Spring Term - Commotion in the Ocean

Our Learning Journey began when we found an old, tatty map of our school in the staff room. On the map the children noticed that there were lots of different trails. We decided to follow the trails to see what we could find. The children were so excited to see if they could find any treasure! Finally, hidden away in the PE cupboard, we found a treasure chest!

BUT...

We couldn't just open it...we had to use our mathematical skills to 'crack the code' to unlock the chest. Once the chest was open we found lots of diving equipment and a book called 'Manfish' by Jennifer Berne. 

This book immersed in to the life of the famous inventor Jacques Cousteau. The children have loved finding out about his childhood, his inventions and the famous charity work that he did. The children have used this book to develop their descriptive language by using amazing expanded noun phrases and similes to describe what a scuba diver sees in the fascinating ocean. 

in Science, the children enjoyed testing different materials to investigate what material is the best material to build a boat from. What properties does it need to have? Well...it needs to be waterproof, of course! The children tested which material is the most waterproof and helped Jacques to decide what materials he needed to use on his famous boat 'Calypso'. 

One day we all arrived at school to find RUBBISH all over our classrooms! What had happened? How had this rubbish got there? Who would do such a thing? Later that day, we were so sad to see pictures of the pollution in our oceans. Children came up with fantastic words such as horrified, disappointed, mortified, shocked and angry to describe how the pollution made them felt. 

The children used these emotions to write a very powerful diary entry to describe the day where Jacques Cousteau first saw this horrific pollution. We've enjoyed learning about the Jacques Cousteau Society and we've also enjoyed looking at the famous work of Sir David Attenborough.  We understand that together...we can make a difference! And...protect our waters for future generations.