https://www.easypeasyandfun.com/groundhog-day-agamograph-template/
Great site for Agamographs and Groundhogs Day.
Also check out this cool YouTube video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKmqDCXY14c
Thanks Sandy at our MtE Library for this great idea.
The History of Leap Year
(Copied)
A leap
year is a year with 366 days, instead of the usual 365. Leap years are
necessary because the actual length of a year is nearly 365.25 days, not 365
days as commonly stated. Leap years occur every four years, and years that are
evenly divisible by four (2020, for example) have 366 days. This extra day is
added to the calendar on February 29.
However,
there is one exception to the leap year rule involving century years, like the
year 1900. Since a year is actually slightly less than 365.25 days, adding an
extra day every four years results in about three extra days being added
throughout 400 years. For this reason, only one out of every four century years
is considered a leap year. Century years are only considered leap years if they
are evenly divisible by 400. Therefore, 1700, 1800, 1900, and 2100 were not
leap years. But 1600 and 2000 were leap years.
Julius Caesar, Father of Leap Year
Julius
Caesar was behind the origin of leap year in 45 BCE. The early
Romans had a 355-day calendar and
to keep festivals occurring around the same season each year, a 22- or 23-day
month was created every second year. Julius Caesar decided to simplify things
and added days to different months of the year to create the 365-day calendar;
the actual calculations were made by Caesar's astronomer, Sosigenes. Every
fourth year following the 28th day of Februarius (February 29) one day was to
be added, making every fourth year a leap year.
In
1582, Pope Gregory XIII further refined the calendar with the rule that leap
day would occur in any year divisible by four as described previously.
https://www.steampoweredfamily.com/groundhog-day-kids-stem-activity/
The
History of Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day is celebrated on February 2,
which is known as Candlemas in the church. Candlemas falls
halfway between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox and has
a long history of importance in many cultures throughout Europe and was brought
to North American in the 1800’s by the Germans.
In
Scotland, there was an old saying that:
“If Candlemas Day is
bright and clear, there’ll be twa (two) winters in the year.”
And
in England there is an old song.
“If Candlemas be fair
and bright, come, winter, have another flight. If Candlemas brings clouds and
rain, go winter, and come not again.”
Looking to hibernating animals
to help understand the yearly variations in seasonal patterns is a tradition
that dates back thousands of years in Europe. They believed that badgers had
the ability to predict changes in the seasons. This was important, as farmers
needed to know when to plant their crops.
So they carefully watched on
February 2nd to see what would happen when the badger poked his head up out of
his hole in the ground. If he saw his shadow, he will return to his burrow and
there will be 6 more weeks of winter weather. We will have a second winter. If
he doesn’t see his shadow, then spring is on it’s way.
Supplies
Soda
pop bottles
Balloons
Markers (I use Sharpies and love them!)
Chip Bag Clips
Vinegar
Baking Soda (sodium bicarbonate)
Funnels
Variety of measuring spoons
Measuring cup
Light – could be a table lamp or flashlight
Directions
This is a fantastic
STEM activity to do as part of your Groundhog Day Celebration.
Prep
The first step is to
set up your space. You will want to be near a wall so you can aim the light at
the bottles to create the shadows. The light is your sun!
Clean and rinse your
bottles and remove any labels so you can see the reaction.
For our experiment we
decided to keep our vinegar as the constant and our baking
soda as our variable. We chose three variable amounts, which means we
needed three balloons or ground hogs. You can make as many variables as you
want.
Decorate Balloons
Blow up the balloons
and clamp the end so the air doesn’t escape. Using markers draw on the balloons
to create your groundhog faces. Let kids go crazy and be creative with this.
There are no rules. Even which animal was used on this day has varied over
history and location, so encourage kids to be creative with their balloons.
Once they are done
decorating their balloons, let them deflate and set them near the bottle.
Decide on how much you
are going to alter your variable. We decided to use 1/4 teaspoon in the first
bottle, 1/2 teaspoon in the second bottle, and 1/2 tablespoon in the third. For
our constant we used 1/4 cup of vinegar.
Take a moment to
discuss your student’s hypothesis.
Set Up the Experiment
·
Add 1/4 cup of vinegar
to each bottle (use a funnel to limit mess).
·
Next we need to
prepare the balloons.
In
one balloon use a funnel to add 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda then carefully slip
the balloon over the top of the bottle. Don’t let any of the baking soda fall
into the bottle yet! Repeat for each bottle. Adjusting the amount of baking
soda in each balloon.
Reaction Time!
Once you are ready,
flip up your balloons and shake them so the baking soda falls into the bottle
and triggers the reaction!
Now examine your
balloons and see how they vary. Don’t forget to examine the shadows on the
wall! Did your groundhogs see their shadows? How are the silhouettes different?
The
Science Lessons
Like many of our favorite
chemistry experiments, this is a simple vinegar (acid) and baking soda (base)
reaction. When the two are
mixed they release CO2 gas which rises and takes up space. This is what causes
the balloon to blow up. When you alter the amount of baking soda added to the
bottle, it affects how much CO2 is released and therefore how much the balloon
blows up.
