Super Sky July Day 2

After starting with some archery practice, we played Sneaky Animals and some more "laser maze". Then we hiked to the schoolhouse and started our Bird Study. We learned about the American Goldfinch and Brown Thrasher. Then we designed and created bird feeders from recycled materials. We painted them white and will decorate them tomorrow. Afterwards, we talked about how the earth rotates on its axis and travels around the sun. And did some shadow drawing to document the Earth's rotation. Then we talked about different ways to use the sun for power like solar cookers and solar panels. I set out a simple DIY solar cooker with an egg to cook. The kids liked checking on it every so often to see when it was done. LOL! We also talked about how solar panels work (simply: photons knock electrons off of silicon atoms and the electrons pass through a semi-conductive layer, through wires creating a flow of electricity to power a load, then back through another semi-conductive layer and eventually back to a silicon atom needing an electron. Then the process can occur all over again). We made our own solar panel obstacle course. The kids had to use a "photon" ball to hit the "electron" off and then grab it and run through the "conductive" layer across the wires through another "conductive" layer and hit the electron back to where it started. Then we played around and created a new obstacle course. After lunch, we went to the creek. Sky and Sitara caught water beetles to watch and release. Several of us worked on a new swinging vine and explored a new part of the creek. Lots of kids looked for quartz stones and cleaned a few to take home with them. Afterwards, we played "Leader of the Pack" and "Have You Ever". Lastly, we hiked to the top of the drive for pick up.