By JAN McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The countdown is over, and elementary students throughout Bowling Green have blasted off with this year’s 1BookBG program.
Building up to the excitement surrounding the total solar eclipse on April 8, the focus of the 1BookBG program this spring is “Out of this World Space Pioneers.”
In Michelle Thomas’ fifth grade class at Crim Elementary, students got to choose between “Who was Galileo?” and “Where are the Constellations?”
“This is your book to keep,” Thomas said to the students as they eagerly flipped through the pages.
Each year, the 1BookBG program offers a shared reading experience between grades K-5 at all schools, plus local businesses and community members.
“Reading doesn’t just exist in these four walls,” Thomas said. “We’re excited about books, and we’re excited about learning things.”
And the annual program shows the students that the community is excited about them reading as well. Seventeen businesses have “mission stops” and students keep “flight logs” to earn prizes.
Down the hall, in a Crim second grade room, teacher September Killy was getting her students excited about heading to outer space.
“Today is the blast off, and we’re taking off on our journey,” Killy said, handing out her classroom’s book on “Who was Sally Ride?”
“We are so lucky to have this free book for everyone,” she said.
Each of the second graders wrote down one “fact” they knew about space. They listed off:
- “You can’t breathe.”
- “You float. You can see everything. You have to have a helmet to breathe.”
- “The sun is bright.”
- “The sun is not a planet.”
- “The sun is bigger than the moon.”
- “There’s an international space station.”
- “There is a lot of stars to see.”
- “The sun goes around the earth.”
One student read aloud the first chapter, which had big words like tragedy, administration and graduated. And they discussed the timeline of Sally Ride’s life.
“Oooooo, this is so cool,” Killy said. “I can’t wait to learn all those things.”
Then they learned one fact that made Ride so special in 1977.
“All the astronauts before then were men. This is very exciting,” Killy said.
And they learned that Ride had four college degrees.
“She was reeeeeealy smart,” Killy said.
Killy prepped her class for visiting businesses on board 1BookBG.
“They’re waiting for you to bring in your flight logs,” she said. Killy asked the students how they should behave while at the businesses. “Respectful, responsible and safe,” the class chimed.
Information on 1BookBG project
In addition to their books, the students received packets of materials to guide them on mission stops throughout the community, including opportunities to participate in a variety of activities at the Wood County District Public Library.
Several Wood County District Public Library activities will be taking place during spring break next week, including multiple opportunities to explore the Star Lab from Toledo’s Imagination Station on Friday, March 29 (reservations required).
There are “mission stop” posters at 17 Bowling Green businesses, where students can help build constellations and bring a ticket back to their school for opportunities to win more books and other STEM related prizes in weekly drawings.
New this year, students will also be able to collect one of 100 trading cards for one featured scientist each week at a specific mission stop location.
1BookBG is also excited to have partnered with WBGU/PBS this year, as their education and outreach specialists, Kelly Pheneger and Laural Kirchner, have prepared a variety of eclipse resources for local students and families. They’ve produced a downloadable guidebook, “Sun, Moon & Shadows: Your Ultimate Eclipse Guide and Activity Companion” along with a series of videos that can be accessed at https://www.wbgu.org/solareclipse/.
This year’s program will culminate in the “Astro Expo” event on Tuesday, April 23, at Bowling Green Middle School from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Organized by the BG Schools Eclipse Committee and teacher Melanie Ferguson, and thanks to the support of the BG Schools Foundation and Waggoner Science Fund, a variety of hands-on activities and displays of students’ work will showcase what students have learned about the once in a lifetime solar eclipse event in this community.
