Polar Explorer Day in Y6 - Moortown Primary School, Leeds

The whole school took on the role of polar explorers today to kick off our new eight-week Big Topic: Life Forces. We began the day with Terry Kirk, our school’s polar ambassador, learning all about the RHS Sir David Attenborough (a new research vessel for the British Antarctic Survey).

Year 6 then discussed how animals are adapted to survive in the cold conditions of the Arctic and Antarctic. Most of us already knew about blubber – a thick layer of fat underneath the skin – but we got to feel just how effective it can be by creating our very own blubber gloves.

We tried just putting our bare hands into the icy water first to see how long we could keep it there.

Then, we made our blubber gloves, using ‘rubber’ gloves and margarine.

If you put both hands in – one with a blubber glove on and one with a normal glove on – you can’t feel the cold very much at all through the blubber!

We then imagined that we were explorers of the Arctic and wrote a diary entry of our adventures – there were some really great pieces of writing in the room.

In the afternoon, we learnt all about how animals are adapted to survive in winter and summer and across different habitats. We took notes of what we were learning all over the tables.

Then, we used all of the knowledge we gained throughout the afternoon to create our own creature. We were told whether they were a predator or prey and where they lived. It was important to consider this when thinking about how our animal would be adapted.

We created ‘the kraken’ a lizard-like creature which used camouflage to protect it from predators.

A great day was had by all – especially me!