Hiwassee Dam – Third-graders are having a greater interest in science and the solar system thanks to their teacher bringing the reappearance of the “Christmas Star” into their lessons.
Teacher April McNabb has been teaching her students about the components of the solar system and space – planets, asteroid belts, moons and stars.
“With the Bethlehem star making its appearance this year, as a class we have been reading and watching interviews with astronomers on this event,” McNabb said.
The “Christmas Star,” or Star of Bethlehem, is believed to be created when Jupiter and Saturn align with each other. This hasn’t happened since 1226, McNabb said.
“Some of the students are excited about the star,” McNabb said during the last week of classes before Christmas break. “Of course, they relate to the Christmas story in the Bible, the star that led the wise men to the newborn King.”
She encouraged students to go out on the evening of Dec. 21 and look at the Southwest sky.
This is McNabb’s second year teaching science in upper elementary – she taught kindergarten for 14 years prior – and she said she’s been enjoying relearning science concepts. Through her lessons, she has been making science fun and relatable for her students.
A STEM project all her classes worked on leading up to the holiday was building Christmas trees out of only newspaper and tape. Students were partnered up so they could maintain distance, and they had to work together to create a tree sturdy enough to hold ornaments.
“As students were constructing their tree, I heard a lot of great conversation between each pair,” McNabb said. “Students learned about needing a good base for tree, did they roll the newspaper to loose or tight enough – lots of good conversation going on in class.”
Christmas becomes part of science lesson at HD
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