We thought long and hard about what we wanted to know from this Inquiry

What we want to find out

If you go to the end of space will you come back to where you started? N.B

How did the planets get their names? B.P

How were the planets made? A.A

If you stayed on Mars for more than 2 hours would you die? S.P

Why are the planets named what they are? S.B

How were comets made? M.T

Why are planets so famous? L.C

Are there aliens living in space? J.H

Why do planets stay in the same place all the time? M.vdM

How long would it take to get to the biggest star in our Universe? J.W

Why doesn’t the sun move? J.J

Are new planets being formed all of the time? H.M

Can we leave the Heliosphere? O.S

How come there is no oxygen in space? J.S

Does space ever end? G.B

Why are some of the planets so hot? H.D

How hot is the sun? P.P 

Why do some planets have moons and others don’t? V.V

Why is space called “Space”? H.T-S 

Why is Earth the only planet that has life on it? G.H 

Why is space dark? D.B 

Why is there no gravity in space? N.S 

How many times does Earth fit into the biggest star? A.E

Why don’t other planets have air? R.R

Why does a black hole suck you in? J.R

What we learnt today

What does a planet need in order to be called a planet?

There are three criteria

1.                It needs to orbit the sun

2.              It needs gravity to maintain its shape

3.              It must have cleared away other objects from its orbital path

 

Space School is in session

Our class page 2013

So you think Earth is big...

Our new Inquiry topic is Our Place in Space and this is a short clip showing the size of some of the planets and stars in our Universe. It certainly makes you think.

Our winning letters to New Zealand

For our last homework of Term 3 we had to write a letter to the people of New Zealand telling them why we need to reduce, reuse and recyle. The following 4 were the best examples in the class. Read them and see if you agree with what they are saying.

To the people of New Zealand

 

Do you want rubbish to take over the world? Do you want landfills everywhere?

 

We must all work together as a team to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle all the things we use every day but end up throwing away because if we don't our world will become unclean and untidy and our oceans and rivers will become polluted.

 

If we do not look after our planet fishes, animals and plants may become extinct like the Yangtze River Dolphin.

 

So here are some simple things you can do:

At weekends when you go to the beach take a plastic bag with you and if you see rubbish that's been left on the beach pick it up and take it home and dispose of it responsibly. If everyone did this we would have a clean world to live in.

Get a compost bin to recycle scraps in, this will rot the food away and turn it into compost to feed the garden.

 

So remember these useful tips and help make our planet to be clean and green.

 

Yours sincerely

N.B

Dear New Zealand

I am writing to ask you to please reduce your waste.
You can do this by composting your food scraps, using a worm farm and mulching your lawn clippings and garden waste.

Reduce what you can.
Give old toys, clothes and appliances to opportunity shops, friends or sell online.

Remember things such as plastic bottles can be used to make sprinklers, pots, wind chimes etc.
Buy products made from recycled materials.

Lastly, recycle whatever you can.
It takes less energy and resources to recycle, it creates less pollution and it helps the environment. For example if we cut down fewer trees there will be less soil erosion and more and homes for animals.

Did you know that animals sometimes mistake rubbish for food? This can kill them, so by not throwing out rubbish you could be saving a life.

We should reduce the amount of things we throw into the rubbish because the Earth only has limited resources and once we use them up they are gone forever.

If we don't reduce, reuse and recycle our planet will look like a giant rubbish bowl and there will be no trees, no animals, and no air to breathe because trees give us air.

Recycle and we can have a lovely green Earth filled with plants and animals.

The choice is yours.
Act now and save our planet.

Yours sincerely
N.S



To the people of New Zealand

Why it is important to reduce, reuse and recycle.

If we don't reduce our waste we will run out of space to put it. We can help by packing our lunches in a lunch box instead of plastic bags.

Also reducing saves money. We should switch off lights when we aren't using them and fix dripping taps.

Reusing is a good thing, it saves us money and makes us buy less. If we buy less it makes us create less waste and we can all pass on old clothes and toys.

When we recycle we make something new out of something we don't use anymore. For example we can reuse containers for storage.

 I hope we can help reduce, reuse and recycle so we don't need to fill our world with rubbish.

Thank you
M.vdM



Dear people of New Zealand

We need to RECYCLE!!

Do you want our land full of rubbish? Heaps of holes filled with rubbish?

Make sure that you don't put recycling things in the landfill. Put everything you can in the recycling bin.

We have heaps of ads to try and make people quit smoking. We need ads that try to make people think more about recycling. Also we need to have workshops for everyone to go to so they can learn what to recycle and how to recycle. For example, what things we can use to compost.

We need to make programmes so lots of people can help clean our beaches and parks, just like Sustainable Coastline has programmes that you can join in and help clean your local beach.

Help clean your neighbourhood today!
Keep our world clean and green!
Don't litter!

Yours sincerely
S.B