Eclipse Resources for Elementary and Middle School Students

Make the most of  the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 ~ start planning now!

When & where, deals on eclipse glasses, and other general information here. 

Preparing students to view a solar eclipse is a fantastic opportunity to connect math and science with the enthusiasm of a memorable event. I hope you find this curated list of eclipse resources for upper elementary and middle school students useful. It isn’t easy for me to match resources with age groups. Older students might find eclipse resources for lower elementary students interesting and educational.

Eclipse Videos for Fourth Grade and Up

• Why Don’t We Have a Solar Eclipse Every Month? – Video from Space (2 min)
• Solar Eclipse 101 – National Geographic (5 min)
• Why People Get Excited about a Total Solar Eclipse – Vox (5 min)
• The 2024 Solar Eclipse a Once in a Lifetime – Curiosity (10 min)
• DIY Pinhole Eclipse Viewer – Museum of Science – (1 min) super simple
• Solar System Size and Distance – JPL (2 min)
• Why Solar Eclipses make Crescent Shaped Light – SCIShow Space (4 min)
• Eclipse Geometry –   Explanetarium (1 min)
• Geometry of an Eclipse –  Active Galactic  (4 min) clear demo starts at minute marker 1:40

Eclipse Materials for Fourth Grade and Up

• Mathematics of a Total Solar Eclipse – Royal Astronomy Society RAS
• ASTC Resource List – Association of Science and Technology Centers
• Eclipses and Exciting Events – National Solar Observatory NSO/NSF
• Maps, Handouts, Information – SCIGames – English and Spanish, includes viewing information for Mexico and Canada
• Scale Model of Solar System – PBS Learning
• Eclipse Math Challenges  – NASA
• Mathematics of a Total Eclipse – Mathematics Shed

Advanced Eclipse Resources

• Pi in the Sky Problem Set- Jet Propulsion Lab JPL
• Solar Eclipse Lesson – Illustrative Mathematics
• Eclipse materials on GeoGebra – GeoGebra multilingual possibilities

I do my best to find stellar (pun intended) resources to share, however not every resource is going to be a good match for your specific students in your educational setting. Preview each resource before using it in class to make sure it will benefit your students.