Celebrate Summer on PhotoPeach

We did some pastel art work to help decorate the school hall that reminds us of the colour and fun of celebrating summer in N.Z. - we hope you enjoy looking at what we produced.

The dazzling SOLAR ECLIPSE

WOW - what an exciting morning we had checking out the Solar Eclipse - it was so cool!!! 
A.B. from Room 17 let us look through a special viewing board his mum made and we could see the Sun looking like a little red dot before the eclipse started.

Then later it looked like an orange with a slice taken out of it as the Moon started to block out some of the Sun. 
                                         
When the eclipse was at its best at 10:25am it felt darker than normal which was awesome, especially when we turned the lights off in the classroom. 
We were also kind of lucky that it was a little bit cloudy at 10:25am so we got to look at the crescent shape of the Sun without feeling blinded by the light - because the cloud acted like a filter to reduce the Sun's brightness.

We wrote about it all for Newsboard and we found out that it won't look this good in Auckland again until 2035.  
So we felt pretty fortunate to see it and we can't wait to watch it on the news tonight!! 

GUY FAWKES celebrations

As part of our Inquiry we've been looking at various celebrations and what they are about.  We did a couple of things related to Guy Fawkes this week because it's coming up on the 5th of November - YAY!  We each made a poster showing how to celebrate safely with fireworks, and we also wrote some descriptive pieces using the word 'FIREWORKS' - here's a few of them...

Friends and family meet to celebrate.
I see big huge colourful explosions.
Rain drops that are beautiful colours fill the dark sky.
Eee arr I say as fireworks go by.
Watching as a firework ends and colourful rain drops fall.
Owls and animals get frightened.
Roaring big huge bangs.
Keep a safe distance away from buildings and homes.
Steak and sausages sizzle on the blazing barbecue.
(R.W.)

Flaming sparks launch into the sky like a rocket.
Interesting sorts of steaming hot flames.
Roaring people screaming and shouting like a bear.
Explosions lighting up the huge dark sky.
Wonderful colours shining bright like gold in the cold night.
Orange firefighters patrolling the long streets.
Relaxing while watching the ginormous fireworks.
Kids running crazy with steaming sparklers.
Sadly Guy Fawkes ends and all that fun is over.
(J.H.)

Fizzling fireworks shooting high up in the sky.
Icky smoke everywhere.
Roaring fire exploding and flashing.
Extremely loud bangs and really, really loud booms.
Why do dogs and cats stop wagging their tails?
Outside is really cold and breezy but warm by the bonfire.
Racing fireworks zooming up in the sky.
Knocking on doors annoyed about the racket.
Sizzling steak and sausages smells yum on the BBQ.
(K.C.)