What time did you say it was?

Resurrection Bay, Seward - Alaska



My family had the incredible opportunity to travel to Alaska in the summer of 2010 to visit some of our best friends that were stationed at Fort Richardson. There were so many things that we saw and discovered, but perhaps the most unusual experience was adjusting to the long hours of daylight.

The above photo was taken at 10 p.m., as we were ready to depart for our "Midnight Kayak" trip!

Outside Denali National Park, about 2 a.m.



Our visit was near the summer solstice, which depending on the year takes place on June 20-21st. The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere is the day we experience the most hours of sunlight, also the official start of summer. The 23.5 degree tilt of Earth on its axis is what causes our seasons and various amounts of sunlight depending on time of year.

Diagram of the Earth's seasons as seen from the north. Far left: summer solstice for the Northern Hemisphere. Front right: summer solstice for the Southern Hemisphere. (From Wikipedia)

So, if the summer solstice is the longest day of sunlight ... does that mean it is also the hottest day? Find out by reading this article from National Geographic!

What is a year?

Sounds like a simple question, right? I thought so, too. Most all of my students knew that a year is "365 days and a few hours. We add up those extra hours every four years for a leap day". We calculate a year based on the amount of time it takes the Earth to make a full revolution around the Sun. Since this year is a leap year, we spent some time in class talking about the extra day we get this year. (I also had to assure them that despite the extra day to the calendar, they were not attending school an extra day - they were worried!)

Anyways, after watching the BrainPop video on Leap Year, we learned A LOT about the history of the calendar. We knew that Leap Years happen every four years, but we didn't know there was an exception: leap years do not occur in years ending in "00", unless they are divisible by 400. (Ex: 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 will not be a leap year). If you're interested in learning more about the history of our modern day calendar, go here. (You can find out why the year 1582 was cut short by 13 days - September 2nd was followed by September 14th!?)

Some people may say that a year seems like a long time ... or maybe it goes by fast. Looking back on the past year, I feel that it did go by quickly. It seems like yesterday I was planning for my little girl to make her debut into the world. Just this weekend, we celebrated her 1st Birthday.