By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Students in the Twin Cities got to witness history from outside the classroom on Monday.
They looked to the skies to view a solar eclipse, the first of their lifetimes. Fifth-grade teacher Christine Sewell’s class at Benjamin Elementary in Bloomington got a grant from the Beyond the Books Educational Foundation to pay for safety glasses and other tools to conduct studies on the celestial event.
“They’ve been excited since the glasses first touched their hand before they ever looked out the window,” Sewell said. “We’re not letting the cloud cover bother us. They are still seeing something and they are pretty excited.”
Fifth grader Faith Tomman said witnessing the event first hand has sparked her curiosity.
“It made me way more interested in science,” Faith said. “Last year, I didn’t really like science but now I am a lot more into it.”
Fifth grader Winton Carlock said while his grandmother got to witness the total eclipse in Oregon, but he got a good look here.
“It looked orange when it was covered so I thought of a harvest moon and when we looked through the telescope it looked like a real moon… in daytime,” Winton said.
Sewell said she was so excited to spend this historic day with her students she passed up a chance to witness the eclipse from a mountain top within the path of totality.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
