The rise of the famous star-cluster known as Matariki in New Zealand will be celebrated on Friday, June 20 and has already navigated the 10 to 12-year-old, year 6-8 class to study and explore the whole solar system.
For much of the term they have been hitting the books and internet for data, and the format chosen by the class and their teachers, Yovandi Allnut and Cindy Harliwich, to collect and deliver the whole news-team’s findings to friends and whanau was their tabloid-sized, special-issue newspaper.
"The funnest part was creative writing," Anna Powley, 12, said.
"I’d rather write fiction, so tying specific facts and details together into something I hope should be fun to read was a really good challenge."
Working in small groups and as individuals, the children found themselves working the print process, producing practical, traditional news media while they learned about the final frontiers of science and technology and managed everything from lead-story layout and headlines to advertising and puzzles.
"I think by combining the of studying space with the newspaper style has kept them super interested, and they’ve worked really hard," co-teacher Cindy Harliwich said.
"We’ve focused on gathering information and checking facts and found the biggest challenge is writing bullet-point lists into flowing stories."
The student-journalists have applied the 5Ws and found their angles to bring news from the heavens to the breakfast and coffee tables of Clinton, with the special edition Cosmic Chronicle.
