Tamika Dees, Head of Middle School

April 5, 2024

Greetings, Middle School Families, 

We are excited that The Oakridge School will be in a prime location to witness a historic celestial occurrence - a total eclipse of the sun on Monday, April 8. According to NASA, the solar eclipse will begin its partial eclipse phase at around 12:20 p.m. in DFW. Totality is set to begin around 1:40 p.m. CDT and last until about 1:44 p.m. before completely ending around 3:00 p.m. All students and faculty/staff will receive solar eclipse glasses, safety training, and guidance on wearing them correctly.

Ryan Haygood ‘00, who is an astronomer and physicist in the Department of Aeronautics at Lockheed Martin gave a presentation on April 3. Also in the Middle School science classes, students will be creating and decorating eclipse viewing boxes and playing Kahoot to win prizes. 

Students in geometry will use facts from NASA about the radius of the Earth and moon along with similar triangles, to find the surface area that the Earth will be covered by the moon’s shadow during the total eclipse.  

In the English and history classes, students will be reading an article in Storybook Scholastic about how ancient people interpreted when a solar eclipse occurred and researching the earliest recorded mention of a solar eclipse. 

During the advisory period students will enjoy themed snacks including Starburst, Star Crunch, Moon Pies, and Sun Chips, as well as participating in cool “solar” activities. 

Finally, the students had an amazing time at the Oakridge Booster Fun Run and Color Run this Friday. Thank you so much for your participation and continued support as we endeavor to instill positive character traits, fitness, and the spirit of fundraising in our middle school scholars.

With profound gratitude,

Tamika R. Dees
 

 

Yearbook sales are for Preschool - 6th grade.