Solstice Bonfire

The Rey Center celebrated the coming of light with our first ever Solstice Bonfire on the shores of Corcoran’s Pond. Seventy-five people turned out to enjoy the beautiful night after the rainy day. Hot cocoa and hot cider were supplied by the Rey Center, and many folks brought delicious desserts to share! There were of course, marshmallows for roasting, which was a popular activity with young and old alike. A few solstice snowmen appeared along the beach as well.

Studying Clouds

The Rey Center spent the afternoon with the K-2 students at the Waterville Valley Elementary School studying weather. Since we were unable to venture outdoors due to the single digit temperatures and strong winds, we brought a little bit of the weather indoors. The students learned about different types of clouds and the weather associated with those clouds. After writing about clouds in their journals, it was time for a slightly messier version of cloud studies! Using shaving cream, the students created different types of clouds on the table - thin wispy cirrus clouds, fluffy cumulus clouds, and a blanket-like stratus clouds. Not only did they have a great time playing with the shaving cream, their project left the table sparkling clean too!

Holiday Nature Crafts

Children and adults had fun creating holiday crafts with a nature theme at the Rey Center during the Waterville Valley Town Square Cookies, Snow and Fairytales event. Creative crafters made tree shaped bird feeders, strung popcorn and cranberry bird feeder garland, decorated their own wrapping paper with potato stamps, and made plantable, handmade paper gift tags, which included flower seeds so when the gift tags are planted in the spring they will bloom!

Opening Reception: The Magic of Russian Decorative Art

Blueberry pierogi, Russian tea cakes, and hot tea served from a Russian Samovar set the tone for the opening reception of “The Magic of Russian Decorative Art,” an exhibit featuring decorative trays from Zhostovo, Russia and lacquered miniature paintings on papier-mache from four villages: Palekh, Kholui, Mstera and Fedoskino. Ceramic work from Gzhel and hand-carved, painted wood pieces in the Khokhloma style are featured as well.

Meteorologists in Training

Students in the Waterville Valley Elementary School’s 3-5 grade class have just begun a unit on weather and spent the morning with the Rey Center creating their own weather measuring instruments. The students created rain gauges, anemometers, wind vanes, thermometers, and barometers. They will be collecting daily weather data over the next month. The Rey Center will meet with this class again in December to teach the students how to review weather data to develop a weather forecast. Stay tuned!

Walter Strauss in Concert

Photo by Marcia Morris

The evening with Walter Strauss was one not to be missed! Walter treated attendees to a fabulous evening filled with his eclectic mix of music including a few songs inspired by his work with Malian kora virtuoso and 2005 Grammy nominee Mamadou Diabate in which he plays guitar renditions of West African kora pieces. We certainly hope Walter will visit the Rey Center again on his next East Coast tour; be sure to be here if he does!

Teachers Learn About Climate Change

Educators from New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont gathered at the Rey Center on Saturday to learn about Climate Change and techniques and activities for teaching Climate Change to their students. The workshop was led by Nicole Scola of the New England Aquarium, a member of the New England Science Center Collaborative, and taught participants the activities contained in the Climate Change Backpack - a curriculum developed by Clean Air - Cool Planet. In the photos above, teachers are acting out the carbon cycle in “Please Pass the Carbon” and on the right, the group is contemplating the appropriate arrangement of events on a timeline of Earth. In this activity, students can investigate how climate naturally fluctuates over time, but also see the dramatic impacts humans have had on our climate in the relatively short time that we have been a part of our planet.

The group was also joined by one hearing assistance dog named Tango!

Check out these links to learn more about Clean Air-Cool Planet or about the Climate Change Backpack curriculum.