IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — A day off from school is usually a special day for most students. The one New York school kids will get on Monday is extra special. In an Irondequoit classroom, the lesson on the last day before spring break taught kids everything they’ll need to know about the total solar eclipse.

Kids won’t be in school on April 8. The students in Katie Zeller’s science class at Irondequoit Middle School know the last time a total solar eclipse happened here was in 1925.

“A couple of you had a lucky guess, or maybe you know,” said Zeller. “I don't know, maybe you're an eclipse expert.”

Though they’ll be home the day of the total solar eclipse, they already know all about it.

“All I know is that it's going to be, like, directly in front of the sun from where I'm standing,” said eighth grader Elli Deline.

Zeller just couldn’t miss the opportunity to turn the biggest current event into a science lesson.

“It's really cool,” she said. “Especially something like current events, I love bringing that stuff into the classroom because this is the real science that they're going to encounter in everyday life.”

Before they could see it, students worked on a model to illustrate exactly what will happen when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun.

“I think it'll be really cool how all of it works,” said student Stella Franz. “How in the middle of the day it'll just go like it's nighttime.”

A once in a lifetime experience.

“I wasn’t even born for the last total eclipse,” said Deline. “Which is interesting, because my grandparents weren't even born either. Neither was my mom. It’s interesting to like see that a total eclipse happens, like, rarely, which is honestly really cool.”

So is being a kid living in the path of totality. A day off from school everyone can appreciate.

“They've been hearing about it for a while,” said Zeller. “They're excited to get a cool new set of glasses. They love it.”