Astronomy, 2nd day
Prof. Estrella pulled out her teacher's copy of the star chart and waited for the class to settle down. "Okay, students!" She was feeling herself today, not stressed out, like yesterday. "Does everybody have their star charts out? Okay then!
"Today we're going to look at these star charts in more depth. Yesterday we learned that you can use your wand to temporarily highlight and name the stars and constellations. Now I'm going to show you how to use it to find out what the sky will look like at a given time." Prof. Estrella looked around to make sure everyone was following her, and then continued. "First of all, as the more observant of you have noticed, your chart is a circle, a circle with a hole in it so you can see the stars and three other circles beneath it. By arranging these circles, you can see what the sky looks like in a given place at a given time. The bottom wheel is for the month, the second bottom one is for the day, and the last is for the time. If you flip the chart over, you can change from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, but we won't be doing that this year. I will expect you to have these every day in class. Any questions?
"Now, this week we will be talking about the Astroneaflexionious Galaxy. Can anyone tell me where that is?" A couple of students tentatively raised their hands. "Put your hands down, there's no such thing!" She grinned broadly at them. "Be forewarned," she said, looking at a tiny first year girl with dark hair who looked rather confused and shocked. "I love jokes. In past years, I've threatened to start telling jokes if my class didn't settle down, and they did immediately, so... I also tease. If my teasing offends you, go ahead and tell me and I'll try not to do it to you. And by the way, if you don't know the answers to a question, I give quarter-points for creativity.
"Now, everyone take your telescopes out to the balcony and set up. You can turn your homework in here."
LDSPrincess924 Supreme Ruler
Of My Own
Little World
Posts: 267
(20/2/04 8:15 pm) Reply
Re: Astronomy, 2nd day
"Wait a sec - " Aiden raised his hand, "We didn't have homework, did we?
LDSPrincess924
Supreme ruler of my own little world...
Re: Astronomy, 2nd day
Aaron walked up to the desk and plopped his homework down on it. He had had to spend all of his free time for the day doing it -- and that ment no time playing quidditch.
Chris
Chris walked up to the desk and placed his homework on it. Grabbing his telescope he slowly walked outside. He managed to set it up pretty quickly. After he finished he noticed that his friend, Alisson, was having trouble with her's, so he walked over to her and gave her a hand with it.
"There you go," he said smiling, when he had finished.
"Thanks a lot Chris," Ali said sweetly.
Chris walked back over to his telescope and waited for the professor.
Class
"Very observant! We didn't have homework! Though I can see that some of us are already doing extra credit." She winked at the class. "If anyone else did extra credit, they can put it on my desk now. Remember that that's always an option. Now, outside!"
The students marched outside, where the clear starry sky glittered. "Has everybody set up their telescopes? I want you all to find Ursa Major and focus on it. Some of you are new to telescopes, so we won't be doing anything extraordinary with them today."
Proud Resident
of St. Mungo's
Posts: 384
(22/2/04 7:21 pm) Reply
Re: Class
Gwen adjusted the telescope slowly, peeking frequently away from it. She could see Ursa Major already - several hours of studying a star chart in relation to the night sky had to pay off somehow! - but she couldn't seem to get it in the telescope.
~*~
With an expert hand, Lily deftly aligned the telescope with the required constellation. There was little moon - it was just beginning to wax again - and the stars were especially bright. With a sigh of satisfaction she tore her gaze away from the telescope and waited for further instructions.
Lizzie
"Professor?" Lizzie said a litle tentatively. "Could you help me with this? I see it on my chart, but I can't seem to find it with my telescope," she blushed slightly when she finished.
Re: Astronomy, 2nd day
Aaron slouched over and started setting up his telescope. Extra credit was nice, but giving up a whole afternoon of quidditch to get P instead of a D wasn't worth it to him. He didn't exactly like this class, and that was part because he wasn't good at it. He started comparing his telescope view with the star chart, and after ten minutes he got it focused and pointing at the Big Dipper.
bookworm Professor
Posts: 208
(23/2/04 6:13 pm) Reply
Rose
Rose set up her telescope and began scanning the sky for the big dipper. She found it easily enough, sometimes over the summer her family would go out and find stars, but she didn't have much practice with a telescope. She had to take her eye away from the telescope several times to see where the big dipper was in relation to what she saw in the telescope, and finally she had the telescope in the right place. She stepped back and waited for the rest of the class to be ready.
OOC: it would be funny if somebody bumped her telescope and she had to go through the whole boring process again.....or maybe she is startled by Carmondy's late entrance again......which seems to happen alot.......
Proud Resident
of St. Mungo's
Posts: 389
(23/2/04 7:50 pm) Reply
Sirius
Remus carefully maneuvered his telescope into place, centering Ursa Major in his view. He checked and doublechecked it on his star chart and then began to study the surrounding constellations, waiting for Estrella to give further instructions.
"Got it," Peter muttered triumphantly beside him. He leaned away from the telescope and breathed a sigh of relief. Sirius, on Peter's other side, winked largely, for no reason. Peter rolled his eyes and returned to the telescope.
Further instructions...
After showing some of the less knowledgeable students how to locate the constellation, Professor Estrella aligned her own telescope and settled down on a spindly chair. "Now--may I have your attention please--can anyone tell me why we study Astronomy?"
bookworm Professor
Posts: 216
(24/2/04 8:22 pm) Reply
hmmm, let me think...
"Hmmm...because stars are pretty?" Rose muttered under her breath. she didn't think anybody heard. bookworm
Carmondy Arrives
"Because we need it to graduate?" guessed Carmondy, stepping out onto the balcony from no where, she hastily smiled at her teacher and explained, "Sorry I'm late, Professor. I had a few over due library books I needed to return, and a few owls I needed to send, and a few assignments I needed to finish...you know how it is. Busy, busy, busy!"
Alvin Dinkleburg
Alvin, who had set up his telescope with ease (he owned many at home), quickly answered,
"Because it is important to have an understanding of the world around us, including the world SURROUNDING us."
bookworm Professor
Posts: 241
(26/2/04 8:52 pm) Reply
heeheehee!
Rose started as Carmondy came in...she should have been expecting it...and nudged her telescope. It swung out of line with the Big dipper, and, muttering under her breath, she bent to re-locate the constellation. She needed some way to know when Carmondy would arrive........or she would do somthing clumsy every time she came in late, which was pretty much every class. She corrected herself. every class. bookworm
Carmondy
Carmondy laughed and walked over to Rose to help her re-assemble her telescope, "Sorry about that," she giggled, "My gosh, am I really That scary?"
bookworm Professor
Posts: 264
(28/2/04 1:31 pm) Reply
humph
"Well, maybe you could arrive on time once in awhile." said Rose.
Carmondy
"Are you kidding? That's like asking Morgan to stop wearing her purple socks! Or Tonks to stop tripping! Or Narcissa Black to stop being....her," she ended lamely.
Prof. Estrella
Professor Estrella frowned at Carmondy. "I warned you last time, and I wish you had listened. I need you to stay after class to catch up, and I want you to write a 2-foot essay on it for next class." She turned and smiled at Alvin. "That's exactly right! Does anybody else have any ideas?" Nobody raised their hand. "Well, I was just thinking that for anybody who is studying, or wants to study, Divination, this is a useful class. Now," she said, "we need to know the basics of our telescopes. We've already set them up, but now we need to know about their parts and when we can use them and stuff like that. Please read pages 1-4 of your telescope users manual. It will be on your first quiz. If you already know this, you may have some free time."
Re: Astronomy, 2nd day
Aaron flipped to the right page and started reading. He didn't know why, but he felt like he should get on the good side of this teacher. Maybe he'd ask to help clean up after class...
bookworm
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