Works of wonder: Sparking school yard sleuthing

Pupils at a rural Manawatu¯ school have been left mystified after discovering crop circles on the school field in the wake of a strange ‘‘alien spaceship’’ sighting.

It is all part of Mt Biggs School senior teacher Renee Strawbridge’s plan to give pupils puzzling happenings to write about for their term one writing focus.

The children are busy recounting any exciting experiences and writing them as narratives, reports, speeches, interviews and explanations.

So far, the pupils have experienced hatching dinosaur eggs, a teacher abduction and meteor landings as part of their ‘Weekly Writing Mysteries’.

On Monday, the pupils were given a made-up news report of a UFO sighting at their school, which included a realistic image of a UFO hovering over the school gates.

The following morning, principal James Rea was out on the school field in the rain, thunder and lightning, with his push mower to create the crop circles.

‘‘It’s keeping the momentum going. It feeds to the mystery,’’ he said.

Maia Niwa, year 6, was one of the first to discover the crop circles.

‘‘We were so excited to find the mystery. We didn’t have time to put our shoes on.

‘‘We didn’t see them at first because they’re flat. We were like, ‘Is this the mystery? What is this?’’’

Rea used his drone so the pupils could get a better view of the crop circles, which form the shape of a bird.

Lauren Alexander, year 4, thought it looked like the patterns had been made with a lawnmower.

‘‘There was a mower track leading away from the bird’s beak. That gave it away.’’

Strawbridge was inspired by a stunt pulled by teachers at Awahou School last year, where they planted a meteorite for the children to discover.

‘‘Writing can get boring if you haven’t done anything cool and exciting,’’ said Strawbridge.

‘‘Since the kids experience it together, they can discuss it together as well.’’

The pupils were told the UFO and crop circles were made up, but that didn’t stop them from embracing the mystery.

‘‘They know it’s not real, but they’re not too cool for it.’’

PHOTO: SUPPLIED Pupils gather around the mysterious crop circles on the rugby paddock across the road from the school.

PHOTO: WARWICK SMITH/STUFF Connor Alexander, left, and Cam Andrew are excited to be investigating the mysterious happenings at Mt Biggs School.