One day mild, next day cold. The first rule for the start of spring term at Knox College: You have to stop worrying about the weather. Except for the students and faculty running the prairie burn at Green Oaks, who checked temperature, humidity, and especially wind.

Too early for trees and flowers, it's the perfect time for the annual prairie burn at Green Oaks, a pioneering ecological restoration project to suppress invasive plants and promote growth of native species. For more of this year's burn on March 29, see the full set at the Knox College Flickr channel.

On campus, students brought out their skateboards -- even with an air temp 40 F (5C), wind speed 20 mph. If spring isn't here, it's near.

In one of the first meetings of the educational studies course Elementary Reading Methods, students brought to class, talked about, and read to each other from their favorite childhood books. Eighteen more photos from the class are in a set at the Knox Flickr channel.

In dance class, students engaged in movement exercises, discussion, and improvisation work -- all on day one of the spring term course Dance Composition. Twenty more photos from the first day of this class are in a set at the Knox College Flickr channel.

Sarah Day-O'Connell, associate professor of music, led her students in a taiko drum session in her Intro to Music course. In addition to several genuine taiko drums, the class also used five-gallon plastic buckets; an inexpensive replacement, they're often used in taiko performances. Watch the class in action on YouTube - Introduction to Music.

Prairie Fire track and field athletes and coaches spent one of their first days of spring season volunteering at a Galesburg High School track meet, held in Knox's T. Fleming Fieldhouse because of construction at GHS.