By Meghin Delaney Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 20, 2017 - 8:56 am
There was no way Stephanie Devine, a self-proclaimed astronomy nerd, was going to miss the solar eclipse. So this summer, she started planning how to connect the solar eclipse to her English language arts classes at Coral Academy of Las Vegas, where she teaches sixth- and seventh-grade students. She found a short story by Ray Bradbury - known to high school students as the author of Fahrenheit 451
- that fit perfectly.
All Summer in a Day is a science-fiction piece where it rains all the year, except for one hour of one day, on the planet Venus, which has been colonized. In the story, a classroom full of children prepares to see the sun for the first time. They shun their classmate Margot, who only recently arrived from Earth and, as the only one who has seen the sun, is somewhat of an outcast.
The children lock Margot in a tunnel, and she misses the rare event. Devine plans to read the story while the children are observing Mondays total eclipse using special glasses she obtained during the summer.
I wanted to find a way in,
she said. I would just hate to have them in a class like any other day when something like this is happening. I think its a rare and special event. Its something I wanted the students to witness and be a part of.
Students throughout Clark County will either take in the rare event or learn about it in classes. A few schools have secured donations of approved-viewing glasses, district officials said. Otherwise, the district sent out general guidance rules to principals to encourage safe viewing.