Alice in Numberland

By Zayda Doidge

On Thursday, 13th August, the Discovery Centre was overflowing with laughter and calculating as Alice in Numberland had come to town. We were multiplying in numbers with 240 people attending with only the White Addit running late.

It was a fun night filled with the mystery of who had stolen the take-away tarts. There were four suspects in question - Humpty Dumpty, Knave of Hearts, Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. It was great seeing the students and parents work together to solve the mystery and use their maths thinking caps! No one left  ‘minus their head’ and the mystery was solved with the numbers 883 35380, Humpty Dumpty had stolen the tarts!

Thanks so much to Allen Dickson for his creative organisation of the night as well as the Junior School team for their great efforts. 

Here are some comments from the students!

I had fun at the Alice in Numberland Night. I liked the Knave of Hearts room best. 

Asher (Prep)

I liked the Mad Hatter because it was fun seeing Alice and the Mad Hatter doing golf. The Mad Hatter challenged Alice in a competition so they had to play golf and they had to shoot through the hoops.The Mad Hatter packed his balls up in Pascal’s Triangle. 

Hollie W (1/2A)

I liked the Humpty room just because it had funny pictures of Humpty Dumpty. Do you know that you can make words with numbers, like Eli is 173, if you turn it upside down.

Eli S (1/2A)

Miss Goldrick and Miss Allison told us about Pascal’s Triangle.

Manuel (1/2B)

I had a fun time and it was funny because my Nanna came. 

Jorja (1/2B)

It was amazing and Humpty Dumpty stole the tarts.

Annalise (1/2B)

It was really fun because I liked the times table race.

Aria (1/2B)

I loved it! We got to wear cards and we had to stand behind the one we thought would last and win. The ace wasn’t in the actual deck, so the ace won.

Joel (1/2B)

On 13th August, I went to Alice in Numberland. It was in the Library. On the night, we had to find out who stole the Queen of Hearts take-away tarts. When I walked in I could  see colourful mad hatters hats and I could hear soft talking. When it started Mr Dickson started talking different languages. The activities were fun because we played lots of math games. At the end we all came back and we found out that Humpty Dumpty stole the tarts.

Amelie D (3/4B)

I was on my way to Alice in Numberland and my breathing was really fast, I was so excited. 

After I walked in, I sat on the warm cotton mat waiting for my first instruction. While I was waiting, the beautiful artwork on the wall caught my eye.  I listened very hard while Mr Dickson was talking, full of accents strange to my ears. My first room was Ms Goldrick's, the Mad Hatter’s room. It was so fun! I learnt about Pascal's Triangle. At the end of the night, on the way out, my nose caught something sweet, it was sweet like a tart. I saw delicious jam tarts, they were sooo nice in my tummy. On the way home I got goosebumps. I loved the night.

Ayla C (3/4A)

I was driving in my car on the way to Alice in Numberland with my brother and my mum. My brother was noisily talking about how excited he was. When we entered the Library, the smell of sweet jam tarts filled the air. I felt the warm carpet and saw how many children there were. We discovered the tantalising facts of Pascal's Triangle in the Mad Hatter's Room, we brainstormed the times tables in the Humpty Dumpty Room, the Knave of Hearts  taught us how amazing addition is, Chance and the Cheshire Cat were outstanding. At the end of the night we excitedly flipped the numbers around to discover that Humpty Dumpty was the thief who stole the tarts. At the end, the most scrummy juicy tarts were amazingly served to the 200 people, with some left over. It was an amazing night.

Sophie H (3/4A)