CHILDREN'S COLUMN

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 25, 17 November 1987, Page 10

CHILDREN'S COLUMN

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On Tuesday Room 7 , Standard Two, went on a native bush walk. There was lots of long green pampas and soft curly fern. We heard a bird whistling and it seemed like it was following us. Beside our long line was a swift, quick river. We had to climb over mossy rotton logs, fallen over the track. As we came out of the smelling pine trees, we all picked up some twigs and walked back to school. Rebecca One day when I was cooking dinner I asked Mum how she would like

the potatoes and she said smashed. So I went and got a hammer and smashed the potatoes. After that I cooked the smashed potatoes. At dinner time I brought the potatoes to the table wondering what they were for. When they were on the table Mum asked me what I had done with them, and I said "I smashed them as you said." "But I said mash them," said Mum "You must have misunderstood." Jessie Observatory Trip We finally got to the Observatory after hustle and bustle. We walked into the meeting room. Mr Calder showed us a model of all the planets. He went outside to check the sky to see if the clouds had gone. But alas they hadn't. "If you wanted to make an accurate model it would have to be very long," Mr Calder said. We then looked through a telescope, all I could see was a big shiny star with cloud band through the middle of the planet, the planet was Jupiter, it also had three stars. It was fascinating. We went back into the meeting room for a question session. Some of us had a look at the painter of the Southern Cross. Then it was time to go back to the bus. When we were half way home I saw the Southern Cross, Seven Sisters (a

cluster of stars) and the Dipper, it looks like a pot. Rose-Marie On the 9th of November 1987 room 14 got picked up at 6.15pm at the Raetihi 4 Square corner in a McLaughlin's bus, they went to Wanganui. When they were there they had tea at McDonalds. After that they were taken on a tour by Mr McDonald. It was rather cold in the freezer but warm in the cooking area. As time past to 8.30pm then went to the observatory next to Cook's Gardens. Mr Calder talked to them about the space workout and then showed them Jupiter and its moons through the telescope. We then asked questions before returning home. We arrived in Raetihi at 12 o'clock. Rachael My report about going to the Observatory On Monday 9 at 6.15pm our Form 1 and 2 classes went to the Wanganui Observatory to have a look at the planets but unfortunately we were only able to see Jupiter. While we were waiting for the sky to clear Mr Calder was giving us a speech. He told us that the four moons names were Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, Io and Io actually has two volcanoes. An Italian scientist Galileo found Jupiter's moons with a telescope with less power than a telescope in a toy store. Jupiter was named after a God. Jupiter is the largest planet of them all except

the sun which is a star. We found out that the spot on Jupiter is twice the size of earth and could swallow it whole. Charlotte On Monday 10 October 34 children and adults travelled down to Wanganui on McLachlan's bus to the observatory i n Wanganui. The aim of the trip was to look through the telescope there and gather more information about Room 13's astronomy project. Before they went to the observatory they stopped at McDonald's for tea and also had a tour of the kitchen. At the observatory they were given a lecture on the planets of the solar system and were shown a model indicating how large the planets were in relation to the sun. Because of cloud cover, it prevented the class from looking at Jupiter through the telescope, however the clouds soon disappeared and they were able to see Jupiter. They all filed into the dome where the telescope was and one by one climbed the ladder to the telescope. Jupiter looked pretty close considering how far away Jupiter is from Earth, it had then yellow clouds and more white surface. The atmosphere of Jupiter is quite dense. I'm sure room 13 enjoyed the night and all learned something more about the solar system. Lisa