Solar eclipse a living lesson for Manatee students
Supplied with Moon Pies and Capri Sun, the solar eclipse was a welcome pause for students at St. Joseph Catholic School.
Principal Deborah Suddarth said the school had been planning for this day since June.
About 200 second- through eighth-grade students stepped outside to a warm, still Monday afternoon, jittering to see what they had just learned about in science class.
“I’m excited because this is the first eclipse in 99 years,” fourth-grader Camden said. The last total solar eclipse across the continental U.S. was in 1918 when Woodrow Wilson was president.
Gaping mouths and shaded eyes were scattered about the field.
“Greeks and Romans and Macedonians thought Zeus was bringing a penalty for them,” said junior high schooler Jordan.
The ancient Greek poet Archilochus wrote in 647 B.C., “There is nothing beyond hope, nothing that can be sworn impossible, nothing wonderful, since Zeus, father of the Olympians, made night from mid-day, hiding the light of the shining Sun, and sore fear came upon men.”
“We studied the phases of the moon first and then we moved into why eclipse occurs, both lunar and solar,” said Mary Kowalski, a science teacher. They had watched clips and animations of what they could expect Monday.
Matter-of-factly, fourth-grader Abraham knew the next time he would see something like this.
“If you’re 10, you’ll probably see it (the solar eclipse) when you’re 48,” he said. “Then when you’re 9, you’ll see it when you’re 47.”
When his teacher asked if they thought she would be around, he said with a smile, “Uhhh, no.”
According to the National Weather Service’s Ruskin bureau, the temperature dropped from about 92 degrees to 89 degrees. Some of the students sounded disappointed that there wasn’t a full blackout.
But giving a closer look, half moon shadows glittered on the ground, giving a normal-seeming day some magic.
Hannah Morse: 941-745-7055, @mannahhorse
This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Solar eclipse a living lesson for Manatee students."