Hundreds of students at Adams Elementary got the rare opportunity to view a (partially) astronomical event on Monday morning. The kids lined up outside, holding their special solar eclipse glasses to their eyes, to see the moon blot out about 55 percent of the sun.
Oohs and aahs spilled from the young crowd, who stared in awe at the monumental phenomenon they had been learning about for the week prior. A pre-eclipse curriculum was put in place to prepare the students for the event, after the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) purchased 500 pairs of glasses for every 1st-6th grade student and staff member (TK and kindergarten were left out to ensure no retinas would be harmed by looking directly at the sun).
Fifth-grader Hayden Seymour knew that the solar eclipse would only be a partial one for Santa Barbara viewers, and that North America will not see another until 2044. He described it as looking “kind of like something’s eating the sun,” and said that it inspired him to envision a career at NASA.
“We just decided it would be a great collective experience for all of our students to not only learn from the rare experience of a lifetime, but feel like they are part of this universe as a whole,” said Principal Kelly Fresch. She added that they did their research to find out the best time to view, which was at 11:11, the eclipse’s peak.
Teacher Sean Federbusch helped the children understand just how historic the eclipse was by dedicating the first 15 minutes of class to discussing what solar eclipses are and why they are such a big deal.
“So many kids came up and saw this for the first time, and they’re able to contextualize what they’ve been learning in the classroom,” he said. “Like, ‘Oh, what we’re looking at is actually the moon in front of the sun.’ That’s just a great way to bring that lesson home.”
