Stardome

Today we had a wonderful visit to Stardome to complete our learning this term on our inquiry into the Solar System.

It was a beautiful day, so after arriving we ate our morning tea outside.  We then split into 2 groups and the first group headed in to Stardome while the second group went to play on the playground.

Inside Stardome an education officer gave us a short talk about the Solar system, demonstrating in scale how far apart the planets are from each other and the sun, and also telling us about how the Earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the Earth and how this causes night and day.

Next we split into smaller groups and were given 10 minutes to try and find the answers to a quiz on a tablet around the exhibits.

 

Finally, we went into the Planetarium and sat back to watch a show about an alien family trying to decide which planet they want to holiday on.  After the little movie our Stardome educator brought up on the screen what the night sky above Auckland will look like tonight and pointed out some of the different clusters of stars.

After lunch, group one had their chance to play on the playground and then it was back on the buses and we headed back to school.

Stardome have given us vouchers for a free child entry to a planetarium show which will be given out to the students on either Tuesday or Wednesday of this week.

If you'd like to do a bit of star gazing this week why not see if you can spot the International Space Station passing overhead?  Check out the times it passes over Auckland this week here: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/


A huge thank you to all the parent helpers who came with us, you're help was truly appreciated.