Kate Dellenbusch stood in the center of the Hull Prairie Intermediate gym, and invited 800 fifth and sixth grade students to cover her up with nothing but their thumbs.

They obliged, and learned first-hand how an object as small as the moon can block out something as large as the sun.

Ms. Dellenbusch is an astronomy professor at Bowling Green State University, and was invited to the school by Amy Boros, a 6th grade science teacher at HPI.

"The whole entire school day is centered around the eclipse," Mrs. Boros said.

Her science students will get their eclipse glasses ready for the big show later this afternoon, while social studies classes will learn about the ancient myths surrounding these rare events. English classes will add eclipse-related words to students' vocabulary, and math classes will learn about the scale of the planet, moon, and sun that lets an eclipse happen.

There has not been an eclipse visible to the entire United States since 1979, long before these students were born. They won't have to wait as long for the next one, though. These students will be juniors and seniors in high school for the next eclipse in 2023.

All the students will be watching the eclipse, which starts around 1:05 p.m.

Contact Zack Lemon at zlemon@theblade.com, 419-724-6282 or on Twitter @zack_lemon.

First Published August 21, 2017, 1:08 p.m.