The Sunshine Report

Night and Day 2002 - courtesy of sunthingspecial.com

Today, where I am the sun rises at 6.51 and sets at 7.08 bathing the landscape with twelve hours and seventeen minutes of sunshine. Actually, there is more sunshine because it is light after the sun sets and the sun bathes us with a bit more light before fading into night. Lately, the weather has been warm, really warm. It feels more like May than March. However, considering the winter weather we had, it is par for the course.

It is Thursday and time for the Sunshine Report. Every Thursday morning for the past month and half, I have been starting my morning geography class by tracking the amount of sunshine in various parts of the world, specifically Latin America. We’ve tracked our home and three locations in South America:  Armenia, Colombia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Lima, Peru – all places we’ve been studying. Tuesday, was the equinox and each location received was almost an equal amount of sunlight – the range was a mere eight minutes. Now, the range will expand, rapidly and locations in the Northern Hemisphere will get much more sunshine and conversely locations in the Southern Hemisphere will get less. Today, two days after the equinox, the range is 15 minutes of sunshine. It is also, the last day we’ll track Latin America the quarter ends tomorrow and Spring Break begins (thankfully) at 3:00 PM Friday. We all need it, students, staff, and yes and even the administration.

There are forty-three days remaining in the year, counting today. When we get back after break, we’ll jump from Latin America to Europe our last unit and the Sunshine report will continue for locations in Europe: Italy, Germany, Norway, and Hungary!  I’ll make them squirm a bit and try to figure it out on their own. But, they’ll get it. In the meantime, the alarm has rung and it is time to move, groove, and get going. Making the Day Count, one quirky way at a time.

What are you planning today for your sunshine?

Author’s note – the sunshine image comes from Sunthingspecial an artist and blogger from Toledo, Ohio. I was looking for a cool sun image for the Sunshine Report and I stumbled across it!

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