This weekend Lubbock will be getting an out of this world experience, as the annular solar eclipse will be visible in the area. While the eclipse will be visible throughout the state, viewers must use specific glasses to safely view the solar eclipse.
In years past, many have found that getting these solar eclipse glasses can be difficult. However, this year longtime Frenship Community Partner, Code Ninjas, decided to think ahead and provide over a thousand solar glasses for all Frenship fifth graders and FHS astronomy classes.
“Our mission is to get kids excited about STEM and STEM concepts,” said Code Ninjas co-owner, Jody Slaughter. “Even though we are focused on coding, we like to get kids excited about all science. When we heard this eclipse was happening, we saw it as an opportunity get something cool for the kids!”
Lubbock’s Code Ninjas is a part of the world’s largest and fastest-growing kids' coding franchise. They work to make coding approachable and fun to students, by learning to code while building their own video games. Students not only learn about to code, but they gain creativity, problem-solving, critical thinking, and STEM skills in a fun, safe, and inspiring environment.
Slaughter has been very involved with Frenship throughout the years. He has served as a subject-matter expert and mentor for teams in the INCubatoredu program at Frenship High School. Code Ninjas are active community partners and are always looking opportunities to get involved, not only with Frenship but the entire community.
“We wouldn’t be able to do the things we do as a district without a supportive and creative community and Code Ninjas stepped up in a big way to add some extra fun to science,” said Keith Patrick, Director of Strategic Initiatives. “All of our community partners are so valuable to us and this is just the most recent example of the impact that they can have when they partner with us to find a good fit in our classrooms and the great work our teachers are doing every day.”
When Code Ninjas reach out to Frenship looking to donate these solar eclipse viewing glasses, Sarah Burleson, science coordinator at Frenship, thought the fifth graders would the best grade level to share this awesome experience based on student background.
The fifth-grade students have a unit titled Investigating Sun, Earth and Moon Systems. The unit is primarily about the night/day cycle and apparent movement of the Sun across the sky caused by Earth's rotation, but students learned about the movement of the Earth and Moon in relation to the Sun and each other starting in third grade and they revisit in fourth grade.
The students took home their viewing glasses this week and will be able to safely view the solar eclipse this weekend. The moon will begin to block the sun around 10:20 a.m. on Saturday and end around 12 p.m.