Famous explorers

This term the children have been learning about 4 different explorers: Ranulph Fiennes, Amy Johnson, Christopher Columbus and Neil Armstrong. They have considered the qualities that these explorers must have had and the differences between their expeditions.

Ranulph Fiennes

Some activities have included:

1) Exploring Ranulphs backpack and considering what would be needed to climb Mount Everest!

2) Using ipads to capture Ranulphs thoughts and feelings during his journey.

3) Working in groups to caption their pictures with a thought or feeling. 

Amy Johnson

Some activities have included:

1) Inquiring about this explorer by piecing together clues hidden around the room.

2) Drawing upon differences between the past and present, with particular focus on the role of women.

3) Making a timeline from her birth to her disappearance.

Christopher Columbus 

Some activities have included:

1) Retelling the story of Columbus' first voyage and its importance.

2) Recreating life on board the Santa Maria and drawing ideas.

3) Making a map and boat slider to represent Columbus' first voyage and locating continents on the map.

Neil Armstrong 

Some activities have included:

1) Going on a rocket ship to space to collect moon rocks!
2) Creating pictures to re-tell the events leading up to the moon landing (starting with the first launch of sputnik all the way to Neil Armstrong's first steps!)

What kind of person could be a mars explorer?

We received a mysterious letter, it introduced us as NASA's HR team! The letter came with a blueprint of NASA's new space station on mars...

We explored questions such as:

What kind of place is mars?

What would people need to survive in a place like that?

What resources would be practical to have?

The letter asked for us to recruit a team of astronauts... the first to travel on mars in the year 2030! It is very important that we choose the right people with all the skills necessary for the job...

What do astronauts wear?

We looked at pictures of Neil Armstrong and discussed the different features of his uniform; an oxygen tank, lunar space boots, an air tight helmet, padded warm clothing, and even an american flag!

We used this to create our own role on the wall. It is important that applicants know what they need to wear on the job!

How will we get the message out?

The team looked at features of different job adverts and decided that our job advert had to be eye catching with bold writing and an email address, as well as listing important qualities for the job. 

We decided to share these adverts on the internet to reach the widest range of people from all over the world! 

I wonder who will apply?

How will we select the right people for the job?

The team received lots of job applications and had the task of sorting them into good and bad, considering which applicants had the qualities we were looking for. 

The team decided to make medals to give to the successful applicants as a congratulatory gift!

Well done team!