Session 4 - December 12th - Santa's Solar System Solution

Mrs Lynch led our fourth session where the girls had fun learning about the Solar System. They first had to think of a mnemonic to help them remember the planets in order of their distance from the Sun. The girls came up with some funny and imaginative mnemonics and Mrs Lynch chose her favourite. 

My

Vixen

Eats

Mushy

Jam

Slowly

Until

Nighttime

The girls then learnt about the features of each planet. The girls were told that if the solar system is colonised then Santa may have to modernise! He had a long list of requirements for his new home and the girls had to sift through all the information on the planets’ distance from the Sun; time to spin on axis, time to orbit the Sun, diameter and temperature of each of the planets to decide which 3 planets would be the most suitable for Santa.  Santa had a list of requirements for his new home, he didn't want to live on a planet which had temperatures below -150oC or a gas giant.  He did want a planet with a long year for the elves to make the presents and a small planet so he could travel all over it in one night.  

The girls all agreed that Mars would be the most suitable planet for Santa to visit and they wrote a letter to him to explain why Mars would be most suitable.

Following a cookie break, the girls made Christmas cards showing Santa in his new home and in a new different coloured suit!

 

Thank you very much indeed to Mrs Lynch for leading such a wonderful session.

Miss Ladbrook, Miss Burns and Mrs Coughlan would like to wish all the girls a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Session 3 - December 5th - Voyages of Discovery

Mrs Heywood led a fabulous History session on explorers of the world.  The girls learnt how chocolate, cinnamon, potato and coffee were 'discovered' by explorers centuries ago.  The girls were then split into teams and sent off on a treasure hunt around the school to find clues on their chosen explorer before sharing the information with the rest of the group. 

Following a cookie break the girls mixed up the teams to share information and debate who, in their opinion, was the best explorer.

We learnt that Captain James Cook wanted to claim land for Britain and on his travels he discovered a variety of plants and animals, he found the East coast of Australia, New Zealand and the Cook Islands.  Sadly Captain Cook was killed when his ship was attacked.  

Group 3 taught us that Sir Francis Drake was a brave risk taker, however, he also stole gold from the Spanish and attacked the Spanish fleet in its harbour.  

We found out that Sir Walter Raleigh made a number of safe voyages and explored an area he named Virginia, he discovered potatoes and tobacco. However, he angered King James I when he failed to discover El Dorado and was executed!

Many of the girls knew more information about Christopher Columbus, however, we found out that he was a very brave man sailing out in to the unknown, he discovered the Caribbean Islands, which he thought was India so they were named the West Indies, this discovery encouraged others to explore North and South America.

Finally we were found out lots of information about a much lesser well known explorer Henry Hudson, he set out to discover the North -West passageway, although he explored many areas of Canada and found Hudson Bay he failed to achieve his goal, his crew put him in a boat with no oars and he was left to die!

The girls debated who deserved the best explorer award and following a discussion, everyone agreed that as Sir Francis Drake was a pirate and a thief he was out the running.  The girls made a unaminous decision and chose Captain James Cook because he discovered over 1,000 types of plants and explored the East coast of Australia, they felt he deserved the award as he was the bravest and best explorer and they felt that discovering the plants was of vital importance as the plants could have been used in medicine and his exploration of the East Coast of Australia, the Cook Islands, New Zealand and Hawaii and helped to create maps of the area. 

Thank you to Mrs Heywood for a great morning.