Geography- Mapping and Mountains

The Class 5D Space Research Agency have successfully landed on Mars! The research teams have mapped the terrain of the Mars surface including the mountains and craters.

In order to do this, the groups worked hard to understand the main features of maps (BOLTS- border, orientation, legend, title, scale).  They especially worked hard to understand how to calculate the scale of a model size object compared to the real size object. The teams also learnt about contour lines as a way to represent mountains. They created contour lines on the model Mars surface, then mapped it.

They also did research and created fantastic posters of our beautiful mountains right here on Earth.

Class 5D research team- Excellent work!

Creating a scale model of a giraffe and calculating the scale of the model to it's real size.

Making scale models

A tiny computer! teeehee! Working out the scale of this tiny cutie computer to the real size

Calculating the scale of a space shuttle model.

Creating a mountain cross-section from the contour lines on a map.

Making contour lines on the Mars surfaces.

Using a slide-rule to measure the approximate contour heights.

All hands on contours!

Very pretty contours

Contours done and labelled. Now to map them.

A lovely map with a transparent contour map overlay.

Contours Mapped

Getting a birds-eye view.

Blast-Off!!

To blast-off into our theme- 'Mission to Mars',  Class 5D went on a field trip to the planetarium. We watched a film on the 360 degree screen about our beautiful fragile planet and took trips around the solar system to see what other planets are like. The film also took us out of the solar system and galaxy and talked about the immense possibilities of our universe! Pretty amazing, mind-boggling stuff. It was in French so some students couldn't understand everything, but I think they could understand the main point-that we are lucky to have a planet that gives us life so we should take care of it.

We also had the chance to see and play with some of the hands-on displays about space travel and about our active planet.

At lunch we got to go and play outside  on the green grass and enjoy the warmth from our sun...

New Term- New Theme: Mission to Mars!

This term Class 5D will be working on all their subjects based on the theme: Mission to Mars. Student will use the Literacy, Maths and Science skills we have reviewed in the previous 2 terms and apply them ‘real-world’ tasks. The end-of-term outcome is that students will prepare a presentation and model of their habitable Mars construction.

To blast off into the unknown with all that we know so far, students will visit the Planetarium to participate in as session called  “ Fragile Planet”. We will also visit the museum and record interesting information.

Our core subjects of Literacy, Maths and Science will be closely linked to this theme. In Literacy, students will prepare a story to a space adventure; and prepare information reports. The weekly spelling lists will be based on the different subjects for this theme. This will allow students to hear, learn and use spelling words more frequently and easily.  In Maths, students will apply what they have learnt about ratio and proportion; measurement; 2D and 3D shapes; and calculation. The topic knowledge we will use from Science include: Earth and Beyond; and Habitats and Environments.

Our other subjects such as Geography; History; Art and Music will also be linked to this theme. In Geography we will use the Mars surface models that we have made to learn about mapping mountains using contour lines. We will also do research and a comparison between tallest mountains from the different home countries. In History we will create a short film about the major civilisations and eras of Western history, including Victorian history.  To help with the filming, students will be asked to prepare a costume and prepare items to re-enact the lifestyle for a particular era.

The Art and Music teachers will also be doing activities related to the space theme. In Art theory, we will learn about the artist Richard Calder and will work on making well-balanced mobiles with the art teacher, Mme Desaint.

Our work will also allow students to learn about societal topics such as leadership, laws, and diversity in communities. The tasks carried out will enable students to practice and develop their teamwork skills.

The students will compile their research worksheets, planning, photos and results into one ‘Mission to Mars’ portfolio to take home for the end of the term.