Leap day day

Q

QueenAtHome

New member
Hi all.

I figured since leap day only happens every 4 years that tomorrow we are going to have a party. :party:

I am wondering if any of you can help me out with "leap" themed activities & lessons for tomorrow. Something other than :sheep: or :jump:

I also want to teach why we have leap day.

My kids are 10, 8 1/2, and 6 (the little girls will have fun no matter what we do).
 
Aimiel

Aimiel

Well-known member
It's actually because the earth takes 365-1/4 days (approximately) to make an orbit around the sun. The extra day every four years keeps the seasons where they are on our calendar. You could have a 'seasons' party, where each of the four seasons are represented in the theme / decor. We also have leap minutes, to keep our clocks correct on the timing of the sun at it's apex.

But Wait! It's Not Quite that Simple!
The math seems to work out beautifully when you add an extra day to the calendar every four years to compensate for the extra quarter of a day in the solar year. As we said earlier, however, the solar year is just about 365 ¼ days long—but not exactly! The exact length of a solar year is actually 11 minutes and 14 seconds less than 365 ¼ days. That means that even if you add a leap day every four years, the calendar would still overshoot the solar year by a little bit—11 minutes and 14 seconds per year. These minutes and seconds really start to add up: after 128 years, the calendar would gain an entire extra day. So, the leap year rule, "add a leap year every four years" was a good rule, but not good enough!

Calendar Correction, Part II
To rectify the situation, the creators of our calendar (the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582) decided to omit leap years three times every four hundred years. This would shorten the calendar every so often and rid it of the annual excess of 11 minutes and 14 seconds. So in addition to the rule that a leap year occurs every four years, a new rule was added: a century year is not a leap year unless it is evenly divisible by 400. This rule manages to eliminate three leap years every few hundred years.

It's Smooth Sailing for the Next 3,300 Years
This ingenious correction worked beautifully in bringing the calendar and the solar year in harmony, pretty much eliminating those pesky extra 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Now the calendar year and the solar year are just about a half a minute off. At that rate, it takes 3,300 years for the calendar year and solar year to diverge by a day. -- SOURCE
 
Q

QueenAtHome

New member
Aimiel said:
It's actually because the earth takes 365-1/4 days (approximately) to make an orbit around the sun. The extra day every four years keeps the seasons where they are on our calendar. You could have a 'seasons' party, where each of the four seasons are represented in the theme / decor. We also have leap minutes, to keep our clocks correct on the timing of the sun at it's apex.

But Wait! It's Not Quite that Simple!
The math seems to work out beautifully when you add an extra day to the calendar every four years to compensate for the extra quarter of a day in the solar year. As we said earlier, however, the solar year is just about 365 ¼ days long—but not exactly! The exact length of a solar year is actually 11 minutes and 14 seconds less than 365 ¼ days. That means that even if you add a leap day every four years, the calendar would still overshoot the solar year by a little bit—11 minutes and 14 seconds per year. These minutes and seconds really start to add up: after 128 years, the calendar would gain an entire extra day. So, the leap year rule, "add a leap year every four years" was a good rule, but not good enough!

Calendar Correction, Part II
To rectify the situation, the creators of our calendar (the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582) decided to omit leap years three times every four hundred years. This would shorten the calendar every so often and rid it of the annual excess of 11 minutes and 14 seconds. So in addition to the rule that a leap year occurs every four years, a new rule was added: a century year is not a leap year unless it is evenly divisible by 400. This rule manages to eliminate three leap years every few hundred years.

It's Smooth Sailing for the Next 3,300 Years
This ingenious correction worked beautifully in bringing the calendar and the solar year in harmony, pretty much eliminating those pesky extra 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Now the calendar year and the solar year are just about a half a minute off. At that rate, it takes 3,300 years for the calendar year and solar year to diverge by a day. -- SOURCE
Click to expand...
awesome :up: thanks for the info and source.
 
Poly

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Aimiel said:
It's actually because the earth takes 365-1/4 days (approximately) to make an orbit around the sun. The extra day every four years keeps the seasons where they are on our calendar. You could have a 'seasons' party, where each of the four seasons are represented in the theme / decor. We also have leap minutes, to keep our clocks correct on the timing of the sun at it's apex.

But Wait! It's Not Quite that Simple!
The math seems to work out beautifully when you add an extra day to the calendar every four years to compensate for the extra quarter of a day in the solar year. As we said earlier, however, the solar year is just about 365 ¼ days long—but not exactly! The exact length of a solar year is actually 11 minutes and 14 seconds less than 365 ¼ days. That means that even if you add a leap day every four years, the calendar would still overshoot the solar year by a little bit—11 minutes and 14 seconds per year. These minutes and seconds really start to add up: after 128 years, the calendar would gain an entire extra day. So, the leap year rule, "add a leap year every four years" was a good rule, but not good enough!

Calendar Correction, Part II
To rectify the situation, the creators of our calendar (the Gregorian calendar, introduced in 1582) decided to omit leap years three times every four hundred years. This would shorten the calendar every so often and rid it of the annual excess of 11 minutes and 14 seconds. So in addition to the rule that a leap year occurs every four years, a new rule was added: a century year is not a leap year unless it is evenly divisible by 400. This rule manages to eliminate three leap years every few hundred years.

It's Smooth Sailing for the Next 3,300 Years
This ingenious correction worked beautifully in bringing the calendar and the solar year in harmony, pretty much eliminating those pesky extra 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Now the calendar year and the solar year are just about a half a minute off. At that rate, it takes 3,300 years for the calendar year and solar year to diverge by a day. -- SOURCE
Click to expand...

Will there be a test? :noid:
 
Aimiel

Aimiel

Well-known member
Allright class, remember what I said at the start of the semester, anytime someone asks about a test: Pop Quiz. Clear off your desks, please. Pencils out. Take one, and pass them back. No wandering eyes. No talking. Please place your completed quiz on my desk and leave the room quietly when you're done. You have ten minutes. Ready. Begin. :chuckle:
 
Poly

Poly

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hoosiermommy said:
Hi all.

I figured since leap day only happens every 4 years that tomorrow we are going to have a party. :party:

I am wondering if any of you can help me out with "leap" themed activities & lessons for tomorrow. Something other than :sheep: or :jump:

I also want to teach why we have leap day.

My kids are 10, 8 1/2, and 6 (the little girls will have fun no matter what we do).
Click to expand...

This site seems to have some pretty good ideas.

http://classroom-activities.suite101.com/article.cfm/leap_year_2008
 
Q

QueenAtHome

New member
What a fun day it has been!
We started out the morning with Leap-cakes
I made pancakes and then they leaped out of the pan onto the plates. My son got a kick out of his, because it hit the table and then leaped onto his plate.

We decided to wear our pjs all day, so after breakfast my son went upstairs to change back into his pajamas. :)

Then we got down to business and learned about the sciene, history and math of Leap Day.

The kids had fun trying to figure out how a lady near 50 has only had 12 birthdays.

We also learned that in 1900 there was no leap year. (ok maybe the kids didn't get that part).

We even made a game. If I can figure it out, I will put up the video.

Then they made a poem.

We had dessert, followed by dinner, and then more dessert.

The kids went spent the day in their pjs, learned history, science, language arts, baked a cake, and had PE. I love homeschool.

We finished the day with a "leap-over" They all got to stay up late and sleep downstairs.

Oh, something else I discovered today. One of our daughters is a Leap Year baby.

Thanks for your help.
Karen
 
Memento Mori

Memento Mori

New member
Aimiel said:
Allright class, remember what I said at the start of the semester, anytime someone asks about a test: Pop Quiz. Clear off your desks, please. Pencils out. Take one, and pass them back. No wandering eyes. No talking. Please place your completed quiz on my desk and leave the room quietly when you're done. You have ten minutes. Ready. Begin. :chuckle:
Click to expand...

:chrysost: ((GM/4(3.14)^2)T^2)^1/3... I'm gonna need another test booklet...
 
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