The Thursday before the eclipse, I sent home permission slips from the school in regards to watching the eclipse (with proper eye wear of course). Not all of the permission slips were returned by Monday, which caused some tears from my third graders.
Another member of my grade level managed to acquire 29 pairs of viewing glasses, so my class got to go out in smaller chunks. I must say I love being part of a team that shares and values collaboration.
Las Vegas weather (rain, go figure) made viewing the eclipse rather difficult, so we live streamed from NASA instead.
My students loved seeing scientists of all genders, races, and ethnic backgrounds. I didn't point it out, but it was heart warming to hear "hey, he looks like me!". Diverse role models are important.
We did have specials at 10:15, so I simply paused the live stream and we continued when they were back from music (thanks You Tube!).
We acted out the earth and moon's rotation around the sun, discussed important science vocabulary words, and set up our science notebooks. We practiced making diagrams like scientists:
I didn't plan to devote two hours of my teaching day to the eclipse, but I'm glad I did. By the time the next eclipse rolls around, my sweet third graders will be high school seniors. That's a little terrifying to think about.
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