"It is time to sit down now and face the front of the classroom," kindly urged Mrs. Feith to her kindergartners after recess this morning.
"Now, form a circle with your two arms overhead," she continued.
"Bring your hands down to your laps now, because we have Aaron's Aunt Jane visiting our class today," she concluded.
The little students had watched eagerly from the playground as I unloaded two small telescopes moments earlier. I brought two 6-inch f/5 reflectors to Healdsburg Elementary School in the California wine country this morning. A red telescope named Red Dwarf and a purple telescope named Aubergine. Each is about 38 inches high at the eyepiece when pointed at the 25-day-old waning moon. That's just about kindergartner level at the eyepiece, I figured.
Aaron's class is only in session from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m., so I had a small window of the month to find a mid-morning moon on a day that also fit my schedule. Today was the day. I found the moon in the daytime before I got to the school. The clouds made it difficult. Then I selected two eyepieces that gave different views: 33x through one telescope and 66x through the other, using 6 and 12mm Orion Lanthanum eyepieces. I practiced finding the moon in the telrad.
Before we looked through the telescopes, I talked to the class for a little while. I asked them if they had looked at the moon at night. Fifteen little hands came up and a tiny voice said the moon looks like a banana sometimes. I asked the class if they had ever looked at the moon in the daytime, and half the students raised their hands. The ones who didn't quickly followed suit, and raised their hands to be like their classmates. I told the class that everyone would get to see the moon today.
I drew a picture on the blackboard of what the moon would look like through the telescope. Then I explained how the blue sky and high cirrus clouds were quite pale blue, and the moon was also a pale white crescent. It would look like a little banana moon in the morning sky, I told the class. And I told them they could take as long as they needed to see the moon, because it wasn't as distinct as at night.
First, the kids in the green group came out to see the moon. We first located the moon with our eyes. Aaron was among the first to see it. All four found the moon as we directed their eyes upward from tree, to power pole, to the crescent moon. Then two kids were brought to each telescope. We instructed them to look with their eyes only, and to place their hands behind them. All four of the green group saw the moon, and looked through both telescopes. We went inside and told the class that we were ready for the blue group. When the blue group was finished the red group came out. The time passed so quickly, that I was surprised that all the kids had been outside to look at the moon. The last group had a little trouble due to the thicker clouds, and so we looked at some upside down trees instead.
When we returned to the classroom, Mrs. Feith handed every student some paper and each group sat at their table. A parent or teacher sat at each table too, to help each student write a story about what they saw. The telescope adventure was fresh in their minds, and the fifteen kindergartners drew pictures of their views through the telescopes, and recited stories which were written down by the adult at their table.
On the drawings were moons, plus some additional objects -- colorful stars and aliens and clouds. Jeffrey, Justin and Stephanie drew an upside down tree on their picture.
I left Healdsburg Elementary School feeling quite old as the young parents of these tiny students came to collect them from school. One mom smiled at me and said "thanks" as her daughter told her she found the moon in the daytime.
Here are some pictures from school today.
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