Lunar Eclipse Party!
5th Graders Have an Out-of-this-World Time!
by Trudy Wischropp
February 23, 2008
If you looked towards the east on the evening of February 20th, 2008, you may have seen just a sliver of the moon. Yet, the moon was in its full moon phase. What was happening? The was a lunar eclipse occurring and 5th graders at Hiawatha Middle School were having a lunar eclipse party to celebrate!
5th graders have been studying the sun/Earth/moon relationship in Science, so the timing of this total lunar eclipse was perfect! They learned that a lunar eclipse occurs when the moon falls into the shadow of the Earth. Since the sun is shining on the other side of the Earth, the darkness allowed us to see the eclipse. Lunar eclipses only occur during the full moon stage and they don't happen very often because the moon orbits the Earth in a tilted elliptical path.
The party started at 7:30, just before the eclipse was set to begin. Throughout the evening, students traveled in groups to various centers set up in the school's library and did different activities related to the moon. At one center, students had to measure how high they could jump. Then, they multiplied that number by six. Why? Since the moon's gravity is one-sixth that of the Earth's, humans would be able to jump six times as high on the moon as they would on the Earth. At another station, students use a website (see related sites below) to find out what the moon would look like on their birthday. They colored a moon to show that phase and placed the finished moon in the Birthday Moon Graph. There was also a Lunar Art Museum where students could use window chalk to create moon pictures. At the Tasty Phases Center, students worked together with 7 Oreo cookies to create the various moon phases. Other centers included computer moon games and moon books to read.
When it came time to switch centers, students took several minutes to observe the moon. As the evening progressed, the eclipse became more and more apparent. Once the moon was totally in shadow, also known as "totality", students could easily see the reddish glow created by the umbra and penumbra.
Many students were able to capture their sightings on camera and view the eclipse up-close through binoculars and telescopes.
It was a great opportunity to view the moon and students got to see something that won't be happening again until 2010. Check out some of the pictures in the slideshow!
