How to combat Decision Fatigue

In the depths of daily choices, some mundane and some consequential, I find myself navigating a complex web of decisions. Starting with deciding whether to drink my coffee at home or in the car, I make nonstop choices all day. Do I stop the behavior that’s interrupting my lesson or keep going? Should I send the coughing student to the nurse or ignore it? Middle school teachers make a minimum of 1500 decisions every day, according to Education Week. That’s 3 per minute over an 8 hour day. No wonder educators experience decision fatigue.

decision fatigueWhat is decision fatigue?

Decision fatigue is a term used to describe the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. In other words, the more decisions a person has to make in a short period of time, the lower our ability to make decisions.

Teachers experiencing decision fatigue report an increase in impulsive decision making. As your ability to make well thought-out decision decreases, the likelihood of making impulsive decisions increases.

Some teachers avoid making decisions or feel decision paralysis, an inability to make decisions, when it gets to be too much. I plan my dinner menus for the week every Sunday because I simply can’t make a decision by the end of the day.

Combating Decision Fatigue in Middle School Teachersdecision fatigue

Here are some tips and tricks you can try to reduce your decision fatigue:

  • Establish routines. Creating predictable routines and structures reduces the number of decisions you have to make in a given day by automating certain aspects of your workflow.
  • Prioritize tasks. Identify those items which absolutely require your attention and do them first. Focus on what’s important and leave the rest for later.
  • Set limits. Conserve your mental energy by limit the number of times you check your email or handle routine administrative tasks.
  • Seek support. Collaborate with your colleagues to distribute decision making responsibilities. You pick the lab for the week and let your coworker choose the assessment.
  • Let your students make some decisions. Would they prefer their desks in rows or tables? Should they clean up the lab or work on the analysis questions first? Not everything has to be in your brain.
  • Practice self care. Establish clear work-home boundaries and make sure you get your down time.

In conclusion, understanding and recognizing decision fatigue can be a game-changer in our daily lives. From choosing what to wear in the morning to making critical decisions in our professional roles, we all experience the effects of decision fatigue. By implementing strategies like establishing routines, setting limits, and prioritizing tasks, we can navigate through decision-making challenges more effectively. Remember, it’s okay to take breaks, seek support, and prioritize self-care to recharge our mental batteries. So, the next time you feel overwhelmed by a barrage of choices, take a moment to pause, breathe, and simplify. Your future self will thank you for it!

Weather Unit Plans for Middle School Science

As a middle school science teacher, I understand the time constraints and pressures of the classroom, especially when it comes to engaging students in learning about complex topics like weather. Exciting weather phenomona might engage students but actually learning the ins and outs of reading a weather map or practicing the vocabulary are less exciting. Here are some low prep tools and tricks I’ve used in my seventh and eighth grade classrooms to helps students.

Weather Unit Plans

Day 1

A great introduction to your middle school weather unit is the weather stations scavenger hunt. Students travel to 10 stations where they will find 10 questions. The answers to each question are in short paragraphs on different stations. This allows students lots of movement around the classroom and the opportunity to read the 10 short paragraphs about weather several times.

Use a slide show to guide a discussion about the evolution of the earth’s atmosphere.

Day 2

A fun lab or demo to do this day is calculating the percentage of oxygen in the air. To do this, measure the volume of water in a test tube. This will tell you the volume of air in the test tube when it’s empty. (Let’s imagine the volume is 100 mL.)

Then, fill a shallow pan with water and place a candle in the center of the pan. Light the candle.

Invert the empty test tube over the candle in such a way that the lip of the test tube goes under the water.

The candle will go out when the oxygen in the test tube is used up and water will rise to replace the used up oxygen. Use a wax pencil to mark the place on the test tube where the water rises.

Then, fill the test tube with water up to the line you just drew. (Let’s imagine the volume is 70 mL.) This represents the volume in the test tube that wasn’t consumed by the fire. In other words, that volume of water is the same as the volume of gases in the atmosphere that aren’t oxygen (primarily nitrogen).

If you subtract the volume of nitrogen (70 mL) from the total volume of the test tube (100 mL), you’ll find the volume of oxygen. Simple calculations will show you the percentage of the atmosphere that is oxygen.

Day 3

Use a slide show to guide a discussion about the layers of the earth’s atmosphere.

This is a great day in your weather unit to introduce a long term data collection project. In this activity, students collect weather data for several weeks and then analyze the data,  identify patterns, and use what they learn to predict the weather.

Introduce students to weather data by looking at some weather graphs worksheets. This is a great way to get familiar with the vocabulary before learning definitions.

Day 4

A great lab to include today is the Ice Cream phase change lab.

While students are mixing their ice cream, use a slide show to introduce students to the topics of energy transfer in the atmosphere.

End the class by eating your ice cream!

Day 5

Even though students have been collecting weather data for a few days already, here’s a good place to learn what the weather terms mean. Use a slide show to guide students through terms such as air pressure, wind, air masses, and fronts.

To practice, have students look at weather maps and identify what types of fronts are pictured and what types of weather each location on the map is going to have.

Day 6

Another hands on learning day, Day 6 is the perfect day to allow students to build their own weather devices.

Day 7

weather task cardsYou’ve already tackled a lot of vocabulary in this unit and here’s a good place to stop and review.

Task cards are a versatile tool for engaging middle school students in science.  Distribute the cards to students individually or in small groups, allowing them to work through the tasks at their own pace.  Digital task cards like Boom cards help students practice their skills independently with immediately feedback.

A tarsia puzzle is another great practice activity. Students cut out triangles and match up words with definitions. This is fun to glue into an interactive notebook or onto a separate sheet of paper.

Day 8
weather self checking worksheet
Self-checking worksheets provide a valuable tool for middle school students to practice vocabulary in an independent and engaging manner and receive immediate feedback.
Day 9
A great way to wrap up the atmosphere vocab is with is a color by number worksheet. Students color a picture according to the colors corresponding to the correct answers.
Activities like this allow the teacher time to provide extra support to struggling students.
Day 10

After all that vocab review, this is a good time to collect some summative data with a quiz.

By now, students have learned enough vocabulary that they’re ready to learn about storm formation. Start with thunderstorms and use your slide show to guide students through storm formation.

Day 11

Students can work independently to complete the hurricane workbook. This activity walks them through hurricane formation and hurricane tracking.

Day 12

Practice what you learned in the weather unit about hurricanes today by mapping a historically famous hurricane. This activity tracks the path of Hurricane Laura which hit Louisiana on August 27, 2020, in a record breaking hurricane year. In this activity, students will map the path of Hurricane Laura using real data and make decisions about issuing warnings for the storm.

4 Enrichment Activities

  • There are always students who are super excited to learn about severe weather. This book, geared for 5th-7th graders, is a more detailed exploration of severe weather including hail, flash floods, blizzards, and tornadoes.
  • Photograph weather events to create a bulletin board. If your students have cell phones or access to cell phones, challenge them to take a picture of each type of cloud before the unit is over. Have a photo contest to see who can represent the most kinds of weather in a collage.
  • Have students research weather phenomena. Most students will know how rainbows are formed, but do they know about sun dogs or lenticular clouds or dust devils? Ask students to find an image and create a slide show. Use this opportunity to teach citation skills and check two things off your list! Make the project even more engaging by filming the weather reports using green screen technology. WeVideo.com is one inexpensive digital editing tool students can easily learn to use. There’s even a free version.
  • Try this free digital escape activity. Students practice and review weather vocabulary to find clues and solve puzzles. 

I hope your students enjoy learning about weather as much as mine do!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week! Here are a few of the billions of reasons why your community appreciates you:

  • the compassion you show your students when they’re having a bad day
  • the enthusiasm with which you celebrate your students’ success
  • the email reminders you send when there’s a project almost due
  • the time you watched your neighbor’s class because she needed to use the bathroom
  • the after school help you offered even though it was your birthday and your family was waiting for you at home
  • the frantic student emails you reply to over the weekend
  • all of the ways you let your students know that you’re happy to see them
  • the time you stopped by your students’ softball/basketball/baseball/football/soccer/lacrosse game to cheer them on
  • the time you went to your student’s art show/play/orchestra performance/choral performance to cheer them on
  • the way you remember every students’ birthday
  • the evenings you spent planning something new and fun for the next day
  • the hundreds of times you repeated the directions without losing your temper
  • the extra days of review you scheduled
  • the letters of recommendation you’ve written

My favorite Teacher Appreciation gifts, in order:

  • notes from students
  • time off (extra prep, opportunity to skip a faculty meeting or duty, even letting me leave a few minutes early)
  • gift cards

My least favorite Teacher Appreciation gifts:

  • everything else

I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. The granola box in my mailbox will be a nice treat later and the ice cream cone during the faculty meeting was delish. But, to be honest,  I can buy myself granola and ice cream.

Here are teacher appreciation week freebies and discounts I found for you for 2024:

I hope you get lots of notes of appreciation from your students, and I hope you get time to put your feet up and relax. You absolutely deserve it!

Eclipse Reflections

We had an absolute blast at the April 8 2024 eclipse!

This was our second total solar eclipse, but definitely not our last. We viewed it from a parking lot in Plattsburgh, NY, after a long drive from Buffalo where the skies weren’t as cooperative. 3 1/2 minutes of totality, absolutely gorgeous corona and a bright pink prominence were the highlights of totality. Here’s a quick summary of our experience:

 

 

Drop me a comment below and let me know your experience with the eclipse – I sure hope there’s a total solar eclipse in your future, too!

Engaging Science Review Games That Require Minimal Prep

How do you review for assessments? I spend at least one class period reviewing the key parts of the unit – defining vocab, answering practice questions, and reviewing concepts. And I also like to spend a day playing a review game. It’s easy to create engaging science review games for your middle schoolers to practice what they know and prepare for assessments.

Benefits of review games

Review games help middle school science students in many ways.

engaging review games for middle school science

  • Enhanced retention. Engaging science review games provide an opportunity for active learning and reinforcement of concepts and vocabulary leading to better retention of material as compared to passive study methods.

  • Increased motivation.     Playing a game lets students have fun while learning. More enjoyable activities increase student motivation. Games are a well needed break from traditional classroom activities and re-energize students.
  • Opportunity for collaboration. Middle schoolers in 2024 need people skills. Rather than interacting with a computer, let students interact with each other and practice their communication and social skills.
  • Immediate feedback. Science review games provide instant reinforcement or correction of their answers and therefore allow students (and teachers) to identify areas of strength and weakness.
  • Low stakes. Engaging science review games are less intimidating than a traditional review activity. Students aren’t as intimidated in a game as they might be when directly questioned, and games provide a safe space for growing learners to practice and hone their skills.

15 Engaging Science Review Games

Here are 15 different ways you can review science concepts with your middle schoolers this unit:

  • Scavenger hunts – Students work in teams or independently to find clues around your classroom. Tie this in with solving a riddle and they’ll be super engaged. Try a free scavenger hunt about renewable and nonrenewable energy here!
  • Kahoot – Whole class games are incredibly engaging for middle schoolers who love competition. Kahoot has pre-made quiz type games but it’s also super easy (and free) to create your own questions.engaging review games for middle school science
  • Boom cards – Boom cards are digital flash cards that my middle schoolers love! A deck of Boom cards can have 20-100 cards that students can use to practice any content you want. Here’s a link to try a free set of Boom cards about plate tectonics.
  • Quizziz – Quizziz has lots of free whole class activities and it’s also super easy to create your own game. Very fun for competitive classes.
  • Self checking quizzes – Activities students can use independently to practice their knowledge of a unit are the big winners in engaging science review games. Using a Google form, you can allow students unlimited practice along with immediate feedback in a low stakes environment. Click here to download a free Google form self checking worksheet you can use today!
  • Blooket – This is a versatile web page where you can create a set of multiple choice questions and then apply them to a wide variety of games like Gold Quest, Tower Defense, and Fishing Frenzy.
  • I have, Who has – Students each receive a game card with a question and an answer on it. Then, I read a question. The student with the answer on his or her card reads the answer and then reads their question. If you set this up correctly, the answer to the last question a student reads will be on my card. I use a timer and encourage inter-class competition. Here’s a free template.engaging science review games
  • File Folder games – A file folder game consists of a board game with pieces that all fit inside a file folder.  I start the year with one that I’ve created, but then have my students create their own as the year progresses.
  • Quizlet live – Use Quizlet to create vocab flash cards that students can practice with, and then play a game of Quizlet Live during class. Quizlet Live allows quick games that engage all learners in a low stakes competition. This is a great one for a quick closure or warm up as well.
  • Self checking worksheets – Google sheets can be used to create the ultimate in engaging science review games. With a little bit of prep work, you can design worksheets that give students immediate feedback on their answers. A little bit more work and the feedback can take the form of a digital image, pixel art, or a digital game. Try this free moon phases digital worksheet to get an idea of how versatile Google sheets can be.
  • 2 player digital racing games – Pair your students up and have them share a pre-made digital worksheet where they answer questions to advance their player in a competitive game. My kids love them and beg for more. If you haven’t tried them, here’s a free one for you!engaging science review games
  • Escape rooms – An escape room uses content related puzzles to find clues and solve mysteries. A simple way to make a digital breakout is to use Google Sites. On Google Sites, you can add text to explain the problem, add images that link to puzzles, and add a Google Form onto which students must enter a password that they’ve learned from the clues. You can try a free Weather Vocabulary Escape Activity here.
  • Boom card escape rooms – Designed to be completed independently rather than in groups, a Boom card escape room uses Boom cards to progress through a series of challenges.
  • Trivia games – This is my own take on bar trivia in which students form teams and have to answer a series of “trivia” questions that review content they need to know. Here’s a free animal kingdom trivia game you can download today!
  • Scoot – Lay task cards around the room or hang them on the walls. Students travel from one card to another, recording their answers to each task card on a recording sheet. Sometimes I let students move to the next card at their own pace. Other times, I play music and they move when the music stops. I also might set a timer to let them know when to move.

incorporating engaging science review games into your middle school classroom can transform traditional review sessions into dynamic and interactive learning experiences. By embracing the power of play, you not only reinforce key concepts and vocabulary but also foster collaboration, motivation, and critical thinking skills among your students. These 15 review games offer endless opportunities to make science review sessions both educational and enjoyable. By infusing your curriculum with these interactive activities, you’ll not only enhance student comprehension and retention but also ignite a passion for learning that extends far beyond the classroom walls. So why wait? Start playing, exploring, and inspiring scientific curiosity today!

Celebrating Earth Day with Middle Schoolers

Celebrating Earth Day with middle schoolers instills a sense of environmental stewardship and responsibility and cultivates an appreciation for our planet’s beauty and fragility. These students are the future leaders, so let’s empower them to become proactive advocates for sustainable practices in their communities and beyond.

Celebrating Earth Day with Middle Schoolers

What is Earth Day

The first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970. Inspired by growing concerns over pollution, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson, along with activist Denis Hayes, mobilized 20 million  Americans in nationwide demonstrations. People rallied for cleaner air, water, and a healthier planet. This monumental event led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of key environmental legislation such as the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. Since then, Earth Day has become a global deal, bringing folks from all over together to make sure we’re taking care of this one planet we’ve got!

Celebrating Earth Day with Middle Schoolers

Here are 15 Earth Day activities you can use this week:Celebrating Earth Day with Middle Schoolers

  1. Organize a neighborhood or campus clean up. By picking up garbage, students learn the importance of not littering.
  2. Do a project to learn about endangered animals. Begin by having each student choose an endangered species and then researching the habitat, food, and other needs of their species.
  3. Create posters or artwork about environmental issues.
  4. Organize a clothing drive, book drive, or toy drive to promote reuse.
  5. Start a composting project at school.
  6. Share a documentary about an environmental issue.
  7. Take a nature walk around campus and appreciate local ecosystecelebrate earth day with middle schoolersms.
  8.  Plant seeds. If your school property has room, buy a few seedlings from a local nursery and have students plant them. (Better yet, have the seedlings donated.) If space is a problem, plant annual flowers around the entrance to the school. Send kids home with seedlings or small potted plants.
  9. Learn about climate change. There’s no doubt that climate change is one of the biggest challenges to science this year. Have students research evidence of climate change so they can be armed against naysayers. Have groups of students research the impacts climate change has on your local ecosystem.
  10. Play a trivia game to learn about Earth Day.
  11. Write letters to local officials advocating for environmental policies.
  12. Organize a bike or walk to school day to reduce carbon emissions.
  13. Create a birdhouse or bat box to support local wildlife.
  14. Create an upcycled art project from recycled objects.
  15. Try a new Earth Day logic puzzle. Use clues to figure out which student created which Earth Day project.

 

 

How will you celebrate Earth Day with your middle schoolers?

What to do when your middle schooler makes a bad choice

In a world of peer pressure, impulsivity, and TikTok, how can we, as middle school educators, guide our students to being their best possible selves? Here are some ways we can help middle schoolers make good decisions.

Teen Brains

Teen brains are still developing, and the slowest part to develop is the control center. It is perfectly normal for students to try to figure how how far they can push the envelope.

When my daughter was 3 years old, she wanted to pick out her own clothes. But her closet was filled with great outfits and she loved them all and the act of choosing was completely overwhelming for her. So I gave her three outfits every day to choose from. Winner winner chicken dinner. She got to feel a sense of control about something important to her, and I got out the door in less than an hour.

The developing teen brain undergoes significant changes, particularly inwhen teens make bad choices regions associated with decision-making and impulse control. During adolescence, the prefrontal cortex, responsible for rational thinking and decision-making, is still maturing, while the limbic system, involved in emotions and reward processing, is highly active. This imbalance often leads teens to make impulsive and sometimes poor choices. Factors such as peer influence, sensation-seeking behavior, and hormonal fluctuations further contribute to this propensity for risky decision-making. Understanding these neurological changes can help educators, parents, and policymakers implement strategies to support teens in making better choices, such as providing education on risk assessment, promoting healthy coping mechanisms, and fostering positive peer relationships.

Teens need a sense of control over their worlds. But they don’t always make the correct decisions when there are too many options to pick from. A lack of boundaries is overwhelming for middle schoolers in much the same way that excessively long menu options in a diner make choosing what to order difficult. Part of our job is to help our middle schoolers learn to make good decisions.

Bad Choices

Remember devious licks? It was a phenomenon in 2021 when students posted videos on TikTok of themselves vandalizing items in their school, most notably bathrooms. Some students posted videos of themselves stealing paper towel dispensers, toilet paper rolls, mirrors, even ceiling tiles. The students in my school followed the trend and our school’s response was heightened bathroom monitoring. Teachers were asked to sit outside the bathroom and record the names of students using the bathroom throughout the day. I’m not sure our response helped at all, but eventually the vandals got tired of their pranks and moved on to bigger and better things like the Slap A Teacher challenge. Schools responded by installing more security cams, hiring school resource officers, and increasing the hall monitoring responsibilities of teachers.

All that faded, thankfully. Most school never developed a way to prevent such shenanigans, only a way to catch students and punish them.

But this year feels different. While students aren’t posting their adventures on TikTok, they’ve started playing pranks for no benefit at all. Stealing another student’s ID or cell phone, breaking someone’s chromebook, stealing a teacher’s flash drive or tape dispensers have all become (unfortunately) a common part of middle school this year. When they’re caught, students deny the accusation. Their parents often believe them and administration has to rely on cameras for evidence because eye witnesses aren’t trustworthy or reliable any more. Accused students say it was “just a joke” as if vandalizing their teacher’s desk or urinating on the bathroom floor were funny in any way.

These are middle schoolers. Children who, it is reasonable to assume, should know better. And many do. But every year we set new records for numbers of detentions and suspensions. Every year, we more than double the previous year’s record of bullying incidents. How can we help middle schoolers make good decisions?

I don’t have the solutionwhen middle schoolers make bad decisions

I’m not even sure there is a solution – kids have to navigate adolescence by themselves. But I know how to help students make better choices. Here are some things to try:

  • Reward good choices, in whatever way that looks like in your classroom. A word of praise, a piece of candy, or a phone call home with a compliment work wonders.
  • Set clear expectations. Clearly define boundaries and consistently reinforce them to help teens understand the consequences of their actions. Knowing what appropriate behavior looks like helps middle schoolers make good decisions.
  • Teach problem solving skills. Equip your students with the tools necessary to assess situations, identify possible solutions, and make informed decisions.
  • Provide consequences. Criminal behavior needs to be punished.  Consequences need to be immediate and consistent.
  • Students need to make reparations for damage they’ve caused. They should be made to pay for stolen or broken items. “I’m sorry” or a 3 day suspension doesn’t replace the broken bathroom sink.
  • Keep them busy. Students with engaging and appropriately challenging work don’t have time to bother with pranks. I know that sounds simplistic, but all misbehavior occurs during “down time.”  Minimize the down time.

Grow Up

Everyone grows up eventually, but a very wise principal once said to me, “Faces may change but behaviors repeat.” The kid whose driving you nuts this year will move on to the next grade eventually, but you’ll still have to deal with the behaviors that drove you nuts when another child takes his place. Smart educators learn how to manage them.

 

Spring break

It is just me, or does the stretch from December break to spring break get longer each year? Well, it’s finally here, and it’s time for teachers to do what we haven’t been able to do for months! Here’s my check list for this spring break:

  • Eat a meal, drink coffee, make phone calls, and use the bathroom when I want.
  • Sleep late. Maybe even take a nap. My school year has been very draining so far
  • Tackle one home project. This year, I’m feeling pretty burnt out so it will be a small one. Maybe replace the runners on the stairs or clean a kitchen cabinet or two. Other years, when I’ve had more energy, I’ve painted rooms, decluttered closets, cleaned attics and garages. But I think it’s important to do at least one thing around the house to give myself a sense of accomplishment.
  • Dress however I want. There are no “spirit days” in my house so I won’t need to worry about wearing school colors or crazy hair day.
  • Do some yoga, go for a run, or meditate. Maybe all three.
  • Spend time with friends. When the school year is particularly hectic and there’s nothing left in the can at the end of the day, my friends are often short changed. While being careful not to overbook myself, I’m going to catch up with people I love.
  • Do something nice for myself. Mani-pedi, read a book, maybe even some retail therapy.
  • Take a road trip. This year, our destination is the path of totality for the April 8th eclipse. Two nights in a cabin in the woods or in a hotel by the sea recharges the batteries and helps prep me for the 2 1/2 months left in this school year!

Celebrate Women in Science

 

History classes around the Country are celebrating Women in History Month this March, but what are you doing in your middle school science classroom? We celebrate Women in Science in my classroom all month with activities and mini-lessons on some of the amazing women who have helped pave the way in science.

Read about some of my favorite women in science here!

One way I celebrate women in science in my classroom is with a picture walk. I hang short biographies of some of my favorite women in science around the room and give students guided questions to lead them through the picture walk. You can check it out here. Oh yeah, and I put it on sale at 1/2 off from now until the end of March..

women in science picture walk

I don’t always have enough time to spend an entire day on women in science, as shameful as saying that makes me feel. In that case, I have an abbreviated version of that same activity that students can do independently and in their own homes – no hanging pictures required. Check it out here – also on sale from now until the end of March.

women in science boom cards cover and thubms (3)

What are you doing for Women’s History month? Will you celebrate with some women in science nostalgia or trivia? Let me know in the comment section below!

Planning for the April 8th Total Solar Eclipse!

I’ve been completely speechless only a few times in my life. At the Grand Canyon, on top of Mount Washington, and when I observed the total solar eclipse of August 21, 2017. We were in Kansas City. After a few days of enjoying the sights and sampling lots of barbecue, we headed to a field for the big event. The partial phase was lovely, but then a few clouds came in. Panicking, we drove in and out of traffic, up and over fields, and found a hole in the clouds on a side road next to a farmer’s field. A few other cars joined us, and, when totality approached, the entire horizon – 360 degrees, glowed red in a sunset. The air temperature dropped. Birds stopped chirping and everything got eerily silent. The sky darkened and the farmers’ horses headed into the barn. We were plunged into darkness and stars became visible.

I couldn’t speak. To be honest, I still can’t find the words to describe this. It was overwhelming, amazing, and breathtaking. I will never miss a solar eclipse again.

There will be a total solar eclipse visible through a wide path of North America on Monday, April 8th, 2024. If you’re outside of the path of totality, you should be prepared for a partial eclipse. Here are some ways to help your students get excited for this event!

What is a solar eclipse?

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly between the Sun and the Earth, obscuring the Sun’s light from reaching specific locations on Earth. This alignment only happens during a new moon and results in a temporary dimming of the sky despite it being the middle of the day. Observers within the eclipse’s path can witness the Sun being completely covered, plunging the surroundings into a momentary twilight. Depending on your location on Earth, the eclipse may be seen as total in which the Moon completely blocks the Sun or partial in which the Moon only partially blocks the Sun making it appear crescent shaped.

april 8 total solar eclipse

First contact is when the edge of the Moon appears to touch the edge of the Sun. As the Moon passes over the Sun, the edges of shadows start to become sharper and change to crescents.

april 8th total solar eclipse

Just before totality, the Sun’s corona appears. The corona is the outer part of the Sun’s atmosphere. Because the Sun is so bright, the corona is normally not visible but during a solar eclipse, it appears as a glowing ring around the Sun. The diamond ring and Baily’s beads are two phenomena that occur immediately before and after totality. The diamond ring effect is the appearance of only a tiny portion of the Sun peaking out from a ring around the Moon. Baily’s beads are small bright spots around the ring of the Moon caused by the Sun peaking through craters and valleys on the Moon.

During totality is the only time, ever, that it is safe to directly observe the Sun without eclipse glasses.  Totality lasts only a few seconds in some places to a few minutes in others. Solar prominences may be visible around the Sun.

As the Moon continues to pass over the Sun, the diamond ring and Baily’s beads will appear again.

And within a few minutes after totality, nature will return to normal. Animals that were silent during the eclipse will return to their chatter. The eerie sky will go back to normal, but, if you’re anything like me, you won’t. You’ll carry the awe of this experience forever.

 

How to observe the eclipse with your students

 

Classroom activities to get ready for the eclipse

  1. If you’re in the path of totality, be sure to buy your students eclipse glasses! Hold a bake sale or take the money out of the budget – whatever your district will allow!

  2. Make a pinhole projector. This is a simple and fun activity that will enable students to “see” the eclipse without damaging their eyes.
  3. Model eclipses using foam balls and a flashlight. Have students draw what they see from the Earth during lunar and solar eclipses.
  4. Use timeanddate.com to identify how much of the eclipse will be visible in your location and what time it will be visible.
  5. Participate in citizen science at the GLOBE Observer app. People all over North America will record and input data regarding clouds and air temperature during the eclipse.
  6. Observe the wildlife around your during the eclipse and submit your audio recording at Eclipse Soundscapes.
  7. Partner with your language arts department and have students describe their observations in the form of prose or poetry.