Solar Eclipse in Spain

The last time I witnessed a solar eclipse was roughly twenty years ago. I was in the fourth grade and we stood outside on the kickball diamond with little pinhole viewers made from index cards that we used to watch the Sun hide behind the passing Moon. At the time, I didn't realize what a big deal such an event was, but it was magical nonetheless.

When I started teaching it became my goal to share such magical events with  my own students. As a science teacher living in the age of discovery and invention, there are so many hands-on, real life things to share with the students relating to our studies. One thing that I had yet to share, though, was a celestial event. Sure, we'd gone stargazing and looked at the moon phases and even watched podcasts from the International Space Station. But we'd never gotten to share a once-in-a-lifetime event like a solar eclipse!

Until today.

Yesterday I and another science teacher worked together to build a pinhole viewer using a very handy YouTube tutorial.

This morning I awoke to cloudy skies. Disappointed, I prayed that the skies would clear in time for the point of maximum eclipse, which was schedule for around 10:08 am here in Madrid. Just before heading to chapel I checked once more, only to see more clouds. I watched part of the live stream while listening to our speaker, until I lost the signal about five minutes later.

At 10:00, after a brief tutorial on the mechanics of a solar eclipse with my seventh graders (earth science is an eighth grade topic), we marched downstairs armed with my giant pinhole viewer and I breathed a desperate prayer for a break in the clouds.

Thick stratus clouds coated the entire sky, but they were thin enough that the outline of the Sun shone through and the eclipse was vaguely visible. Together we attempted to set up the pinhole viewer but the clouds were thick enough to block most of the sun's rays. Try as we may, we were unsuccessful in getting a clear image on our viewer.

To say we were slightly disappointed would be an understatement. It will be around ten years before this region sees another partial solar eclipse of this kind!

And ... everyone knows it didn't happen unless you take a selfie...

step into my classroom: earth science at ECA, quarter one

I am loving teaching earth science to a whole new crew of eighth graders this year! So far we've been learning about the history of space exploration and investigating the significance of relationships between the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.

After discussing Newton's laws of motion and their application to rocketry, students are tasked with the challenge of building a balloon rocket that will carry a single piece of paper across a given distance. It's a simple task but it also serves as an ice-breaker, giving the students a chance to get comfortable with each other at the beginning of the year. I always love seeing the ways the students think outside the box. We had some pretty successful models this year!

And then we had some that didn't quite make it...

Another fan favorite is when we study the phases of the Moon and students recreate each phase using delicious cream-filled Oreo cookies! Nothing motivates a student quite like the promise of a snack!!

Later this week we will begin our research projects on the planets of the solar system. I am particularly excited for this year's projects because I have tweaked the assignment to make it more relatable for my multicultural students. The premise of the new and improved project will be that each student takes on the role of an alien from another planet who has come to Earth through an interplanetary exchange program. They will then have to come up with a presentation to teach their new Earthling "host family" all about their home planet. I can't wait to see what they come up with!