Imagination certainly came to life at East Maitland Public School after the students arrived to find a meteorite in the playground.
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The mock interplanetary debris hit the school last Friday as part of Book Week, which kicked off on Monday.
The idea behind the stunt was to give the students something to write about during the week. Thornton illustrator Lex James also visited the school on Tuesday to help the kids create imagery to go with their stories.
The school brought the meteorite in before school started for the day, then called an assembly complete with the deputy principal detailing a pretend phone call from police at 2am.
“You could hear a pin drop,” teacher librarian Tracey Hookway said. “The kids were all amazed.”
Ms Hookway said while the older students cottoned on by the end of the day, the concept certainly got the kids’ imaginations going.
“One kid even thought it was the Powerball,” she said.
The school plans to keep the meteorite, which was created by a parent, after Book Week finishes.