Eclipse Provides Students With Extended Learning Experience
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (CBS4) - The Great American Eclipse on Monday provided Colorado students with a great learning experience.
At Bear Canyon Elementary School in Highlands Ranch, students had been working hard during the school year's first seven days to prepare for the spectacular event.
"I was like amazed," said one student, of the darkening sky.
A teacher purchased safe solar eclipse viewing glasses for each student. The classes also made viewers to project the sun's image. Some were made out of shoeboxes and others were made out of cereal boxes.
Miss Deborah Charlton's 70 5th grade students stepped out of class to watch the moon cast its shadow on the Earth. She used the celestial event as a real-life science lesson.
"It's pretty dim. It's pretty cool, the clouds are all kind of spread out which is pretty cool," one student described.
"It honestly looks like the Earth is taking a picture of the sun, and then the moon is photobombing it," said another.
The students also wore UV beads on their wrists as part of an experiment to see how much the temperature changed during the eclipse. They determined that the temperature dropped by about 3 degrees as the moon crossed the sun's path.
Charlton, admittedly, may have felt just as excited as her students felt.
"When I first put (the glasses) on, I mean we talk about it and you know what you're teaching, but to actually experience it ... it's like they said, it's like cookie monster took a bite out of a cookie," Charlton told CBS4's Melissa Garcia.
The kids said they felt fortunate to experience the eclipse.
"There won't be another eclipse until 2045. So it's a very special occasion," another 5th grader added.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
