The Solar Eclipse on April 8th was big news around the world, especially at Wolfe Street Academy (WSA).
WJZ-TV (CBS News) spent the afternoon with the 114 students who participate in WSA’s Out of School Time program, the school’s robust after-school enrichment program run by Calcy Blackwood. The students, WSA principal Mark Gaither, teachers, and staff–and a TV news crew and WJZ reporter Alex Glaze–watched the celestial phenomenon with continuing coverage throughout the solar event.
Leading up to Monday, April 8th, every grade at WSA enjoyed age-appropriate, eclipse-focused lessons in science class through WSA’s Mystery Science curriculum. These classes were led by WSA teachers and LETS GO Boys and Girls, a STEM enrichment nonprofit that partners with WSA and other Baltimore Curriculum Project (BCP) schools. The school also provided everyone with appropriate glasses for safe viewing.
Throughout the afternoon of the eclipse, the young Wolfe Street astronomers enjoyed being interviewed by WJZ. Thanks to Amanda Porter, Let’s Go’s WSA site coordinator, the school was selected as the broadcast site for the local CBS News station. It’s all part of the enrichment opportunities WSA’s Out of School Time program offers its students.
Watch the WJZ coverage and WSA students being interviewed on air.
Let’s Go has always been a blessing in providing opportunities for bringing the lessons and content that our students learn to life. She reached out with solar eclipse lesson ideas in March, and we were excited to jump on it.
During the eclipse viewing sessions and several hours of broadcasting, Wolfe Street students had the chance to show Maryland everything they learned about the eclipse. “Our students could not contain themselves,” Ms. Blackwood explains. “They had an absolute ball waiting and watching the different phases of the eclipse and even connected it to the lessons that they have learned before in Mystery Science about the stages of the moon cycle. It was wonderful to hear them talk about the concepts that they already know while learning something new.”
Ms. Blackwood explains that bringing learning to life through the school day curriculum and the Out of School Time program make learning stick and make a difference in the students’ and adults’ lives. “I know that our students have grasped more information about planets, space, and more specifically, the eclipse, than they have ever before,” she says. “The hope is that one day one of our Wolfe Street students will have the desire to join NASA’s team and change the universe. This is what it is all about for me. I am forward thinking and believe that the seeds that we plant now in the children’s lives will change our tomorrow and the days to come.”
Read more about BCP’s partnership with LETS GO.
ENJOY THESE PHOTOS OF WSA AND OTHER BCP SCHOOLS CELEBRATING THE SOLAR ECLIPSE.
