LEESBURG – Students at Warsaw Community Schools were able to view the solar eclipse during school hours Monday.
Schools like Leesburg Elementary also prepared special lesson activities for its students to engage in while preparing for the event.
Prior to Monday’s eclipse, Leesburg fourth-grade teacher Stacy Huffer’s class read articles and watched videos and did a couple projects around learning about the eclipse and “why it’s so rare.”
Huffer said she believes the school corporation was working on plans for the eclipse for a couple weeks. She believes teachers were told a few months ago they would be providing eclipse glasses for students.
Before spring break, Dual Language Immersion teacher Clara Borda said students learned about different eclipses and they had to write a short story about the difference between a lunar and solar eclipse.
Third-grade teacher Ashley Myers said her class did a solar eclipse presentation Monday, so her students were able to review what the different types of eclipses were, how many years they need to wait to see the next eclipse and about protective eyewear.
Huffer said students were going out as classes Monday to view the eclipse as it changes so students could compare how the eclipse looks. At about 2:50 p.m., the whole school went out to view the height of the eclipse.
“When we went out (the first time) and we put on our glasses, all I could see was the sun and when I looked at the sun, there wasn’t fully, but there was a little partial (eclipse),” said student Levi Manges. When they watched a video about the eclipse, they were told they would be able to see “weird glowy stuff.”
Student Elijh Smith said the eclipse the first time students went out looked like someone took a bite out of an apple.
Afterwards, Huffer said her students would come in and do a writing about what the eclipse was like so they have a memory of the event when they grow up.
Borda’s class was going to do a comparison of before and after the eclipse, such as the color of the sky, in Spanish.
Myers said after watching the eclipse, she was having her students do a narrative writing, doing a story about either viewing the eclipse Monday or a possible future viewing.
There’s a lot of things that go on that “we don’t always see from our place,” Huffer said. She noted students are not going to see an eclipse in the same way in their life time. To see the eclipse in real life doesn’t compare to anything they could see in a video.
Borda said she thought it was important to teach students about things like the eclipse because “they need to know what is happening in the universe. They need to know the difference between a lunar eclipse and a solar eclipse. And it’s really important for their general knowledge of what is an eclipse.”
Myers said she hopes when her students think about what they learned in third grade, they remember what they learned about the eclipse and share that with their family.
Huffer said students were really excited Monday. Students think the eclipse is really cool. She said there was a little confusion from the students about why they needed the glasses, but that was explained to them.
Borda said some of the students were a little scared about what could happen if they don’t have their glasses on. Students were excited about learning about how an eclipse would look like.
Borda said experiencing an eclipse is important for students to be able to tell people about their experience when they grow up.
Myers said her students seemed excited. There were some nerves about the safety around making sure to wear their glasses.