The sun up close

The sun up close

written and illustrated by

Alice Sharpe

I think I learned a lot when Max’s dad came and taught us about the solar system and the sun! First of all he came in with his computer and asked Ms. Dorothy if he could move the TV because the sun was shining in our eyes and I don’t think we would have been able to see. After, when he had put the TV in place Ms. Dorothy made sure that we could all see. I was dying for him to start because I am so interested in the solar system. I was at the very back so I got to sit on a chair.

Then he finally started. The first thing he did was introduce himself. He told us his name was Jon. Then he started with the sun. The first thing he told us about was how big the sun is compared to the earth and this is how big it is; it’s four hundred earths around and 100 earths wide which is very, very big compared to the earth. You do realise that the sun is just a huge ball of fire that flares.

Afterwards Jon told us about sun spots. So this is what happens; a ball of fire shoots out and it creates a sunspot. It looked like a strange sunflower. After that he told us about the life cycle of the sun which is very, very interesting. What happens is a lot of gases come together and swirl around and around and get bigger and bigger. When it gets too big and too hot it explodes and the same with all other stars.

Finally, he let us do the part we had all been waiting for, the telescope. I was the most excited in the world to look through the telescope and see the sun up close! It was quite boring that day. It only had a few sunspots, but I liked it.

I think that it is great that Max is in our class because Jon keeps on teaching Max and Max keeps on teaching us.