EDWARDSVILLE – St. Mary’s School families will be ready for Monday’s solar eclipse in more ways than just wearing eye protection.
Kindergarten through eighth grade students will spend Friday afternoon at an Eclipse Fair in the St. Mary’s gymnasium where they will visit 12 different stations, each teaching a fun lesson about the 2017 Solar Eclipse taking place on Monday. Stations such as “Solar Safety,” “My Corona,” “Solar Selfies,” and “Electromagnetic Spectrum” will offer hands-on experiences for the student body and their parents.
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“We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to use the solar eclipse as a learning experience,” Dr. Lynne Miller, St. Mary’s parent and SIUE Chemistry Professor said, “Students of all ages can learn to appreciate this rare occurrence and hopefully get excited that there’s still so much to learn about space and planetary science.” Dr. Miller has planned the Eclipse Fair where student scientists will receive a “lab notebook” in which they will record “data” at various stations that will have models, activities, contests, and quizzes for all grade levels.
St. Mary’s Junior High science teacher, Kirsten Tucker, is excited about Friday’s Eclipse Fair and St. Mary’s Eclipse Viewing Picnic on Monday. “This is what science is all about,” Mrs. Tucker said, “Students will forever remember watching the eclipse with their classmates and friends, and the Eclipse Fair will teach a respect and appreciation for planetary science.”
St. Mary’s Kindergarten through eighth grade students and many parents will celebrate Eclipse Day on Monday with a lunchtime picnic on the lawn followed by solar eclipse viewing with NASA-approved eye protection. Alternatively, students and parent volunteers are welcome to view live feed video broadcast of the solar eclipse in the gymnasium if they prefer.
St. Mary’s is a preschool through eighth grade parochial school open to the whole community. For more information, visit www.stmaryedw.org and follow the St. Mary’s School link.
For more information on St. Mary’s Eclipse Fair/Eclipse Day, contact St. Mary’s School at 618-656-1230.
Reporters and/or photographers are welcome to attend the Eclipse Fair or Eclipse Day at St. Mary’s School. Please report to the school office through the main entrance for a visitor badge upon visiting campus.
