Teaching About the Solar Eclipse!

Having a solar eclipse in our area became quite a unique teachable moment!  Students did several activities in class activities to learn about solar eclipses.  Some of them included:

• Watching videos explaining what occurs during a solar eclipse 
• Building models of the moon orbiting the earth and the earth revolving around the sun
• Testing how the moon’s shadow could fall on the earth with a flashlight (the sun), a ball of clay (the moon), and an orange (for the earth)
• Studying and testing that shadows move based on the position of the sun in our sky
• Mimicking and drawing the stages of contact during an eclipse using Oreo cookies 

Many students watched the solar eclipse with their families.  When talking about it in class the next day, one girl said, “It looked like the moon took a bite out of the sun!”  Another boy said, “It was the best day of my life!”
Our staff would like to thank Donor’s Choose for donating the glasses so families could look at the eclipse safely.