn't have as much snow but extrememly cold temperatures.

The average high temperatures range from -1C in December to 31C in July. The average lows range from -10 in December to 21C in July.  We average about 33 inches of rain a year.

Although we are in the grassland biome there is not much native prarie land left.  We have very fertile farmland and raise a lot of corn and soybeans. We also have eciduous and Coniferous trees.

Some animals in our biome include squirrels, rabbits, opposums, skunks, raccoons, foxes, coyote, and deer.

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Innoko River School, Shageluk, Alaska, USA

1.  Sometimes we get a lot of rain during the fall where we live—Destiny Workman. A lot of our weather comes in from the Aleutians.

2.  It can get windy in the fall

3.  We have deciduous trees, lots of snow, short, tall thick trees, we always see moose around.  We have birch, cotton, willow, alder, aspen (deciduous trees), black/white spruce, tamarak, coniferous trees.

4.  Tundra and forest, we are a mixed biome/tundra and needle-leaf forest in a Boreal Forest.

5.  We know two languages—English/Deg Hitan, language Deg Xinag.

6.  We Native Dance after the river is frozen.  We live a subsistence lifestyle, living off the land.  Fish, moose, beaver, bear, grouse, porcupine, swans (don’t eat Marten, wolves etc).

7.  We do not live in igloos.  We live in regular houses, colored houses. Some are frame, plywood and some are log.  We ride snowmachines to school and to work with, we like to walk around or go sliding, snowboarding, skiing on our hills.  In the summer we fish for salmon, our winter eats, and go swimming on hot days.

6.  We like to hunt grouse in the fall.

9.  We build a fall Fish fence after the ice freezes on the river:  very traditional, girls can’t walk on the ice, we also can’t make it so perfect so all the fish can’t go through, got to save  the fish for next year.

10.  We enjoy these part of the culture.

11.Seems to be less snow than about 10-years (but we had a lot of snow last year)  There used to be so much snow that the snow covered the doorway, it was much colder, -70.  The sky was much darker

12.  Spirit (culture) Camp:  We have one every fall, we go hunting and do activities that our Tribal Council puts together, we go hunting, camping and for fun, make sand castles.  The Council plans activities for the youth.  It’s called Spirit Camp because they tell old stories, learn the old ways that they used to do.  We go fishing at this camp.  We also went to get birch bark for baskets.  We also went berry picking.  We gather punk (burn it and the mosquitoes go away!), and dry wood for our camp fire.

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G.P. Babb Middle School
Forest Park, Georgia

Forest Park, Georgia: United States: North American Continent.

Biome:  Metropolitan. Forest Park is one of the five counties composing Metro Atlanta and a portion of the Atlanta International Airport.

The forest is temperate broadleaf and mixed forest laden with coniferous pines.

Temperature ranges from 3C to 15.6C.  We experience all the Seasons.

Drainage: When it rains the water from our property can go to the Flint River and on to the Gulf of Mexico or to the South River making its way to the Atlantic.  We are flanked by two wetlands.

Seasonal Indicators: The changes in foliage in the spring make the area look like a blanket of snow due to the Dogwood blooms and in the fall the colors of red, yellow and orange seem to overpower the landscape. Both the Spring and Fall bring large groups of migrating geese, ducks,Monarchs, and hummingbirds.

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Horvati Elementary School
Zagreb, Croatia

Zagreb, Croatia: Europe-Eurasia Continent.

Biome: Zagreb, capital and the largest city in Croatia (around 700 00 inhabitants). Our coordinates are 45.787731 north latitude, 15.953068 east longitude. Zagreb is located in the north-western part of Croatia, between mountain Medvednica and river Sava.  The surrounding area of Zagreb is a temperate broadleaf and mixed trees biome, with trees like oaks, beeches and birches.

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Curington Elementary School
Boerne, Texas

Boerne, Texas: United States: North American Continent.

Boerne, Texas is located about 30 miles NW of San Antonio. Two caves are located in Boerne: Cave without a Name and Cascade Caverns. Both are limestone solution caves. We reside over the Edwards Plateau, a limestone tableland lying between latitudes 29°to 32° N and longitudes 97°30’ to 102°30’ W and our region is known as the Texas Hill Country. Rainfall has been sparse, we have numerous plant and animal species (many are threatened and endangered)  and we have  a lot of Live Oaks, Ashe Juniper and Mesquite trees. Our landscape is shaped by its many hills and rivers.

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Woodriver Elementary School
Fairbanks, Alaska

Fairbanks, Alaska: United States: North American Continent.

Fairbanks is located in the north-west hemisphere surrounded by Boreal forests.  We have an interior Alaskan climate which has warm to hot short summers with lots of daylight, and longer colder winters with periods of severe cold.

There are 6 main trees in our forests - 3 conifers (White and Black Spruce and the Tamarack) and 3 deciduous (Paper Birch, Quaking Aspen and Balsam Popular).  There are two large shrubs (Alder and Willow).  The area is dotted with forests, wetlands, tundra and river valleys.  To the south we look at the Alaska Range and Mount Mckinley, the highest point in North America.

The falls are a brilliant display of yellows and the springs and summers are an intense green.   Our winters have been warmer and drier than usual, and our summers have seen many forest fires.  Some say this is due to climate change.

Large animals such as moose and bears are found here.  Small animals like like foxes, marmots, squirrels, snowshoe hares and grouse are found here, too.

 

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Lucy Academy KG-Prep School

Ethiopia: African Continent.

Lucy Academy is one of the globe schools located at the horn of Africa. Lucy is located at 2392 elevation and at 38.4922 E and 9.0205 N longitude and latitude.

It is surrounded by different buildings of living houses and organizations. The maximum precipitation recorded for our atmospheric study site is 151 mm. The maximum and minimum atmospheric temperatures are 25.3 and 6.9 consecutively in the past four months. We have moderate temperature throughout the year. That is why our country, Ethiopia, is called a country with thirteen months of sun-shine.

The biome was farm land before it was used for city construction few years back and "Teff" the staple food of the country was produced in the area. The school compound has a soil profile which is rich in organic matter and it appears black.

The Lucy Academy in Ethiopia gets its name from the fossil Lucy that was discovered near the city of Addis Ababa in 1974. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago and is considered one of the most important archeological finds in history.

 

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CEG Avrankou, a GLOBE school

Benin Republic: West African Continent.

LATITUDE : 6.55 deg North
LONGITUDE : 2.65 deg East
ELEVATION: 52 m

Avrankou's dominant plant is the palm tree. This is an introduced plant.
Therefore there are other co-dominant plant species such as acacia and
banana.

The animal species most observed is pigs.

Other important observations maked geography or climate related are below :

RELIEF; shelf
CLIMATE, four seasons (two rainy seasons and two dry ) as follows:
. A LONG RAINY SEASON which lasts from April to July
. A SHORT DRY SEASON which lasts from August to September
. A SHORT RAINY SEASON which runs from October to November
. A LONG DRY SEASON which lasts from December to March

We now observe that these four seasons (that our parents have known)
have disappeared, giving way to two main seasons, namely a long rainy
season and dry season which dates and times are very disparate in
time. For example, currently the country is under water. It is raining
heavily and everywhere in the country there is flood. But there is
still no flood at Avrankou, certainly related to our level of
elevation relative to the sea.

The seasonal indicators in our local environment are :
DRY-SEASON : Dust,  whirlpool, harmattan, heat, blazing sun
RAINY SEASON: rain, greenery, freshness, cloudy at times

The species that are most affected by the different seasons:
DRY SEASON: earthworm, snail, cricket and some trees such as baobab
lose their leaves
RAINY SEASON: the chicken, guinea fowl, sheep do not bear the rain...

GLOBE Club of CEG Avrankou

 

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Gimnazjum nr 2 w ZSO nr 5  w Zabrzu

Zabrze, Poland

Zabrze is located  in the southern part of Poland, in the Central Europe, on the rivers Bytomka and K?odnica, in the Odra river basin.

Our city is one of the Upper Silesian Industrial District. The main industries are coal mining and energy. The landscape here is strongly transformed by man - there are heaps, pits, and landslides,  air and water are highly polluted.

Upper Silesia is one of the areas in Poland with the largest ecological threat. In recent years, the situation is improving thanks to many actions, the reclamation, establishment of modern filters on chimneys and building more sewage treatment plants. Many large industrial plants had been closed.

Poland belongs to the Palearctic Area. Our BIOM - TEMPERATE BROADLEAF AND MIXED FORESTS, is characterized by transitional climate between maritime and continental.

The weather depends on the incoming air masses. Due to prevailing westerly winds more air masses flow into our region are Maritime Polar Air masses.

The average annual temperature is about 8°C (46° Fahrenheit).  The warmest month is July (average 17°C to 18°C, 64°F), while the coldest January (-2°C to -3°C, 27°F).

The average annual amount of precipitation is 700mm - 800mm. An important feature of our climate is the large number of days with misty weather, to which largely contributes the smokiness of the area.

In Zabrze there's also a lot of green areas - these are areas of woodland and meadows. Dominant plant species among the trees are oak, maple, birch, beech - they shed their leaves in winter. Outweigh weaknesses podsols. Animals: snails, frogs, lizards, moles, hedgehogs, shrews, birds, rodents but near us also live boars, roe-deers.

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Chamisa Elementary School

White Rock, New Mexico, USA

White Rock, NM, a suburban area on the Pajarito Plateau near the Rio Grande River.

According to WildWorld National Geographic.com, our Terrestrial Eco-region is: Nearctic : Colorado Plateau Shrublands (desert & xeric shrubland) Woodland zone: low growing forests of piñon pine, juniper, sagebrush, alderleaf, grama . Chamisa is a plant that also grows here.

Our Longitude is 106 ° 12' 17" West Latitude 35° 49'10" North UTM 13S 03 91777 39 65258 Altitude: 6,370 feet or 1,942 meters Temperature: Average January - 28.1° F; Average July - 70.7° F Precipitation: Mean precipitation 13.5 inches (34 cm) Seasons: We have 4 distinct seasons. Our winters have some snow. There is usually at least a 20 ° F difference in daytime & nighttime temperatures. We have a 145 day growing season.

Our ground is soil on top of volcanic lava flows that covered sedimentary rock.

Animals that we have include coyote, lizards, rabbits, spiders(black widow, wolf), squirrels, hawks, crows, ravens, songbirds, falcons, and we see migrating sandhill cranes and geese in the spring and autumn.

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James Monroe Elementary, Everett, Washington, USA

James Monroe is located in Everett in the Northwest part of Washington State.  This is the only state that is named after an American president.  James Monroe was our fifth president.  Many of the schools in our district our named after presidents.  Our mascot is the bald eagle.  We have a new school building under construction that we will move into in October and the old school will be torn down.  Right now many of our classes are in portable classrooms.  James Monroe has been a GLOBE school since 1995.  Our 4th grade class was responsible for making daily weather observations and sending that data to GLOBE. 

We live in a suburban area with houses and apartments.  Our school is near Silver Lake which has lots of fishing and swimming and there are eagles around the Lake.  Where we live it is rainy most of the time.  Temperatures are what changes most in our state.  We can tell spring and fall apart by whether the leaves on the trees are sprouting or falling off.   In summer our weather changes often between sunshine, and rainy and colder because we are near the Pacific Ocean and we live in a marine climate.  We have pretty mild temperatures both during days and nights.

In our area we have streams and rivers flowing to Puget Sound.  There are all six kinds of Pacific Salmon (Chinook, Coho, Chum, Pink, Sockeye and Steelhead) in our lakes and streams.  There are also rockfish and several kinds of crabs in the Sound as well as predators like dogfish sharks and Orcas or killer whales.  We raise Coho salmon at our school and release them into a nearby stream every year.  Our area used to be all forest with mostly fir, cedar, hemlock, alder and maple trees, but much of that has been cleared for building now.  There are still coyotes, crows, squirrels, raccoons and many kinds of birds in our woods.  Bigger native animals have moved out as habitat has been changed and houses have been built.  Many amphibians live in the wetlands and forests around our school.

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