Countdown to Mystery Class: Less Than 2 Weeks to Go

Last year, Alex and I participated in Journey North's Mystery Class. This year's class will start on February 1st. Right now, you can go to their site and download Teacher's Packets #1 ("Discovering Latitude Clues") & #2 ("Discovering Longitude Clues") so you can practice with last year's data. These packets are new this year and I think they will be a GREAT help.

(photo of our graph at week 6 from last year)

If you are not familiar with the Mystery Class, you are basically going on a hunt to find 10 "mystery" classes which are "hidden" around the globe. You will first use sunrise/sunset data to help determine the latitude of each class. In late March, you will receive a special set of "longitude clues" to help you determine the longitude of each class. Then, you will start receiving weekly clues about each mystery class. These might include special holidays they celebrate, landmarks, history, etc. At this point, you will have narrowed down the classes to a latitude & longitude and are using the clues to help you locate the precise city.

These classes are a LOT of fun... and include a LOT of learning. We are getting ready to study the Olympics and then census, so I'm not sure if we'll be participating or not. But, I do want to encourage you to check it out, and I hope we will find the time to join in the hunt!

Spring (Vernal) Equinox

Tomorrow is the vernal equinox which means "spring equal night." The vernal equinox is the time when the sun's path intersects the equator. On that day, every place on earth has nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. In the Northern Hemisphere, it always falls near March 20 or 21, and marks the start of spring! This year, the Equinox falls on Friday, March 20th.



Today we updated our Journey North project. Looking at the graph, you can see that all of the photoperiods (hours of daylight) are headed towards 12 hours! (Tomorrow, we will graph Monday's data, so we won't see it hit near 12 hours until we graph next Friday.) It is a great way to understand what happens with the equinox.

We also watched 2 videos on BrainPop today. (I recently bought a subscription, though I wish I would have used the Homeschool Buyers Co-op and earned some points!) We watched one video called Solstice and Equinox and another called Time Zones which helps us understand some of our Journey North data.

Here's a short quiz you and your kids can take about the equinox. I plan on looking up more information about the Great Sphinx of Egypt and the pyramid of Kulkulkan or Quetzalcoatl the Serpent God.



And, last year I talked with several other bloggers about the myth that you can only balance an egg on its end on the equinox! This myth is based on the fact that day and night are balanced on the equinox so it is thought by some to be the only day where it is possible to balance an egg. It is actually kind of tricky, but it is just as hard (or just as easy) to do it any day of the year. Give it a try on the equinox and then you might try it another day, too! (This photo is of an egg I balanced last year and it was a few days AFTER the equinox.)

So, have some fun learning about the equinox tomorrow!

I went ahead and looked up some YouTube videos about Chichen Itza, the pyramid in Mexico. It was built by the Mayans who were incredible mathematicians and astronomers. They built this pyramid in such a precise way that twice a year, during the spring and fall equinox, a feathery snake (shadow) would appear on the side of the pyramid. The above video is in Spanish, but has English subtitles and explained Chichen Itza better than any other video I watched. Chichen Itza was one of th 21 finalists for the "new" 7 Wonders of the World.

Latitude & Longitude

Yesterday, we continued working on our Journey North Mystery Class. To save time, I had calculated the photoperiods of our 10 mystery locations this weekend. Alexandra calculated the photoperiod for our location. Then, we graphed our results (see below) and filled out our journal page for the week.

One of the journal questions asked about why you thought some of the lines went up while some of them went down. Alexandra hypothesized (correctly) that it is because we're in different parts of the world. I am so excited about Journey North and this mystery class as I know we'll both learn a lot!

We also worked on longitude and latitude using geography all the way. First, we listened to a song they have about longitude and latitude. Then, we did the "activities." Basically, this walks you through what both of those terms mean and then have you plot several points on a map.

I had planned on doing the Challenge activity at the bottom of the page (of the lady with the tattoo), but I couldn't figure it out. I was hoping to find a site where you could plug in those coordinates and it would tell you where you were, but I didn't find a site like that. And, I was wondering how we'd figure out who the mystery lady was even with those places identified! So, if you have any ideas.... we'd love to hear them!

I also have a few other activities planned for this week involving latitude and longitude. But, we are also getting ready for a Cultural Fair (like a science fair but we are doing different countries) and we have only 1 1/2 weeks to complete our project! So, that will be taking up most of our time for awhile.

Shadow Watching

Today, we continued our prep for our Mystery Class: A Study of Sunlight and Seasons. We went outside almost every hour and Alexandra stood in the same place and I traced her shadow. We noticed the shadow was both moving in a clockwise circle and shrinking. After noon (our next time outside was 2:30 pm) the shadow had started getting bigger again. One thing Alexandra realized was that in summer your shadow usually disappears near noon. Now, in late winter, our shadows never got that small. (We'll try to go out mid-day again tomorrow.) Since the sun is hitting us more at an angle, and not as directly as during summer, winter is cooler than summer!

We can't wait to get our first set of sunrise/sunset times on Friday! We're ready!

Seasons and Photoperiods

We started the Journey North Mystery Class today by learning about seasons at this Liverpool Museums site. We also used a globe to reinforce the concept that the tilt of the earth on its axis is what causes seasons.

Then, we had to find our local sunrise and sunset time for Monday. We looked in Monday's newspaper, but it only had Monday's sunset and Tuesday's sunrise. Our recycling bin had already been picked up, so we had to go online to find Monday's sunrise. We went to this site and found both our sunrise/sunset times online.

Then, we had to calculate our photoperiod, or length of daylight. There are other methods, but we did this by writing our time as if it were a 24-hour clock. Then, we subtracted. BUT, remember you cannot borrow as if it was based on 100. These are hours and minutes, so you must borrow as a group of "60."

Here's an example:
sunrise: 7:25 am (stays 7:25)
sunset: 6:10 pm (so change to 18:10)

So, you'd subtract 18:10 - 7:25. You can't have 10 minutes and subract 25. So, you actually have to change it to 17:70 - 7:25. Then, just subtact! In this case, your photoperiod would be 10:45 or 10 hours and 45 minutes. Hope this helps, as I was a little confused at first. We'll have plenty of time to practice when we get our set of 10 sunrises/sunsets data on Friday!

Our photoperiod was 10 hours 49 minutes. Alexandra was really surprised as she thought we always had 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of darkness. So, she's already learning something! (And, so am I as I learned to calculate photoperiods.)

Journey North: Mystery Classes

I have wanted to participate in Journey North's Mystery Class Project for several years and have decided to do it this year. This year's mystery starts on Monday when you'll record your own sunrise & sunset time and determine your local photoperiod. Then, starting on Friday, you'll receive clues to your 10 mystery sites.

I like this project because it not only uses science, but also math, geography, and research skills. Possibly more! I haven't decided if we'll try to determine all 10 mystery sites or keep it smaller since it's our first year. Also, this project is geared to a classroom setting where each group of 2-3 students are only trying to find one of the mystery classes.

To prepare, we will be doing a few projects early in the week. I'll try to get them done on Tuesday (if it isn't too cloudy) so I can post about them.

We will also be learning more about what causes the seasons using this Sunbeams and Sundials site. And, I've just requested a few books from the libary.

Has anyone ever done this class before and can offer some tips? Or have you blogged about what you've done in past years? If so, please let me know. I'm a little unsure of what I'm doing, but ready to jump in this time. (Update: I just found where Melissa at Here in the Bonny Glen posted about these mystery classes last January. She wrote a wonderful post!)

Anyone want to join us on this mystery???