July 20-24, 2009 "All Charged Up!"

Welcome to Sarah's Summer Science Scrapbook!

This past week was our electrical week, "All Charged Up!"

We started the week learning about static electricity. One of our first projects was a Paper Clip Electroscope for measuring static electricity. (The static electricity was, of course, generated by rubbing a styrofoam cup on our heads.)

When a statically charged object is brought near the probe, the paperclips spread apart. The electroscope can be grounded by simply touching a finger to the probe, whereupon the paper clips fall back down. (Animation below may take several minutes to load.)

Our next project was a Static Ball Game where we used a statically charged wand to move balls around a course.

Later in the week, we moved on from static electricity to current electricity. One of the favorites was our homemade Salt Water Battery. The battery, composed of three half cells, was used to power LEDs. And conveniently, when the battery "runs low," it's easy to mix up another batch of super saturated salt water.

Some of our other projects this week included Mini-Flashlights, an Electric Code Tapper, and a Multi-Speed Fan.

With the multi-speed fan, we played with resistors and with the Advanced Project Touch to Light LED we learned about transistors. By the end of the week, we learned more about electricity than many American adults know.

We also enjoyed our hike to Redwood Bowl and fort building in Joaquin Miller Park.

This past week at the Oakland site, we continued our new tradition of honoring some of our great counselors with a Maillot Jaune (French for Yellow Jersey) modeled off of the tradition from the Tour de France. The recipients from this past week are Travis and Natalie! This coming week, they will pass on the shirts to two new counselors.

Can't get enough of Sarah's Science? Our exciting upcoming themes include "Amazing Adaptations" (July 27-31 session in San Ramon, Oakland, and Berkeley) and "Gravity Works!" (August 3-7 session in San Ramon, Oakland, and Berkeley).

In "Amazing Adaptations" we will

• Take home our own insect-eating plant
• Get a close-up look at nature’s weirdest creatures with Owen from the East Bay Vivarium
• Make a magnetic board to match birds to their food
• And more!

And in "Gravity Works!" we will

• Design a downhill dragster
• Perform amazing feats of balance with a tightrope unicyclist
• Defy gravity with a hover ball machine
• And more!

Space is available in both of these sessions as well as most other weeks at most locations for weekly signups, or daily drop-ins.

For more information about This Land is Your Land summer day camp or other programs offered by Sarah's Science, or to enroll in sessions at San Ramon, Oakland, or Berkeley, please visit our web site or call our office at (510) 581-3739 or send us an email.

Thanks for stopping by. Check back soon for updates.

July 13-17, 2009: "Backyard Beasts and City Critters"

Welcome back to Sarah's Summer Science Scrapbook! This is the second update for Summer 2009.

This past week, we explored "Backyard Beasts and City Critters" with one of our nature oriented weeks. Projects this week taught us about our natural world while we explored electricity and basic circuits, air pressure, kinetic and potential energy, and simple machines.

One of our projects was a Hummingbird Feeder. During this lesson, we learned about hummingbirds and their unique migratory and flight abilities. We also learned about the careful balance of air and water pressure used to keep the hummingbird's food from falling out of the feeder.

Another fantastic project was our Critter in a Can. In this project, we made rubber band powered raccoons that would pop up (or completely fly out) of our little trash cans when the lid was removed. During this lesson, we learned about the amazing intelligence and memory of raccoons as well as the conversion of potential energy to kinetic energy.

We also built a Rolling Grasshopper toy where we learned about wheel and axles and friction.

Some of our other projects included an LED Matching game where we had to identify which animals were backyard animals and which were not, a Butterfly Garden where we planted Milkweed seed to attract Monarch butterflies, and a City Critter Tracking Kit. This week's advanced project (for the older groups) was a Fly Fetching Frog. This rube goldberg machine had a series of simple machines and counterweights that would stick out the frog's magnetic tongue to catch the magnetic flies.

We also got to spend some quality time in the woods where we went on hikes, played games, built forts, and just relaxed.

And we also enjoyed healthy snacks prepared by our CITs and Junior Counselors. For more information about our CIT leadership program, please see here.

This past week at the Oakland site, we established a new tradition of honoring some of our great counselors with a Maillot Jaune (French for Yellow Jersey) modeled off of the tradition from the Tour de France. While we await for our official yellow super staff t-shirts, we did some creative improvising to bleach tie-dye some regular staff shirts into super staff shirts. The recipients from this past week are Eva and Ted! This coming week, they will pass on the shirts to two new counselors.

Can't get enough of Sarah's Science? Our exciting upcoming themes include our fantastic week of electricity "All Charged Up!" (July 20 – 24 session in San Ramon, Oakland, and Berkeley) and "Amazing Adaptations" (July 27-31 session in San Ramon, Oakland, and Berkeley).

In"All Charged Up!" we will

• Make a mini-flashlight
• Create an electric code tapper
• Build a homemade battery to light an LED
• and more!

And in "Amazing Adaptations" we will

• Take home our own insect-eating plant
• Get a close-up look at nature’s weirdest creatures with Owen from the East Bay Vivarium
• Make a magnetic board to match birds to their food
• and more!

Space is available in both of these sessions as well as most other weeks at most locations for weekly signups, or daily drop-ins.

For more information about This Land is Your Land summer day camp or other programs offered by Sarah's Science, or to enroll in sessions at San Ramon, Oakland, or Berkeley, please visit our web site or call our office at (510) 581-3739 or send us an email.

Thanks for looking. Check back soon for more updates.