The solar eclipse has been the talk of the world for the last few months and our program room was no different. In school-age 3 we explored this topic and learned a few things from the children themselves. Through conversations, the children enlightened us that the term used when the sun is covered by the moon completely is called “totality”. Carmen also said that the aura that surrounds the sun when the moon covers it is called “the corona”. These were interesting facts and learning them from the children was a wonderful experience for the educators to be co-learners in the program room and enhance our vocabulary skills.
After learning about these terms, we set up a creative activity for the children to explore. Circles of paper were added to the table along with pastels, chalk, and paint brushes. Black paper was also provided for the background. The children were encouraged to set the circle in the middle of their papers, outline it with a colour of their choice, then smear the outline outwards to create the aura, or the corona as we learned it was called. This activity provided the children the opportunity to implement their knowledge into practice by creating a realistic representation of what we had been discussing! We loved to see their creativity as each child represented the image in their own way, choosing different colours to use as the aura. Once they completed their eclipse art, they enhanced the activity by creating other shapes and images out of paper and using the pastels to outline it in the same way.
On the day of the eclipse we watched a few videos and a virtual showing of the eclipse as it took place live in Mexico. It was fascinating to see the sun and moon reach totality on the screen. Some asked about using their glasses and watching it outside when it reached our region but, unfortunately, we weren’t able to take that step within the centre, so we settled for the live stream instead. The next day everyone was heard talking about their experience with the eclipse, and those who were able to view it from home shared how magical it was to see.
Our Conestoga College student, Hazel, took the opportunity to further enhance this interest by setting up an activity about the galaxy, connecting all of our conversations about the moon and the sun, and adding in the planets as well. She encouraged the children to paint pictures of the planets, moon, and sun on one paper then, once dry, cut them out and glue them onto a black paper to create their own version of space! Some added stars to their galaxies while others chose to only add their planets. This activity combined all of the learning we've engaged in recently, and took it one step further.
We hope everyone was able to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime experience in their own way!
