Let's experience a cold front...

Making a comet... with dry ice

A little bit of fun in class today...

We loved the SPACE experiments with Amadeo.  Here we melted magnesium in sulphuric acid and gathered Hydrogen gas in the balloon.  We loved the explosion!

Space Experiments

Today Amadeo came to our school to do some space experiments with us. First he took out a bowl full of water then he poured dry ice into it. We made a mini comet. The comet made mini explosions, it shook the ground. Then he got out a bottle of liquid nitrogen and poured it some on the floor. It made little clouds of evaporated liquid nitrogen. It was so cold. He got a bowl and put some liquid nitrogen into it and we started putting things in it. We put a metal spoon in it and then he tried to bend it and it snapped in half. Then we blow a balloon up and put it in the liquid nitrogen and the air inside the balloon turned to liquid air we cut it open and it went on the floor, it was a pathetic amount of it. 

Science with Amadeo

On Monday morning we went to room 7 to do some science experiment with Amadeo. The first experiment we did was making a comet. The comet was made out of dry ice and water. It exploded like every few minutes even when we moved on to a different experiment you could still hear it blowing up. The second experiment we did was with a big bottle of liquid nitrogen. He even poured it on the floor.  It was so cold we all put our hands on the floor to feel the coldness of it. You could just pour a layer of it on your hand and it was not freezing but if you stuck your hand in a bowl of it honestly it would be a very silly thing to do. He dropped a rubber band, a balloon, and 2 spoons. 

Learning About Space with Amadeo

Today Amadeo came to school to show us some experiments and tell us about space. He talked to us for a little bit to see what we know. Then he told us the things that make up the planets in space. They were different types of gases, liquids and rock. Amadeo showed us the first of many experiments.  

Space Experiments

Today we did some space experiments with Amadeo. We started way out in space where the comets are. First we put lots of dry ice that was -78 degrees into a big bowl of water. As soon as the dry ice went in a puff of cloud come out of the bowl and the water bubbled like it was crazy.

We left it to freeze as we moved on to the bigger planets like Saturn and Jupiter.

Amadeo put some liquid nitrogen into a bowl yet again a smaller cloud came out but this time it was colder. We put all sorts of things in it like leaves, spoons, and rubber bands Amadeo crumble them with out even trying and the spoons just snapped. 

Amadeo’s Space Visit

Today Amadeo from the observatory came down to St Mary’s to talk about space. I learnt that space is a very dangerous place, and Earth is the only planet we would survive on so we need to keep it clean. Our first experiment was making a comet. We used a big vase and poured water into it. Amadeo had brought along some -78 degrees Celsius, ice. He tipped it into the vase and it made a mini explosion of steam, air, gas or something. The substance reached our toes and we all reached out to touch it. The next experiment was using liquid nitrogen of some kind. Amadeo poured it out onto the mat. It looked like water but as soon as it touched the ground it turned into steamy stuff. The comet kept giving little blows through that experiment so everyone got big frights. The experiment was seeing how easily things would crumple up after being in the liquid. You know how a spoon can bend but cannot break that easily. Well Amadeo put 2 spoons into the bowl of nitrogen and after a while he pulled the spoons out and snapped them easily. His next observation was sucking air from marshmallows to see how big they could get. He had to use a special machine that sucked air from anything. Amadeo produced a glass flask from somewhere and connected it to the machine with a tube. He uncorked the flask and stuffed around 40 marshmallows into the flask. He switched the contraption on. The marsh mallows expanded in the flask. But as soon as the air was let in they shrunk majorly!

Space Science

Today Amadeo came to school to show us some space experiments. First of all Amadeo got a big glass bowl filled with water and then grabbed a bag full of dry ice. He said we are making a comet. When he put the dry ice in the glass bowl a cold white cloud of mist flooded the room. After that a big explosion occurred because the water was warm and the dry ice was -75 degrees. Amadeo grabbed some liquid nitrogen and poured it on the ground and another cloud of mist flooded the room then he poured it into a metal bowl. He blew up a balloon and put it in the liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen sucked all of the air out of the balloon then Amadeo picked up the balloon and then it filled up with air. After that he put a spoon in and then picked it back up and snapped it.

Our Observatory trip...

Adventures, discoveries, challenges, learning, questioning with Amadeo and Ash:

Going to the Observatory was an exciting new experience and Ash and Amadeo taught me a lot about space and other planets. I can’t until I can put this information into my planet research. I still can’t believe how many different types of stars there were and that their life lasts for like 360 billion years -Ciara

The observatory trip was exciting though it was a little disappointing that we couldn’t see any stars or planets. I learned that when we see a shooting star it has a 33% chance of being frozen box of poo. I had a great time and awesome learning experience. Zara

When we first got to the observatory I thought that the observatory was going to be a big museum. I loved learning about other planets and how stars could blow up after a while! I also learned that how many moons each planet has. -Anahera

When I got to the observatory I thought it was going to be just one big place but it had three! I also learnt that when you see a comet it can be a rock, some sand or a box of poop. Gracin

When we got to the observatory it did not look very big at all but then we got inside and it looked bigger. I learnt that the sun is a very small  star. Thomas

I learned at the observatory that mercury is the closest to the sun. I also learnt that mercury orbits the sun faster than any other planets in the solar system. I loved the trip because the man told us about the big telescope. It was cloudy so we couldn’t look through the telescope.  Laura

I learnt that Jupiter and Venus are visible in the sky early morning North West over New Zealand.  I was very excited to get up early this morning, open my curtains and gaze at these planets.  I tried to work out how far away from earth they were.  I learnt so much about distance last night!  What a wonderful trip.  Mrs K.

I learned about how fast/slow the planets move around the sun. I also learnt about other galaxy’s suns. I didn't realize our sun is so small compared to other galaxies! I think you can see Venus in the morning and evening because I read about it somewhere. My favorite bit was when Amadeo showed us the video. Mia 

I learnt that the planets that are closer to the sun have quicker days and the planets that are further away from the sun have longer days. I also learnt that male astronauts have to pee in a tube and the females have to pee in a cup. They also have to wear a seatbelt so they don't fly off the seat. - Josh
At the Observatory I learnt lots about space like how big jupiter is compared the earth and then in the next photo jupiter looked tiny compared to the sun and what was even more amazing was that some stars are so big you can't see the sun compared to them. It was so fun cant wait to go back with my free pass. - Billy

At the Observatory I learned how big the sun and the planets are. When the stars blow up the big ones sometimes make black holes in space. Sometimes when you see a big star it is two stars close together. I also learnt that it takes 8.5 minutes for the light from the sun to get to earth. Alex

I found out that you can see  two planets in the morning and they are really clear . How do you know where all the planets in space? Janaya

I learnt that jupiter and venus are visible from earth and also comets speed around the sun and then leave. -Jake

I learnt that a shooting star is a floating box of poo. - Brya

I learnt that comets are icy rocks that melt in our atmosphere and then refreeze again - Jack

I learnt that all of the astronaut’s toxic waste goes into a sewage tank and every three weeks
they throw it out of the ship -Sam

I learnt that the sun is very big compared to earth. Then we saw the sun compared to other stars and the sun was 1 pixel. I really enjoyed the trip to the observatory an I leant that jupiter is bigger than the sun. Chelsea


I was great to go the observatory because we learnt a lot about space even though we didn't get to see stars or planets. I learnt that a shooting star may be poo.  I can't wait to go again. Georgia

I learnt about how the telescopes works and how big they are. I learnt why there are so many stars and how big the planets and stars are. Mason

You don't want to wish on a shooting star because it could be poo.  Ryan

Observatory trip tomorrow night...

A HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who has offered transport for tomorrow night's trip.  We have an overwhelming 15 adults accompanying us on our trip!  Really looking forward to it.  We plan to leave school as close to 7pm as possible and return close to 9pm.  

YAY - we can wear warm mufti!

NASA braces for Mars Plunge

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10824927

Phoning Home! Communication from Mars...

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/nasatv/

Check out this NASA link...

Mars group

I wonder if the Mars group want to check out some of these links?
http://www.ethosconsultancynz.com/profiles/blogs/consider-these-nasa-media-links-for-updates-about-mars-rover

N.A.S.A. food...

Today Mrs K came into the room 6 and showed us some space food that we would not normally eat on earth. She borrowed it from Room 1 from Hugo. It’s an ice cream sandwich from N.A.S.A. It has vanilla ice cream in it with 2 chocolate wafers and it is freeze dried ready to eat. It only weighs 31 grams. The total fat is 8 grams (13%)and protein (4 grams). 

Off out into space exploring.... will be back soon...

How exciting today!  All astronauts kitted out with badges!  Off we go out into space exploring... We hope to be back with some exciting learning and discoveries in a few light years...

Our wonderings…

This term we are moving off planet earth.  We are taking what we know already about Space and wondering!  Wonderings are our curiosity, things we are eager to investigate and learn more about!  We are using a Google Doc to share our wonderings.  As we develop a wondering wall, we will work as a class to investigate and take our learning further.  During this early start of our learning we continue to wonder and develop our curiosity.  Can you please have a look at our wonderings and let us know what you think?

Click on the question mark to watch our wonderings develop!

Another exciting adventure...

A blast from the past - shuttle through the decades...