The Antarctic

Date: 1st Mar 2020 @ 10:18pm

This week we launched our new topic - why do some animals live in cold places and others in hot?

In history we are learning all about the explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his journey to be the first person to reach the South Pole. In class we had a debate about whether he should go on his expedition or not and thought of reasons for and against. Miss Calvert was blown away by our debating skills! 

Some of our ideas were:

What if you get lost?

I'll just bring a map with me.

But it's very windy in the Antarctic - what if your map blows away?

I'll make sure I bring more than one map and attach it to me so it doesn't blow away. 

If I'm the first person to reach the South Pole I will be famous.

Well what's the point of being famous if there's no phones or TV for anyone to know you're famous?

I'll just tell everybody what I did and then everyone will know. 

The children were fantastic at debating and taking it in turns to present their balanced argument. They really built upon their skills from when we had a debate in Year One and used the opportunity to show off their new knowledge about Antarctica and also to show their understanding of the past and how different things were a long time ago. For example, one of the children mentioned Robert Falcon Scott going to the Antarctic on a plane. We then thought about whether this was true and linked it to our learning in Year One. Had the Wright brothers made the first flight yet in 1901? We then thought about Scott's journey to the Antarctic and where that would be situated on a timeline in history - had the first flight been made yet and if so were people travelling on aeroplanes? Would Scott have taken a plane to the Antarctic or would he have travelled on a ship? It was such an interesting discussion and the children really showed off their historical knowledge.