English:

I love the strong beginning to Nadia's letter from one of Ernest Shackleton's team with deliberate vocabulary choices. I also like how Nadia has combined facts with emotions. Have a read below. 

 

Dear world,

Recently life has been hard, I don’t know where to begin. This story is about my fight to live. It’s a heartbreaking tale. During the journey, I thought my time was up and I wouldn’t make it. I thought that a few times. Now let me tell you my courageous story, my story, the fight to live. 

 

The freezing conditions were getting tougher by the day. I didn’t know if we would be able to make it. Firstly our only ship with all our items had surrendered to the ice. Before one of the crew members could say our ship was crumbling The ship broke in two painful seconds. We were all crestfallen. Before anyone could utter another word, we all ran to save our last belongings. The last of the food that survived wasn’t enough to feed 27 exhausted men. So we separated the crew so we wouldn’t slow each other down, then we set out to the South Pole.

 

The journey was tiring and hard, but still we carried on taking one step at a time. As the blizzards and cold air seeped through our bones, we walked on, thinking that we wouldn’t make it. Each day seemed to be getting longer and longer, my eyes started to feel heavy. I hadn’t had an hours sleep due to the unforgiving weather. I started to worry bitterly. But one day, as I was about to surrender to the ice, our captain told us that we only had seven miles to go, I felt ecstatic. I told myself I had seven miles left, I couldn’t believe it. as I took out my last tin of food, I let out a crooked smile for the first time in months. We were going to make it and we were going to survive. 

 

As the last two days of our extraordinary adventure came to an end, I felt pride rise in me. I stood up on the pole, taking in all the beautiful scenery, I knew this was an experience of a lifetime, and I would never forget it. As we set off to leave, I couldn’t help staring back. This was the happiest time of my life. Eventually we got to camp where there were tins of food. I was thrilled. As we all sat by the meagre fire, we all celebrated as we ate our food. Then after a good night's sleep it was time to go. I shook hands with everyone then returned safely home. What an adventure it was!

 

Yours sincerely, 

                         Alfred Cheetham

 

I love in Leila's letter she mentions 'a tale to tell' at the beginning because it makes me want to read on. Excellent detail and deliberate vocabulary choices used throughout. 

Have a read below.

 

Dear World,

                     Hello, I am part of Ernest Shackleton’s crew, and I have a tale worth sharing. A story that will stir your heart. It is called the Endurance expedition, and it became eminent to history after we returned as heroes. Let me tell you the details.

As our sturdy ship cut cleanly through the deep blue ocean of the Antarctic, the captain’s loud voice pierced the cold air. He shouted that the hull had been crushed by an unexpected ice cap. Suddenly the crew were frantically waving their arms, and shouting commands. I ran into the cockpit, gathered armfuls of crumbly maps, and a compass, then ran back up to the deck, where chaos started to unravel. I ran to the smashed hull, and to my surprise, Ernest was standing still, his eyes glimmering, crestfallen. I shouted at him to come, but he just told me he knew this was going to happen. With my head bowed, I returned to the screaming crew, and gathered provisions of tinned meat, and hot water. All our treasured possessions sunk before our eyes, along with us. We all clambered upon the last plank of damp wood and clung on, for our lives. We bobbed on the foaming waves, to the shore and soon we were at land. The Antarctic. I stepped gingerly on the crackling ice, then trudged towards the crunching snow. The wind howled coldly around us, so I pulled up my furs. 

As we sat down to a mug of hot tea, and strips of meat beside the glowing fire, Ernest said that we would have to separate the crew. My heart sunk, deep down. The cold numbed my fingers, and my face was covered with flecks of blue ice, which covered my eyes, so all I could see was a sheet of mist. Ernest carried on, and finally, after pointing to what it seemed every man, he pointed to me. I was coming on the long and arduous trek to the south pole!

The next day, we shook hands with the rest of the crew, and set off. We trekked across the barren stretch of thick snow, with fierce winds battering us the whole way. After that, we hiked up jutting outcrops of snow, rock and ice, and faced rain, thunder and snowstorms. We finally arrived, starved and cold, to the pine forest of Stromness. The locals greeted us warmly, and gave us seal broth. Later, we rescued our crew at the bay, and returned home. As heroes.

That was how the story of the expedition unfolded, as a happy ending, as none of the crew died.

Yours sincerely,

                            Frank Worsley.

 

Our persuasive letters to Sir Ranulph Fiennes

I love the humour, Will has included in the second paragraph of his persuasive letter to Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He also includes other positive qualities too. Have a read below. 

 

Dear Sir Ranulph Fiennes,

                                            I think I would be the perfect person to become a member of your team and to join you in your epic journey!

The reason I have for saying that is because I am very good at taking the cold, as I am basically always wearing shorts, even when it snows like it has for the past few days, so with all the right kit on, it should be no problem.

I am also very good at being motivational and kind, I like to encourage others. I’m also quite small so if you need someone to get through any little holes, then you know who to call. I am also very fit and ready for the job; I am thirsty for adventure and am ready for any challenge that stands in my path!

Yours sincerely,

                            William Barden!

 

In Chelsea's persuasive letter, I really liked how she included that she is aware 'that we could be in lots of danger' but goes on to explain positive qualities. Have a loook in the attachments below. 

 

Well done to Corey for his persuasive advert, I was gripped from the first sentence, '...feast your eyes...'

 

Dear Reader,

Feast your eyes on this amazing cruise to Antarctica to look at the spectacular sights of the incredible mountains and the adorable animals of the cold. You will get to see it all from the magnificent cruise wow isn’t that brilliant what is there not to like about this sensational boat.

How about we take a look at the cutest animal of Antarctica the penguin. These birds are not able to fly but they have found out different ways to traverse through the Antarctic. One of the ways they travel through the snow is they slide down hills on their bellies and gain momentum to go at a rapid speed rate. The other way they travel is they swim in the cold depths of the south pole they can breathe for up to 4 minutes.

Now shall we look at the incredible mountains of Antarctica. The tallest mountain of the Antarctic is the Vinson Massive scaling up to 21 km that’s colossal can you believe that. The mountains of the Antarctic are a glamorous sight to see you need to see this.

I hope you consider going on this cruise and I will look forward to seeing you there. 

 

In Leila's persuasive letter, she has a very strong beginning, which makes me want to read on and find out more. She also uses superb emotive language. Have a read below.

 

Dear World,

                     Hello. I am writing today to present a proposal; to keep tourist visits in Antarctica balanced, as people are causing a negative effect in the wildlife and the environment. We need to keep the natural stability of the wild polar region, otherwise it could crush under the weight of humanity, and be drained of its untamed edge, then we will have no survivors who resisted the force of humans, as Antarctica is the only one. If we choke the animals with photos and admiration, then they will flee and leave Antarctica forever, leaving us with no unique wildlife on the desolate ice realm. 

You see, we are damaging the territory of the animals, and when tourists praise the penguins, they will flee from the nests, leaving their chicks cold, and alone. Do you really want that? If you want the stunning sights and animals safe from the hands of cruel humans, then act now, and join the fight of battling for Antarctica’s vital survival as a feral continent. The main problem is that ships that carry tourists leak oil and fuel into the pristine sea, and turn it inky black. It will clog up the waters, then  the animals will drink it, and swallow it, then meet an chemically involved demise.

In the present, precious ice caps are melting away, and causing not just a perilous situation for us, but the animals who rely on them to survive. If we want to escalate the issue, then carry on going to Antarctica, but if you care about it, then join the fight to save our planet. So cut down on passengers on cruise ships to Antarctica, and keep at least five metres away from the native wildlife, also you could spread awareness about it, and get people involved. You could potentially donate to various projects, such as WWF, or One Ocean Expeditions. If you get engaged into the project, then you are saving our world, and preventing a horrific death to all animals, and possibly the human race.

In conclusion, try to stop Antarctica visits, and animals being endangered, by instead of making the wildlife stressed, you can stay away, and watch from a safe distance. Also if the expeditions carry on, small bands of people are vital, not larger ones. So, carry on resisting climate change and other issues.

Yours sincerely,

                          Leila.

 

Have a look at the super poster on climate change in the polar regions in the attachments below that Finley created. I love how colourful it is and the important facts that have been included. 

 

A great quiz by Daniyal-have a good at it in the attachments below. 

 

What a great guide to ratio, proportion and scale factors by Will. I really like how he addresses the audience directly and gives examples. Have a look below.

 

Ratio, proportion, direct proportion and scale factors! 

Ratio!

A ratio indicates how a group of similar things can be divided into more specific groups in relation to one another! So if you had 26 pieces of fruit, and 16 were lemons and 10 were apples, the ratio of that would be 16:10. Only you can make it even simpler and say 16:10 is the same as 8:5. All you really do is cut the numbers down to their simplest form, a bit like when you’re doing fractions. You try!

65 pieces of fruit. There are 20 lemons to 45 apples = 

Proportion, direct proportion!

Proportion and direct proportion is used in things like cooking, where you have to work out how much of something you need to make different amounts. It’s basically saying that, these are the ingredients to make 1 cake {3 eggs, 200g of flour, 250g of sugar} how much do you need to make 2 cakes? Or 3 cakes? Have a go at working it out. 

Scale factors!

A scale factor is when you make something bigger or smaller by a certain factor!

So, if the sides of a square are 4cm and 6cm, to work it out to a scale factor of 2, you multiply it by 2! So that would be 4cm x 2 = 8cm and 6cm x 2 = 12cm. Easy right!? Try to work out the same square with a scale factor of 3.

 

What a brilliant visual, eye-catching guide from June-please have a look in the attachments below. 

 

I love how Chelsea has used her I.T skills to create her maths guide to scale factors. She has clearly thought about what the Year 5 audience need to know. Have a look below.