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My name is Allison Onstad, and I am a pre-service teacher at Wartburg College. I'm an elementary education major with an endorsement in science. I’ve recently been interested in teaching astronomy to elementary students, as I’ve become more interested in astronomy myself. I would love to have a calendar in my future classroom about current events related to astronomy. As a kid, I always thought it was so exciting seeing these things in person that you usually only see in pictures. My question is how do you explain these phenomena in a kid friendly way so they can find it exciting, but also complex enough that they understand what is happening? For example: explaining why a lunar and solar eclipse happens. These would be very exciting for a lower elementary student, but how do you explain these concepts if they have little knowledge about Earth’s place in the universe?

Hey Ally, I am also a preservice teacher at Wartburg College where I am getting my degree in Elementary Education with an endorsement in reading. I too enjoy learning about astronomy and I was lucky enough to do multiple activities focusing on astronomy in elementary school that I still remember 10-15 years later. The first example is Starlab. Starlab is a portable planetarium that creates an immersive experience where students can learn about astronomy and the night sky. It is a dome-like structure that projects stars, planets, solar systems, and even phenomena such as an eclipse in an interactive way with activities. This would have to go through possible board supervision or at least through your principal for approval. A much easier and realistic approach to this would be having students create a diagram with a paper plate and cut outs of the earth, moon, and sun. It is engaging and can be taught cross-curricular with the appropriate book such as, “The Moon Book” by Gail Gibbons. I will have a video linked that is similar to what I did in elementary. Hope this helps

Best 4 Total Solar Eclipse Activities to do with Kids

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrUp9ajX2a0