On Wednesday we enjoyed a petit dejeuner to celebrate harvest. We tried croissants, pan au chocolat, grapes and brie. 

At playtimes we could try lots of different foods. We tried Boursin crepes, falafel and hummus and Autumn fruits. There was even a dare devil food tasting challenge of compte cheese melts!

We were so lucky to be able to listen to Lenny Henry talk live about his new book 'The boy with wings'. 

For our PSHE this week, we listened to the story On sudden Hill, by Linda Sarah and Benji Davies. It highlighted how friendships can make us feel, both good and bad.

 Daffodils discussed how we might sound proof a studio, so that the neighbours were not disturbed by the loud noises of a rock band rehearsing. We thought about jobs where people have to use headphones or ear defenders to protect their hearing. Which materials are good at absorbing sound? 
The children drew a labelled plan for a sound proofed studio on the playground. They listened to each other's ideas for sound proofing:-
double glazing, padded doors, blinds, carpeted floors and walls, polystyrene roof tiles, layers, and thick trees surrounding the studio. These measures might help absorb sound or reduce the vibrations and volume.
In class we carried out an experiment to see which material would muffle sound best. Our options were polystyrene, newspaper, foil, wrap and a tea-towel. We wrapped a mobile telephone up inside the materials whilst it was playing music and then placed it into a model studio. 
We predicted which would be the best material for soundproofing and then carried out our test. 

Our results were surprising...  - ask your child to explain what we noticed. 

This week we used a Leaf ID sheet produced by The Woodland Trust, to help us find out which trees grow in our forest school area. We each tried to collect as many different kinds of leaf as we could. In Autumn the leaf colours change, so some leaves were the same type, but a different colour. Some leaves were the same type, but a different size! Our leaf detective skills are improving!
We found willow, hazel, silver birch, hawthorn, apple, field maple, rowan & beech. We found oak and  sycamore leaves - but need to check for sure if they grow in the forest school area, or if the leaves have blown into the area. We found lots of nibbled hazel nut shells under the hazel tree - so we need to investigate who has been eating them! (Did you know you can work that out by looking at the kind of hole in the shell?) 
To finish the session, Karina shared some birthday treats with us all - Happy Birthday Karina. :-)

In 1914, a cargo of 99 dogs were sent from Canada to London. Of these, 69 were chosen for the expedition. Shackleton and the crew gave them all names.
Each crew member was assigned a dog to care for and look after.
What sort of people will we need to handle the dogs?
“We would need someone who knows how to groom them”
“We would need someone that is strong”
“Someone that knows how to look after them if they are ill”
“Someone who knows what they eat”
“We would need someone to know how to move them in their cages on the ship”
"We need someone to check they are ok on their journey from Canada"
 How would you carry out these roles?

​The ship carrying the dogs has arrived. The lead dog handler from Canada met us at the ship. We decided it would be a good idea to let the dogs have some fresh air and exercise. So, we created a pen for the dogs, which would keep them safe.

We then packed the last of our things into our bags and stepped onto the ship.
How does it make you feel?
“Proud to be apart of this expedition”
“Brave”
“Scared about the journey ahead”
“Nervous”
“Excited”
We are now on the ship, heading to explore the inhospitable South Pole......

Shackleton took with him on his expedition, an Artist, who was called George Marston. He captured what the crew saw and felt. 
We have been studying the work of Sir Sydney Nolan. His paintings show what he saw when he visited the Antarctic.

We have also been studying the work of British artist, Tony Cragg, who uses collage in his work.
Here we are beginning to create images of the Antarctic using collage.

We have been carrying on thinking about our families and how they are all different. We listened to the story 'The Family Book' which talked about all different kinds of families. 
We then talked with our partner to say what is the same and what is different about each family.
"They all love each other"
"Their skin is different"
"They all look after each other"
"They are different sizes"
"They are different ages"
"They are all happy"
"They all annoy each other sometimes!"

​Our letters to Ernest Shackleton were posted this morning. We were now committed to going on the expedition to the South Pole with Ernest and the rest of the crew.

We met Ernest Shackleton again and he was asking for funding for his trip. How will he get it? What will he need to do? How can he persuade the sponsors? "I can't do this unless I have the right amount of funding...." "I have some people I would like you to meet. I hope they will help me with funding. I need your help to secure this funding or else the trip won't be possible. Will you help me?" The exploration needs funding and we won’t be able to go without it.
​The children arranged a meeting with sponsors.
The next thing we knew, we were in a meeting room and were about to meet some extremely wealthy business people….What might we ask them?
We then split into 2 groups, 1 group were the business people with lots of money to invest and the second group were the explorers trying to persuade them to invest their money. They will be promised a lifeboat named after them and if the expedition goes well, they will have a lot of good publicity and advertising.

Our meeting was a success and we had secured the funding for our journey. However, we have been asked to produce a report on how we are going to spend the money.
The first task was to design and build the ship which we would travel on to the Antarctic.

Next task....to build the ship!

Today we had a visit from Ray, who took us on a walk around Morda and talked to us about the importance of Road safety. We remembered what he taught us last time about why we should 'STOP, LOOK and LISTEN'

We talked about our families and how they are all different. We talked together to understand that families are important for us growing up because they can give love, security and stability. That stable, caring relationships, which may be of different types, are at the heart of happy families, and are important for our security as we grow up.

In the centre of the circle was some fur, underneath were a pair of snow boots and a compass. “What do we know just by looking at these objects?” We thought that the fur may belong to a person of wealth…. Who could it belong to…? Where is it from? 
We then met the great explorer Ernest Shackleton, he told us about his desire to reach the South pole. “ I felt strangely drawn to the mysterious south. I vowed to myself that some day I would go to the region of ice and snow, and go on ‘til I come to one of the poles of the Earth, the end of the axis on which the great round ball turns.”

“What do you make of this....? It's an advert asking for men to go on a hazardous journey."
We read the advert, and it was asking for explorers to go to the Antarctic with Shackleton.
In pairs we discussed how they would respond to the advert. How do they feel about the possibility of being chosen to go on an expedition to the Antarctic?
​What qualities would they need?
We acted out the different qualities and skills we would need on the trip.
"I can make boats" 
"I am good at reading a map"
"I can climb icy mountains"
"I am good at fishing so everyone will get food to eat"

We decided we would apply to the advert and that we would write to Ernest Shackleton to ask to be chosen to go on his expedition. 
"Are we really going to do this.....? Are we prepared....?"