Constellations

During our last block today we learnt that the constellation on the New Zealand and Australian flags is called the Southern Cross. There are five stars in this constellation and each of them has a name - Alpha crux, Betta crux, Gamma crux, Delta crux and the tiny star is called Epsilon crux. 

We learnt that the Europeans who first came to New Zealand thought the constellation looked like a cross, but some Maori thought it looked like an anchor. We thought it looked like a kite or a diamond. 

Many flags have the Southern Cross on them. Do you know where these flags are from?

We coloured some cardboard to look like the daytime and nighttime sky, then we put pin pricks into the card to show the Southern Cross shape. 

We also made our own constellations. When we were done we held our work up to next to the window to allow the light to shine throughout the tiny holes.