​Follow the Sun

​We need the sun’s energy to live, but we can’t just pack a sun sandwich in our lunches.  First graders learn about the incredibly important role of plants - turning the sun’s light into chemical energy - and how that energy ends up in our bodies through a food chain.  To illustrate the concept, we had students walk through a life-sized food chain.  We put lots of glitter on the sun, and walked from the sun, to the grass, to the cow, to the milk, and to the child.  A little glitter was dropped at each step, which illustrates exactly how energy is transferred through the food chain.  We also made beautiful solar prints from found objects and talked about different ways we can physically block the sun’s rays - like sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses. 

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