Journey through space, the final frontier. Navigate beyond the Sun, the magnificent, blazing star at the centre of our Solar System. Investigate the eight planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Take a look at the Moon, a celestial body that orbits Earth. Programme a rover to traverse a lunar landscape and work scientifically to investigate gravity, and what happens when there is none. Compare the times of day at different places on the Earth and use GPS satellite navigation systems to track hidden treasure. Get in a spin making simple models of the Solar System and listen to the haunting sounds of space themed songs. Then it’s 3, 2, 1, blast off. Build and launch a rocket for an important test mission. Exploring space is probably the greatest adventure that humankind has ever undertaken. Are we alone? Or are there other life forms out there?

Big question 
What would it be like to live on another planet? 

Week 5

This week started off with the children talking about alien life forms and whether they believe that there is life on other planets. They had a mini debate to give opinions for and against there being alien life somewhere out there. This led to the children creating their own aliens, which they had to give special features and explain how they might adapt on the planet they are from.

We also listened to some music related to space and noted some of the lyrics. The children then used GarageBand to create their own space themed music.

In science, we have been talking about insulation and how astronauts are able to keep warm in the extreme temperatures of space. We talked about what materials might be good insulators. For our experiment we filled 2 beakers with hot water (68 degrees C) and wrapped one in tin foil and the other in bubble wrap. We would monitor them over the day to see which was the best insulator.

Week 4

In literacy, the children have been researching the first man on the Moon and the events leading up to the moon landing. They have had to sequence them ready to write a newspaper report later on in the week.

In science, we used Newton meters to weigh various items and to see what force they have in Newton’s. We then tested some of the objects to see if weight affects how quickly they would drop to the ground. We put some objects against each other to see if heavier objects hit the ground first.

Week 3

This week started off with literacy and learning about free verse poetry. We watched some videos and a ‘live’ lesson with astronaut Tim Peake where he talked about zero gravity. The children then had to write words and phrases about what it might be like to have zero gravity in space. 

In computing, the children used Scratch to programme an animation based around the moon and space. 
In Art and DT, the children used pastels, chalk and wax crayons to represent the different phases of the moon and used different fabrics and sewing stitches to create their own moon landscape.  

Week 2

Week 2 started off with the class reading some Moon myths from different countries and cultures. We read a Maori, Chinese, Inuit and an Aztec myth. The children then had to re-tell one of the myths in their books. 
The next lesson, saw the children look at pictures of the moon. They then had to write down adjectives and verbs to describe the images. Once the children had created words and phrases to describe the Moon, they had to create their own myth based on the moon. 
In science, the children have been learning facts about the moon and Galileo Galilee who created one of the most powerful early telescopes and sun spots on the moon. The children have also been looking at and trying to explain how we get night and day and the Earth rotates around the sun to do this..

Week 1

We kicked off our Stargazers topic with a ‘live’ lesson from CBBC and Professor Brain Cox. 
During the morning, the children came up with lots of questions that they would to find the answers for throughout the term. 
The first piece of work was a double page spread of the planets in the Solar System and to find some facts about them.