The 2017 Solar Eclipse

2017 Solar Eclipse

Will you be in school on August 21, 2017?  If so, you may want to see if you will be able to see the 2017 Solar Eclipse that is taking place that day!  My town is lucky enough to be in the path of totality and I am super excited about this!

So if you will be watching with young students, read on.....I've got some things you may want to consider.  After all, kids will be kids!

 Our younger students are just learning about the world around them.  That includes things like the sun and the moon.  So they might not have any idea what an eclipse is.  Here's a great Brainpop video that might be useful to show your students to help them understand what will happen

I'm excited and you might be excited.  But our kiddos may not fully comprehend how rare this event is going to be.  If they have to miss something "fun" like center time or recess in order to view the eclipse, I can see them being even less enthused about the whole thing.  I have great plans to try and get them excited--just hoping my excitement wears off on them. HA!

So if you're in the path of totality, you will experience a couple of minutes of total darkness.  Day will literally become night.  I will be in awe, but I am betting some of my little ones might not be so impressed.  I am going to make sure my students are fully prepared for what will happen and I'm planning on doing some role playing too.

This one's going to be tough, but it is going to be SO IMPORTANT.  Seriously.  My kids can't keep anything on LOL.  So I'm betting that they won't want to (or won't be able to) keep the flimsy safety glasses on.  They will be too big or too small.  They will fall off randomly or will blow off in the wind.  Yall know how it is!  There will definitely be some safety lessons done beforehand so my students know not to look directly at the sun.

Ok this one's just a given.  It always seems that there's one kid who has to go to the restroom right in the middle of a fire drill or a guest speaker or a school-wide assembly.  I definitely don't want to be trekking back inside the school building and miss the whole eclipse, so I am planning to take the entire class for a restroom break BEFORE we head outside!

Will you be watching the solar eclipse with your students?  I'd love to hear about any fun things that your school has planned.  

If you're looking for a kid-friendly way to introduce your students to the solar eclipse and help them understand what will happen--check out my Solar Eclipse Writing and Interactive Reader Set.  It includes several writing activities and an interactive book for students to read and complete.  

Enjoy the eclipse!  I know I can't wait!!

Debbie :-)