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Are you planning to celebrate the total solar eclipse with your students? Share your plans and ideas here with others from the NSTA community. After the event in April, please tell us what you actually did to experience the eclipse.

See NSTA resources at: https://www.nsta.org/eclipse

Flavio.

I've got about 60 pair of eclipse glasses (new Oct 2023). Our fall eclipse was cloudy and a bust. I'd like to send the glasses to a fellow teacher (free) so they can be put to use. I just don't want them to go to waste. Contact me at [email protected]. 

Dear Mr. Larson:

Everyone in North America will be able to see at least a partial eclipse of the Sun on April 8.  See all the good resources at: http://nsta.org/eclipse 

Why not use the glasses you have with the current class you are teaching?

Here in Northern Vermont we are very excited to be in the path of totality. While our school will be officially closed, due to the extraordinary influx of people anticipated in our rural community, the students are all being provided with approved safety glasses and instructions on safe viewing during the event. They have been making posters to share in our community at the local public library and in our senior community housing centers. 

They have also been learning about and crafting alternate viewing methods such as pinhole projectors and SunSpotter Solar Viewers.

Attachments

Path of Totality (0.63 Mb)

Our school will be dismissing at 11:30am on April 8th as we are within 10 miles of the path of totality.  We have numerous district-wide eclipses-related activities occuring during the week before inclduing the distribution of eclipse glasses for all students and staff.  

My school system will have class that day. Although we are not in the path of totality, the system has prepared materials to share. I assisted my county in creating eclipse resources and a reference website for teachers and administrators in the district to reference to prepare for the event. Every student in the county will receive a pair of solar eclipse glasses to view during the event. I, however, will not be at school that day as I'll be traveling to totality!

My district will be closed so my 6th graders are helping other classes in our building prepare for the eclipse.  They are sharing facts on the announcements the week of April 1-5, telling a space themed joke each day on the announcements, and they have created posters with facts about eclipses in general or facts specific to the total eclipse on April 8.  They will also be going into classrooms to make eclipse glasses holders with students and make solar eclipse sliders with the students.  

We had a fantastic STEAM Expo for the community at the local fairgrounds.  We handed out eclipse glasses, safe viewing information, solar art activity, and the StarLab portable planetarium.  Our local library is doing 'Solar Story Time' for young children the week before the April 8 eclipse and handing out information and safe viewing glasses to the families who attend.  

My district in central Ohio will be off school that day, as we are along a major route from Columbus into the path of totality. We don't want our students/parents/buses/staff to be stuck in traffic nor do we want them to miss the eclipse. Our district is providing eclipse glasses to all of the students and staff. Our elementary school is currently getting an addition put on and we will set up a time capsule commemorating this event. We will work with the engineers of the addition for placement of this time capsule! Our district will be in totality again in 2099 which will be the anticipated opening date for this time capsule. 

My 9th and 10th graders hosted an Eclipse Fair for the K-8 students in our district. The high school students picked eclipse related topics that interested them and presented to all of the younger students. Stations included Safely Viewing the Eclipse, UV bead bracelets, Moon Phases, Animals at Night, Create an Eclipse glasses case, Orbits, among others. The stations were tailored to the age group. It was a huge logistical undertaking but once we got it worked out, things went smoothly! Students and teachers tell us it was fun! More info can be read here: https://www.partnershipsforall.org/post/fairbanks-eclipse

The 10th grade students presented How to View and Eclipse Safely to the 9th, 11th, and 12th graders as well. 

We are pretty darn excited to have the sun eclipsed by 99.5% over our town in southern Ontario. I have also been working with Discover the Universe and was able to obtain a pair of glasses for each student (1000), staff and an additional 400 for the outreach program kids will be doing with local senior citizen homes. 

In the morning of April 8th, the students of the 'eclipse club' will present to the entire student body about ecipse basics and how to safely view this one with their glasses. In the afternoon, 5 teams of students will head to 4 different local senior citizen homes to deliver the same presentation, modified for the audience, and then to help the seniors outside (weather permitting), help them put on their glasses and then take it in all together. Students will also be taking along some modified glasses with the paper plate addition, for added safety for some seniors. 

I am a teacher candidate participating in field work at a local elementary school. The fifth grade class I'm currently placed in recently did a lesson related to eclipses and my cooperating teacher was thinking about procuring some solar viewing glasses for the students, seeing if any stores nearby were giving them out. I decided to purchase 30 pairs of the glasses for the students myself, I wanted to do something nice for them and they're very excited for the eclipse!

I am also the founder and president of my university's Astronomy Club and am hosting a trip to the Liberty Science Center on the day of the eclipse to participate in the programs and activities they're holding. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they have to offer!

These are the programs/activities I submitted on the Google Form:

Program 1: March 17 at 2PM ET-Solar Sensation program at the Public library. We created a sun foldable that opened to show some phases of the solar eclipse and read the ABC's of Solar Eclipse. Many parents of the children who attended went online to buy glasses to be ready for eclipse day.
Program 2: March 25- Hallway bulletin board put up outside my classroom door with a take home sheet printed from the NSTA website.
Program 3: April 4 1:10-1:50 PM ET- Local Elementary School presentation for 2nd grade. We watched a brief video from National Geographic about the solar eclipse and then made a detailed sun foldable showing some major phases of what happens during a solar eclipse. They then strung UV beads on a pull apart silicone necklace that they will wear on the 8th to see what happens when they go outside during their timeslot. We finished with the reading of Total Solar Eclipse: A Stellar Friendship Story.
Program 4: April 4 2:30-3:10 PM ET-Local Elementary School presentation for 1st grade. We watched a brief video from National Geographic about the solar eclipse and then did solar eclipse chalk art. They then strung UV beads on a pull apart silicone necklace that they will wear on the 8th to see what happens when they go outside during their time slot. We finished with the reading of the ABC's of Solar Eclipse. The teacher shared that she has a disco ball to bring for them outside and they are having a paper plate design contest that will yield a science kit to the winner! They are using paper plates to better support the students when wearing the glasses.
Program 5: April 8 (entire day, various times) When reaching out to the Principal of the Local Elementary school, she was very supportive of the initiative. She was able to purchase glasses for the entire school district that is made up of 10 schools and over 7,000 students! The weekly newsletter that is found on their website had a section (in Spanish and English starting in March) dedicated to the solar eclipse with page a page that has direct links to NSTA for information and safety viewing tips. Each school and classes have different activities they will do depending on where they will be during the eclipse. The Elementary School where she is the principal will go out in intervals. The science teacher that travels to all of the elementary schools did programs when they had her during their cycle. Her ability to open doors to create awareness and school programs district wide was much appreciated.
Program 6: Week of March 25 & April 8 (various times)- The Lower/Middle School campus at the school I work at learned about solar eclipses the week before spring break and today will be able to see it with glasses they purchased.
Program 7: April 8 (during class and eclipse times)-My science classes will be watching a video about the solar eclipse from Curiosity. They will also make the detailed sun foldable. I also have the Totality! book to share with the students. The Chemistry/Physics teacher will talk about those aspects of what happens during a solar eclipse in his class. The English teacher across the hall is doing an eclipse writing prompt and then sharing their work on the hallway bulletin board next to her classroom.  The entire school will gather in the gym to receive glasses and head outside before dismissal. The Principal has also hired an ice cream truck to come and let the school have a treat!