Summer Learning Journey Week 3 Day 4

DAY 4: Like a Scene Out of a Movie

Activity 1: The Southern Lights [4 points]

Once in a while, a very special event takes place in New Zealand. It is a show of beautiful, bright lights that appear in the sky over the South Island. The lights are called the ‘Aurora Australis’ or ‘Southern Lights.’ They are similar to the ‘Northern Lights’ that are often seen in places like Northern Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. The southern and northern lights are so stunning that they often leave people, who are watching them, speechless.

For this activity, you are to write a short acrostic word poem about the beautiful lights. Hazel has written an acrostic poem about summer to give you an example.

S - Sun outside,

U - Umbrellas in the sand.

M -  My friends and I, having fun,

M - Making sandcastles,

E - Enjoying ice cream on a hot day,

R - Racing to the beach!

L - Lovely

I - Interesting

G - Gorgeous

H - Heavenly

T - Tremendous

S - Shiney

On your blog, use the word ‘LIGHTS’ to write an acrostic poem about the Southern Lights. Be as creative as you can!

For more information and examples of acrostic poems, check out this poetry website.

Activity 2: The Seven Sisters [4 points]

In the middle of winter, a very special cluster (group) of stars appear in the sky over New Zealand. This cluster is called the ‘Matariki star cluster.’ It re-appears in the sky each May/June and signals the start of the Māori New Year. Many songs (waiata) and stories have been written about the cluster. One of these is called ‘The Seven Stars of Matariki.’ It was written by a New Zealander named Toni Rolleston-Cummins. She is from Maketu. Click here to listen to Toni read her story.

On your blog, write a short summary of the book. What was it about? Try to summarise the story in 6-8 sentences.

There once was an adventurous young man named Mitai, who lived with his seven brothers in the village of Maketu. Mitai was the youngest brother. He had been raised by his Koroua, the great Tohunga Te Rawhara. Mitai and his seven brothers went hunting one night and heard some amazing singing coming from the mountain. They climbed up the mountain and saw seven beautiful women. The brothers immediately fell in love with the women. The brothers gave up eating, looking after themselves, working in the garden and hunting. Mitai became more suspicious and decided to watch his brothers wives carefully. He waited by a tree and noticed seven birds of his kind perched up on a branch. He watched his brother's wives talk near a tree. Mitai overhears their plans to stave their brothers to death. Mitai tells them that their wives were patupaiarehe, fairy women. Mitai hatched up a plan. The next day, the brothers head in and waited for their wives. As the wives came in, the brothers caught them all in their magic net. They immediately turned in to patupaiarehe, begging their husbands to release them. The nets were taken to Mitai who turned himself into an Albatross. That's all I know about the story :)

Activity 3: Crazy, Cool Clouds [5 points]

Have you ever looked up into the sky and seen a cloud that had a really cool shape? I certainly have, and so have dozens of other people. Take a look at the three pictures of crazy, cool cloud formations below.

From left to right: Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3

Clouds are formed when small drops of water stick together. To learn more about clouds and how they are formed, you can watch this cool video. Once you have learned about clouds, please choose your favourite cloud picture.

On your blog, tell us what you see in the photo. What shape(s) do you see? Be sure to tell us which picture (1, 2 or 3) you have chosen and describe what you see in lots of detail!.

on the last photo, I see two commas on its side that connected to each other. I asked my brother and he said that looks like a moustache. I said "oh yeah. That does look like a moustache". So now I'm not sure if it's a moustache or two commas on its side that connected to each other.