Building Knowledge: Exploring Summer Solstice


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It’s SUMMER SOLSTICE in the Northern Hemisphere! We hope everyone is enjoying a long day of play! This is a great day to share with your children what is meant by the Summer Solstice. What is really meant by “the longest day of the year”? The sun seems to be standing still. SOL-STICE.
 
During the SOLstice, the SUN is at its highest point–over the Tropic of Cancer–and there are the most hours of daylight and least hours of darkness of any day in the year. –  www.npr.org/2022/06/21/1106314338/first-day-of-summer-solstice-2022-longest-day
 
Here’s a short video by SciShow Kids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVzkVsWQBR8
 
Be sure to also take a moment to explore the word SOLSTICE:
 
The word “solstice” comes from the Latin words “sol” (sun) and “stitium” (still or stopped). The ancients noticed that as summer progressed, the sun stopped moving northward in the sky, then begin tracking southward again as summer turned to autumn.  – https://www.history.com/topics/natural-disasters-and-environment/history-of-summer-solstice
 
In this fascinating SciFri Podcast, Howard Markel explains the different words we’ve used for sun over the years. HELIOS to SOL to SUN?  https://soundcloud.com/scifri/science-diction-sun?utm_source=www.sciencefriday.com&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fscifri%252Fscience-diction-sun”
 
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