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Are you ready for the solar eclipse on Monday?
If the weather cooperates, on Monday, August 21, DPS students and their families will have the opportunity to witness a rare partial eclipse of the sun. We won’t be in the path of totality; it won’t get nearly as dark in Durham as it will to our south. But we are taking advantage of the eclipse to teach our students—and we’re taking a few precautions just in case.
Early release for three schools
Easley Elementary, Holt Elementary and Rogers-Herr Middle would usually dismiss their students at the same time the partial eclipse is happening. We’d rather not have our buses on the road or families carpooling their kids home at the same time, so these three schools only will dismiss two hours early. All of our other year-round and specialty high schools will be in session and our students will be supervised, so we are not dismissing those schools early. Principals have communicated this schedule change with their school families.
Learning activities
All of our schools open on Monday will be having science activities connected to the eclipse. We even had one of NASA’s Solar System Ambassadors, Tony Rice, leading a teachers’ workshop in preparation. Among the highlights happening Monday:
- At Early College, Charlotte Crone will be using smartphone spectroscopy units to make spectrographs of the sun before, during, and after the eclipse. They will look to see if the solar “fingerprint” changes during the eclipse.
- At City of Medicine Academy, Chris Hewitt’s class will be making solar eclipse viewers and will be outdoors making observations.
How to enjoy the eclipse
It’s the summer, so most of our students will still be on vacation—but here are some tips and local events our students and families can take advantage of.
- Duke Gardens will be hosting a Solar Eclipse Celebration on August 21 to observe the partial eclipse of the sun, and explore with FREE hands-on activities for visitors of all ages!
- The Museum of Life and Science will be hosting a Downtown Eclipse Viewing Party at Black Wall Street Plaza (Corner of W. Main St. and N. Mangum St., Downtown Durham) on Monday, to safely view the partial solar eclipse using solarscopes and participate in a day of hands-on activities!
- Virtually all branches of the Durham County Library will have eclipse activities and/or a viewing party. Check out their calendar of events here.
Please do NOT look directly at the sun during the eclipse – it is unsafe! The only safe way to look directly at the uneclipsed or partially eclipsed sun is through special eclipse glasses. If you have purchased eclipse glasses, please make sure they are verified to be compliant with the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard. For more information on viewing the solar eclipse safely, please visit NASA’s website here.
And for those that don’t have the special eclipse glasses, you can always go “old school” and make a simple pinhole projector by using two sheets of cardboard. For directions on how to make this projector, please visit this website.